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Feel Prepared: What to Expect During Your Consultation for Breast Augmentation

Wednesday, January 17th, 2018

When you arrive for your breast augmentation consultation at our Champaign, Illinois, office, you will be greeted by our patient coordinator. She will ask you to fill out very short registration form. A member of our clinical team will escort you back our breast consultation room and will ask some questions regarding your health history. We will ask you for a list of current prescribed medications, allergies, past surgeries and dates.

You will then meet with Dr. Castillo to discuss your goals and desires for breast augmentation. Dr. Castillo and a member of clinical/surgical team will complete a quick physical exam, including some chest measurements. Once he knows your measurements and desires, he will be able to suggest an appropriate breast implant size for your body proportions. Then the fun part begins! We will give you a few sets of implants to try on to help you visualize your new body proportions. This will allow you to determine your choice of implant size with ease!

Once you find a size that you like, Dr. Castillo will talk in detail about what you can expect before, during, and after your breast augmentation surgery. Personally, I think thoroughness is one of Dr. Castillo’s best attributes. New patients (and long-standing ones too) continually comment on how much they appreciate both his willingness to be thorough during his explanation and that he is clear about realistic expectations and body proportions. Our goal is for you to gain the knowledge you need to make an educated decision that is BEST FOR YOU.

Speaking of decisions… I just want to be clear—you do not need to make a decision at your consultation appointment! No pressure! Think of this as a fact-finding mission. You can go home and think about the information your gathered during your consultation. Is breast augmentation right for you? Think about your experience with Dr. Castillo, our facility, and our staff. Are we the right team for you? Of course that being said, many of our patients do choose to schedule their surgeries while they’re here for their consultations. So, if that is what you prefer, we are able to get everything set up for you before your leave our office.

One of the more important things about having surgery in a private surgical facility rather than a hospital is that you will already know the staff prior to your surgery. The staff members that you meet during your consultation and pre-op visits will be with you on the day of your surgery, in your recovery room with you, checking in with you by phone after surgery, and at each of your post-operative visits.

I recommend checking out a few of my other blog posts on breast augmentation:

To meet with Dr. Castillo and learn more about breast augmentation, request a consultation or call our office in Champaign.

Best Regards!

Roxanne Grace
Skincare and Laser Specialist
G. D. Castillo, M.D.
COSMETIC PLASTIC SURGERY

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM

800-252-7123 (within IL)
217-359-7508 Savoy (Champaign-Urbana)

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Be Proactive! Here are Helpful Tips for Breast Augmentation Recovery

Monday, September 5th, 2016

Aside from the obvious “perks,” one of the reasons breast augmentation is so popular with our Champaign-area patients is that it offers a pretty quick recovery. Many of our patients also appreciate that they can combine the surgery with other Mommy Makeover procedures so they have only one recovery period. Whether you choose a breast augmentation or a full-scale Mommy Makeover, our goal at Cosmetic Plastic Surgery is to help you recover quickly so you can get back to your busy life as soon as possible.

In this blog post, I’ll offer some helpful tips for your recovery process.

Bras: To Wear or Not to Wear? That Is the Question!

On the day of your surgery you will return home in a comfy sports bra or wireless bra, pexels-photo-136409compliments of Dr. G.D. Castillo. Unless otherwise instructed, you will wear this bra continuously for the first three days after surgery. Then you can go without a bra or use a wireless or sports bra of your choice until Dr. Castillo gives you the green light to begin wearing underwire bras (which, by the way, you will no longer need!! Whoo hoo!).

NOTE: Because your body has to “make room” for the implants, the implants often sit higher than you expect for a few weeks until they are able settle properly in the pockets. You can help this along by going without a bra. That’s right! You just got a free pass to go without a bra! You can even claim “doctor’s orders!” Oh the perks!

