Will Pectoral Implants Make Enough Of A Difference in A Bodybuilder?

Q:  Dear Dr. Eppley, I am an amateur bodybuilder and I have very large pectoral muscles as you can see in my photos. I feel I have achieved as much size as I can through exercise and that my only options for increased size are implants or anabolic steroids. Since steroids are illegal, I am interested in knowing whether I would be considered for pectoral implants and what amount of size and projection increase I could expect.

 
A: The common use of pectoral implants is for men who either need reconstruction for congenital pectoral/chest asymmetry or cosmetic chest enhancement for those that have not had good success with pectoral enlargement. Your chest shows considerable pectoral muscle enlargement as you have mentioned and your picture shows. The question is not whether you can have pectoral implants but whether the sizes that are commercially available will make enough of a difference to justify the effort. The typical size of the largest pectoral implants is around 350ccs with maximal projection of about 3 cms. How much of a difference that will make in your chest size in not exactly predictable. Knowing your exact chest dimensions in height, width and thickness for each perctoral area would be helpful in answering this important question. Based on the picture alone, I would estimate that the change would be in the range of a 20% to 30%  increase…but that should be interpreted as a guess based on inadequate information as of yet.

 
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana