Preservé vs Traditional Breast Augmentation: Recovery Differences

Preservé is a tissue-preserving approach to breast augmentation. It maintains the ligament structure around the breast, allowing implants to be placed more precisely — and more likely to stay where they're placed. But how does recovery compare to a traditional augmentation?

The Preservé procedure itself is a bit faster in the operating room versus a traditional augmentation, but in truth, both surgeries are very quick. I'm going to disagree with some of my colleagues here — I find that patients who have local anesthesia and sedation versus general anesthesia wake up with the same speed. They're home in 20 minutes. As long as you have a skilled anesthesiologist who knows what they're doing, there's really no difference between the anesthesia types.

From a pain standpoint, the recovery is essentially identical between these two groups. Both groups in my practice rarely use their opioid medicines. They're very comfortable on Gabapentin and Motrin combined with long-acting numbing agents.

The real difference is with activity and what we allow patients to do. You'll find different surgeons with different activity restrictions, but in my practice:

Preservé patients:

• Exercise immediately
• Lay on their side immediately
• Return to normal life right away

Traditional augmentation patients:

• No exercise until two weeks after surgery
• Full exercise at one month
• No sleeping on their side until one month

The main difference is that Preservé is tissue-preserving — you maintain the ligament structure around the breast. We believe this allows implants to be placed more precisely, and they're more likely to stay in position long-term.

Both are awesome options, and I perform both in my practice all the time.