Move It, Move It!

pexels-photoIf you are a movie buff, you may remember the scene from Madagascar where the animals are all dancing and moving their arms to the song I Like To Move It. Well, that type of movement is a little too vigorous for your first few days after surgery, but we don’t want you to baby those muscles. You can really speed up your recovery and eliminate soreness much more quickly by gently moving your arms around to keep those chest muscles from getting tighter. Just remember not to raise your hands above your head for the first week.

 

What to Wear, What to Wear?

Buttons and zippers are your new BFFs, at least for the first week. I recommend arriving to surgery in a loose button-up or zip-up top. It doesn’t feel good to try to pull a tight top over your head after surgery. You should avoid wearing pullover tops for about the first week. By the time you are released to raise your arms above the level of your head (6 days), you shouldn’t have any more wardrobe issues, except that your old tops may fit a bit tighter these days.

Massage

Six days after your surgery, you will return to our office for your first post-op visit. You will receive instructions on how to massage your breasts to improve recovery. Your breasts are going to be a little tender at first, but don’t give up. Massage is the key to maintaining free-moving, perky, and natural-looking breasts.

Exercise

If you exercise conscious, I realize this topic is an important one. Who wants to loose ground at the gym when they have this great new shape to show off? Exercise can also really boost your physical and mental state. We want to get you back to the gym as soon as your body is ready, but your pectoral muscles need a little healing time first.

You can expect to ease back into your workouts with a schedule that looks something like this:

  • Week 1: You will be asked to restrict exercise to light activity such as walking and moving your arms as described above.
  • Week 2: You are typically released to go back to the gym and engage in most activities at 50% of your normal level. You should refrain from running and jogging, and you should avoid pectoral exercises and any weight lifting that involves the pectoral muscles.
  • Week 3: Typically all restrictions will be lifted three weeks after surgery. That being said, it may not feel great when you first start running or jogging again. I suggest doubling up and wearing two sports bras for the first several weeks. This doubling-up method gives you the extra support you need, and it prevents excessive breast movement.

Once you’re fully recovered, it’s time for a little fun! I hope you enjoy all the perks of your new shape!

If you want to see our breast augmentation patients’ results, browse through our before-and-after photos. You can learn more about breast augmentation in the Champaign area by contacting us online or calling our office in Savoy at (217) 359-7508.

 

Roxanne Grace
Skincare and Laser Specialist
G. D. Castillo, M.D.
COSMETIC PLASTIC SURGERY

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM

800-252-7123 (within IL)
217-359-7508 Savoy (Champaign-Urbana)

 

 

 

 

 

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Ask Our Expert: How Soon After Breast Augmentation Can I Celebrate And Go Bra Shopping?

Thursday, April 21st, 2016

Ask Our Expert:

When can I go bra shopping after having a breast augmentation?

This is a great question. Bra shopping is one of the first things our breast augmentation patients in the Champaign area want to do after breast surgery! Honestly, I’ve even had patients who want to head to the mall straight from the recovery room! (Just to be clear, this is definitely not recommended!)

As I am often referred to as a “professional shopper,” I can absolutely relate to how anxious you are to rush out and load up on the cutest, sexiest, prettiest bras you can find. Who could blame you for wanting to showcase your beautiful new breasts? But here is the thing: you really need to wait for 6-8 weeks to break the bra bank.CPS Blog Photo 4578

Your final breast augmentation recovery will take time, and that’s especially true if you’ve also had a breast lift. Your breasts are going to go through a few stages and changes before they settle into their final shape and position. These changes affect how your bras fit and, ultimately, how you feel in them.

While most of your swelling will be gone within the first 10-14 days after your breast surgery, you will have a bit of residual swelling that needs to resolve over time. At first, your breast implants may also sit a little higher than you expected. This is because the chest muscles need to make room for the implant. Once there is more room in the pocket, your implants will assume their intended position, and then look out Victoria’s SecretCPS Blog Photo 5075, there’s a girl on a mission!

So, What’s a Girl to Do in the Meantime?

