In the past, many surgeons advised against combining breast augmentation and lift in one procedure 
due to the extra surgery time and risk. But many of us have been recommending the combined approach all along, and new data supports our approach. According to a report in the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, breast lift and augmentation can be safely performed in a single procedure with acceptable complication and re-operation rates.
I tend to recommend this “two-for-one” surgical procedure for a variety of cosmetic breast concerns caused by stretch marks, childbirth, age-related sagging, genetics, weight gain/loss, or a combination of these problems. There are several advantages to combining the breast augmentation and lift into a single surgery:
- Eliminates many of the added risks of two separate surgeries
- Lowers overall surgical costs dramatically
- Minimizes total downtime and recovery time
- May help ensure results complement each other aesthetically
Like my patients, the women covered in the study overwhelmingly prefer to undergo the two procedures concurrently instead of separately. In fact, combined surgery can be a safe, cost-effective alternative, whether you are planning to undergo the two procedures for cosmetic or for reconstructive reasons. Technical reasons I prefer to combine them:
- Scarring: Depending on the patient, combined procedures help every incision count more, and minimize total scarring. Separate procedures typically require separate incisions (or redoing the same ones) after a few months, which can add to tissue damage and visible scarring
- Recovery: While a combined procedure might involve a little more recovery time than just one, the total time you can expect to spend out of your normal routine is still less than with two separate surgeries
- Precision: A good surgeon as a multitude of techniques available for both procedures, and I feel combined procedures help me adjust my techniques for both procedures at the same time, for greater precision
- Risk: Conventional wisdom used to tell us that two surgeries at once carried much higher risk than two separate surgeries – if your body was rested and ready for 1 surgery at a time, that was better. The data just doesn’t support this. Combined procedures do require extra skill and care, but from an experienced surgeon they actually have much lower incidence of complications compared to separate procedures.
The key factor here is always your surgeon’s skill and experience. For some patients, one procedure alone is enough; every patient’s physical anatomy and goals are different. It is best to discuss everything with your surgeon in detail, and assess his or her experience at these procedures carefully, before planning a combined surgery.
Dr. David Sayah is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who specializes in natural plastic surgery results. His practice is devoted to providing excellent care using innovative techniques in plastic surgery such as endoscopic breast augmentation, state of the art lasers and minimally invasive facelifts. He believes that a healthy lifestyle involves diet, exercise, and preventive medicine including skincare measures. This multidisciplinary approach involves in-house internal medicine physician, nutritionist, exercise physiologist, and lifestyle coach who together with Dr. Sayah develop total beauty and health in his patients.
