If this is the result you’re after, it is perhaps worth being aware of all the risks involved.

As the use of breast cosmetic surgery has increased over the last 20 years, we have become accustomed to seeing all sorts of extreme transformations, dictated by fashion or by distorted aesthetic models. However, surgeons now have the moral obligation to help patients reach more sensible decisions, based on the awareness of the problems arising from oversized prostheses.

It is often the plastic surgeon him or herself who – in order to honour the requests of a patient, or in order not to lose a patient – tends to underestimate the risks associated with large implants. On more than one occasion, I have had to turn down a request for surgery because I felt that I was being asked to provide a result that was completely out of proportion with the patient’s overall frame. This situation occurs particularly with very young patients, who may be so determined to achieve the extra-large result that they have dreamt of that they are unwilling to accept an explanation of possible risks.

Larger breast implants, because of the pressure they exert on the gland tissue, subcutaneous tissue and on the skin envelope, can cause atrophy (thinning) of these tissues. In the best-case scenarios this will lead to visibility of the implants, chronic discomfort, stretch marks, loss of sensation, loss of the ability to breastfeed, sinmastia (breasts touching each other along the chest midline) and ptosis (sagginess). In the worst-case scenarios this can lead to skin ulceration, with exposure and extrusion of the implant.