You will wake up from surgery already wearing a comfortable sports bra, compliments of Dr. Castillo and Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Center. Within 3-7 days, you will be able to go braless or wear a sports bra or wireless bra. My best advice is to harness your willpower and buy just one or two sports or wireless bras until Dr. Castillo lets you know the time to go shopping has finally come!  Then grab a girlfriend and make a day of it. You deserve it after exercising all that restraint!

If you haven’t yet had a breast augmentation, you can view some of our patients’ before-and-after photos to see the type of results you can expect.

To learn more about the breast augmentation process or to schedule a consultation, contact us online or call our office at (217) 359-7508 (Savoy).

Happy shopping!

Yours Truly,

Roxanne Grace Hammond
Skincare and Laser Specialist
G. D. Castillo, M.D

FACEBOOK.     INSTAGRAM

217-359-7508 Savoy (Champaign-Urbana)

 

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Helpful Explanation on Why You Want to Massage After Breast Augmentation

Thursday, October 15th, 2015

My thoughts on the value of massaging breast implants.

There is a controversy following breast surgery as to should breast implants be massaged or not, and in order to answer this question we need to go into just what happens during a breast augmentation.

CPS Blog Photo 5042 A breast augmentation typically done below the pectoral muscle (submuscular) is one in which a pocket is developed beneath the breast, above the thorax (chest cage), and in between the midline (the sternum), and the lateral border of the pectoral muscle just before the armpit (axilla).  This pocket needs to be large enough to accept and contain a breast implant.  We need to remember that a breast implant is typically an envelope filled with saline solution or an envelope filled with silicone gel.

In my Champaign cosmetic surgery practices, typically we use saline prostheses; however, these thoughts are applicable to both silicone and saline prostheses.  Neither saline solution or silicone gel can get hard; however, certain implants (breasts) become firm or hard.  So, how does this happen?  In order for an implant to feel firm or hard your body needs to make a capsule, that is, a cover over the implant that is tight.  This can happen even if it is not very thick.  We actually can make a good example by putting a piece of Kleenex on top of an implant and putting some pressure with that Kleenex over the implant, this will make the implant feel pretty hard.  So, it is not difficult to make an implant feel firm or hard if even a thin capsule becomes snug or tight over an implant.

Massaging will prevent this capsule over the implant from becoming “tight” over the implant.  This is done by moving the prosthesis up, down, towards the sternum and towards the axilla.  When one does this, there is more room inside of the pocket for the implant to fit in.  This keeps the implant feeling soft.  This is important not only because implant will feel soft but it is also important in the sense that an implant which moves freely inside of the pocket is one that allows the breast to move normally and behave as a natural breast.  A natural breast moves with normal chest movements so we could even say that there is a certain wiggle of the breast when one moves.  This is desirable and relates to the normality of a breast as compared to a breast that is fixed to the chest wall and it looks fake or unnatural which is typically the case when a prosthesis feels firm.

While we don’t know why some implants become firm in some people and do not in others, we do know that through massage, we can create a wide pocket for the implant to  “live” in.  This allows the implant to feel softer than it would if the pocket was tighter.  It is this simple reasoning that is the answer as to why it is not only desirable but also necessary to massage an implant after breast augmentation surgery.  There really are no drawbacks to massaging an implant.

We also need to remember that in order for an implant to be able to be massaged, it needs to be a prosthesis that is smooth.  Textured prostheses do not lend themselves to movement and so they should not be massaged.  By in large most Breast enhancement surgeries today in the United States are carried out with smooth prostheses, so the argument that all prostheses should be massaged is a good one.

G. D. Castillo, M.D.
COSMETIC PLASTIC SURGERY

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Ask Our Expert: Why are more breast augmentations done with implants rather than fat transplantation?

Friday, May 16th, 2014

 

QUESTION:  If fat transplantation can be used for breast augmentation, why is it that its done only in a few cases and most cases of breast augmentation are done with implants?

