When you are considering any type of breast surgery, one of the first things that comes to a woman’s mind is the recovery. As a rule, a woman wants to know what she will experience during her recovery period including her restrictions, recommendations to follow, when she can return to normal activity and how her body will look immediately after surgery.

Pain and Discomfort
In contrast to the breast augmentation surgery, the recovery period for a breast lift can be longer. The cause for this is that the surgery to lift the breasts is more complicated than a breast augmentation surgery. Nevertheless, the plastic surgeon can order a pain medication to help release the discomfort associated with both surgeries. Breast augmentation recovery has mild to severe pain level. It depends upon whether or not the implant was located above or below the muscle. A woman that made breast lift surgery usually only reports mild pains after a breast lift surgery. Both surgeries breast augmentation and breast lift can cause some nausea as well.

Swelling is a common byproduct of both surgeries. But it can vary on the type of surgery. Breast augmentation reports swelling to last anywhere from 4 days after surgery to 2 weeks. It depends upon whether the implant was located above or below the muscle. Nevertheless, most breast surgery patients report swelling to last on average from 2 to 3 weeks.

Returning to a Normal Lifestyle After Breast Augmentation
Patients having breast augmentation can usually get back to a normal routine in a short period of time after surgery. Such activities as walking, light jogging, and work without heavy lifting can be resumed within a week or two.

The period of returning to a normal lifestyle is similar for breast lift surgery, but there are some light differences in what constitutes normal activity. Women having breast lift should avoid strenuous activity and so should stay aside on exercising for about 3 to 4 weeks. Breast lift patients will also make more follow up visits to the surgeon after surgery than those having breast augmentation surgery since there is more suturing involved and careful monitoring is required.

Scarring and Other Issues
One of the advantages to breast augmentation is that the scarring is typically minimal. There are fewer incisions made and most incisions can be hidden. As for the breast, lift it can have more extensive scarring that may be difficult to hide depending on the number of incisions that needed to be made and the amount of skin that was tightened.

A patient considering breast lift surgery should also wait until they are finished having children as the results of pregnancy and breastfeeding can cause breast sagging to reoccur. Nevertheless, the procedure should not interfere with a woman’s ability to breastfeed. Quite the contrary, with breast augmentation there can be a higher rate of scanty milk supply, which can result in poor weight gain in infants.

During the first few weeks and possibly even months, women receiving breast augmentation and breast lifts will notice that there is some bruising associated with the surgery. Their breasts will also sit higher and tighter until the breast become accustomed to their new form and settle into a normal position. Women who have breast lift surgery may also notice that there may be a difference in size and shape more than those women who undergo breast augmentation surgery.