 

ANSWER:  Breast augmentation with fat transplantation has some limitations and those limitations have to do with:

 

  1. Availability of fat – one needs to have a fair amount of fatty tissue in order to harvest it from the area, while at the same time, contouring that area and creating  a pleasing shape.  Then the harvested fat needs to be transplanted into the breast tissue and incorporated into the breast tissue.  Fat is incorporated into the breast tissue at a slow rate (see #2).
  2. Large volume increase – the idea that during a single procedure of fat transplantation one can change the breast shape to be much larger is not quite possible.  It is not possible because fat needs to be incorporated as living tissue in the breast.  In order for this to happen, it needs to be placed in small amounts in multiple places so that the existing tissue develops new blood vessel circulation and incorporates this fatty tissue as normal living tissue.  For practical purposes, the breast can only be augmented by approximately 4 ounces per breast.  This is a smaller change than most people would like to have. 
  3. Cost – while one can increase the size of the breast in a very significant way with a single trip to surgery and the placement of saline or silicone implants, in order to accomplish the same thing with fat one would need to have several sessions of fat transplantation over a period of time in order to accomplish the same volume.

 

G.D. Castillo, M.D. FACS
Breast Augmentation Expert

 

 

 

 

 

G. D. Castillo, MD, FACS

Director of Cosmetic Plastic Surgery

https://www.cosmeticplasticsurgery.com/cosmetic-surgeon/

 

 

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ASK OUR EXPERT: FAT TRANSPLANTATION

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

 

Question:  Can Dr. Castillo take fat from my hips or stomach and put it into my breasts? 

Answer: The short answer to that question is yes; though, it is not as simple as it sounds. 

Fat transplantation to the breasts has been done for many years, starting in earnest around the mid 1980’s by many cosmetic surgeons. At that time, we did not have answers to important questions like:

  1. What, if any changes would fat create in breast tissue?
  2. Will these changes be misdiagnosed as disease and/or cancer in the future?

  Due to the lack of information available at that time, the use of fat transplantation to increase breast volume was never truly accepted or recommended.  However, early results indicated that it did work.

 Today we know that we can remove fat from anywhere in the body and transplant it to anywhere in the body with results that will accomplish

  1. an increase in volume
  2. an improvement in the skinFor example, if fat is transplanted underneath scar tissue, the scar tissue tends to remodel and turn into better skin.  In so far as increasing volume, fat transplantation needs to be done with quite a bit of care and by an experienced surgeon because if fat is placed in large lump quantities,  not only will the procedure be ineffective but it  is likely to create issues. Fat needs to be transplanted in very small amounts and in many areas within the breast and surrounding tissue in order to accomplish an increase in the volume of the breast. We can increase the volume of the breasts by approximately 120 cubic centimeters maximum. This is related to a limitation with the rate in which the body will incorporate this fat into the tissue. Fat that is placed in a new area needs to be colonized by small blood vessels and made into living tissue in whatever area it was transplanted.  This can only happen when it is transplanted in small amounts that are small enough to be able to be sustained by the microcirculation of the area.

Fat transplantation is best utilized for patients who are seeking small adjustments to their breast proportions.  If you desire to go from an A to a C cup size breast, fat transplantation will not give you your desired outcome.  To increase breast volume in a more significant way is better accomplished with breast implants. https://www.cosmeticplasticsurgery.com/cosmetic-surgery/breast-enlargement.cfm.

G.D. Castillo, M.D., FACS

Director of Cosmetic Plastic Surgery

https://www.cosmeticplasticsurgery.com/cosmetic-surgeon/

 

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Top 10 Reasons Women Elect To Get Breast Implants

Monday, February 6th, 2012

TOP 10 REASONS women elect to get breast implants:

Breast augmentation is one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries performed by Dr. Castillo  in his state-of-the-art surgical facility, Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Clinic in Savoy (Champaign-Urbana area). We are often told by our Champaign, Illinois breast augmentation patients, Illinois breast augmentation patients and patients from the surrounding area that their lives have been truly enhanced by their decision to have breast enlargement. The following are the most popular reasons women elect to have breast augmentation.

1. Larger Breasts – Some women simply would like to have larger breasts. Many women express that small breasts creates a more masculine feeling and they desire to feel more feminine.
2. Volume loss – After child birth / breast feeding, many women experience volume loss and develop sagging breasts. Implants can help to restore their lost volume and position. An increasing number of women utilize breast augmentation as part of a “mommy make-over” to restore their body when they are finished having children.
3. To improve their body balance – Increasing the breast size is often all that is needed to balance out your body proportions.
4. To improve their self-confidence.
5. Breast asymmetry – When one breast is smaller than the other, breast augmentation is often used to equalize the breast size and shape.
6. After weight loss – Weight loss can create significant changes in the shape and size of your breasts. Implants can help to restore the shape and size.
7. Breast shape – Breast Implants can help create a fuller, round breast shape or a natural tear drop shape and increase your cleavage.
8.To increase clothing options Breast Deflation  – Breast augmentation will allow you to wear clothing styles that you were unable to wear prior to surgery.
9. Breast ptosis – Breast ptosis (sagging) occurs for a number of reasons, including age, pregnancy, breast feeding, weight loss, and excessive sun exposure. Implants can add volume or fullness to restore a more youthful look to an otherwise sagging breast.
10. Improve self-esteem– As women, we are our own worst critic. Having breasts that in some way make us feel less than adequate can have a large impact on our self-esteem.

Roxanne Hammond, RMA
Skincare and Laser Specialist
G. D. Castillo, M.D.
COSMETIC PLASTIC SURGERY
https://www.cosmeticplasticsurgery.com

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM   800-252-7123 (within IL)
217-359-7508 Savoy (Champaign-Urbana)

Roxanne, Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Clinic

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The Safety Of Breast Implants

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

A recent announcement effecting PIP implants is the corollary of a long string of problems that the French
manufacturer has had with their breast implants.  A company named Poly Implant Prosthetics,
based in France, produced silicone breast implants and utilized non-approved industrial silicone
to fill such implants.  Because of multiple problems with these particular implants, they were the subject of a
medical device alert with the recall of all implanted stocks.  It is evident that PIP breast implants have
been sold in approximately 64 different countries throughout the world, and
there appears to be a question of genotoxicity with these implants.  Fortunately for all of those in the United
States, PIP implants were never approved by the FDA.  Therefore, the only patients that may be
effected in the United States may be those who traveled abroad to have their
surgery, or those very few breast implants that may have been done by
physicians using non FDA approved implants.

It is worthwhile to ponder the point of safety in implants, and in that respect, a
careful plastic surgeon in the United States would use companies that have long
track records and approved FDA implants. There are two companies that produceimplants in the United States;
Allergan and Mentor. Allergan http://www.allergan.com/treatments/medical_aesthetics/breast_aesthetics.htm produces the line of McGhan implants (both saline
and silicone), and Mentor www.mentorwwllc.com/global-us/Breast.aspx produces both saline and silicone implants as well.
Both of these companies are well diversified, well funded, and their line of breast
implants follow strict guidelines and a registry.  The registry means that the breast implants
that are produced have serial and lot numbers that can be traced to the patient
who was implanted with such device.  In case of any type of difficulty with the implant, the physician and/or
manufacturer would be able to communicate with the effected patient through their physician.  Both Allergan and Mentor have stellar records
of patient safety with their implants.

I have been performing breast augmentation with implants produced by Allergan or Mentor in my
Champaign, Illinois, Cosmetic Plastic Surgery practice for more
than 25 years.  Their reliability is outstanding with a less than 1% deflation rate in saline implants.  Most of our patients choose saline implants
due to their very low problem ratio and great patient acceptance and satisfaction.

 

Feel free to
address any questions regarding implants, safety, breast implant surgery, or
other cosmetic procedures to us at any time.

 

Dr. Castillo, Premieir Breast Surgeon in Central Illinois

G.D. Castillo, M.D.

COSMETIC PLASTIC SURGERY

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https://www.cosmeticplasticsurgery.com

800-252-7123 (within IL)

217-359-7508 Savoy (Champaign-Urbana)

 

 

 

 

 

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