Why should I choose Benenden Hospital for my breast augmentation surgery?

Benenden Hospital offers a fixed price package for cosmetic surgery. You can come and see your consultant and pay an initial fee to see them. And then if you want to proceed with surgery, it's a one-off cost which covers your pre-ops, your post-ops, your follow-ups, everything is included. So there's nothing for you to worry about. Benenden Hospital is CQC rated Outstanding and we do pride ourselves on this.

Will implants make my breasts feel firmer?

Breast firmness following breast augmentation surgery depends on the type of implant that you've used. The softer the implant, the softer the breast will feel. However, it is put behind the breast tissue, so they do tend to still feel like breast following the surgery. But ultimately, they can be a little bit firmer than they were before.

How long will it take for the scars to heal?

Following breast augmentation surgery, you will have some scars. These heal like any other scars do, so it's important to know how your body heals. If you have any scars, how they look, have they faded quite nicely. Generally, scarring is pretty quick, but it takes up to 12 to 18 months to fully settle and heal. Some people are prone to hypertrophic or keloid scarring. So if you know that you have a history of this, please let us know at your appointment.

How long does breast enhancement surgery take?

Breast augmentation surgery takes approximately an hour to an hour and a half in surgery. This is done under a general anaesthetic. So you'll be asleep for the procedure.

How do I prepare for breast enhancement surgery?

Preparing for breast augmentation surgery is pretty similar to preparing for any cosmetic surgery. We want you to be at your optimum health. If you are a smoker, we will ask you to stop before and for a period of time after surgery, this could be around six weeks. Vitamins and herbal supplements will need to be stopped before surgery for about two weeks. But we will go through this in more detail at your pre-op appointment.

It's important that you take the time in your appointments to make sure that you're happy with the implants that you've chosen, the size, the shape, that they're the ones that you really want. This is the most important part. The surgery is quite quick. It's about an hour, an hour and a half. So the preparation is key.

What are the benefits of breast enhancement surgery?

Breast augmentation, also known as a boob job or breast enhancement, is great if you have small breasts and you want to make them a little bit larger. Using implants, we use a specific size so you know how much bigger they're going to be. You can also use fat transfer for a small and subtle increase in size. They're also very good at helping to improve any asymmetry that you might have or if you have tuberous breasts, helping to fill those out and make them slightly more round. If you have had any breast tissue loss following pregnancy, breastfeeding, or weight loss, implants are a great option for that.

What should I expect after breast enhancement surgery?

Following your breast augmentation surgery, you'll wake up in recovery with your post-op compression surgical bra on. We recommend that you keep this on for six weeks following the surgery. Depending on what time you return to your room and how well you recover after surgery, you may be able to go home the same day or you might stay in with us overnight and go home the next morning.

You'll be seen by myself for a wound check appointment 1 to 2 weeks post-op and by your consultant about six weeks following surgery and again around about three months, if necessary. We don't recommend that you drive for about 10 to 14 days and make sure that you're safe and able to do so.

Why would I have breast enhancement surgery?

Breast augmentation, also known as a boob job or breast enhancement, is good for making the breasts larger. If you feel that you have small breasts, this can be done using implants as well as fat transfer, which is for a more small and marginal increase in size. They can also help to fill out after pregnancies if you've got a loss of volume and lift ever so slightly. There are different ranges of implants that we use.

So you can have textured implants, you can have micro-textured, and you can have smooth implants. They also come in round and teardrops. So they're different shapes, designed for the different breasts and the different take-off depending on what you want.

How long after breast enhancement surgery until I can drive?

Following breast augmentation surgery, we don't recommend that you drive for about 10 to 14 days and make sure that you're safe and able to do so. It's also important to check with your insurance that you are covered. We also don't recommend that you do any heavy vigorous exercise for about six weeks following your surgery. You can do some light, gentle things such as walking after about 2 to 4 weeks. But if you're not sure, do discuss this with us.

So my name's Olivia Masters. I'm 29 and I live in Tenterden. I self-paid for breast augmentation at Benenden Hospital back in April.

I never didn't like my breasts, I was never not unhappy with them but I like the shape of them and everything, but for me it was just the volume. I'd wear dresses and things and I'd wear like two sizes bigger bras that would never fit me and I would always just want that look and never had it and I just thought I'm just going to do it. I've always wanted to do it so why not do it?

Well I've always loved Benenden Hospital I've been a Benenden Health member for years. Obviously I absolutely love the hospital, I think it's very clean, everyone's really lovely and I actually went online and I know Benenden didn't do cosmetic self-pay surgery and I didn't know if they did breast argumentation and I went online and Googled it and it came up as a new thing they've just introduced and I joined their webinar with Dr Mackey and absolutely loved it and booked in for a consultation.

So I came in and met Dr Mackey, the surgeon, and Kate the nurse as well. Obviously both really, really lovely and obviously they answered all my questions I had. We went through different implants, he went through obviously all of the things I needed to know including, obviously, risks and everything. But I absolutely loved it and Kate was brilliant I literally emailed her and with within about half an hour she'd always respond so quickly to any other questions I had so I just thought it was brilliant.

Well I've always found Benenden such a clean hospital and obviously all the staff are so lovely and friendly and yeah I just found as well, when I was sitting there waiting, all of the staff were just laughing, everyone had a smile on their face, which for me is such a big part of it, because you just know that obviously it's such a lovely place to work.

So the improvements they've made for me is of massive confidence. I know now for certain I can wear certain dresses and tops and just feel a lot more confident and I can actually wear dresses actually with no bra - that is amazing so they just stay there. I always used to do that and I would just have nothing and I remember just feeling really self-conscious or wearing like a two sizes bigger padded bra that was just didn't fit me at all.

But now I just feel so much more confident, so I'm absolutely over the moon with my breast augmentation. I'm so happy I had it done at Benenden Hospital and I would recommend it to anybody that wanted it done. I would always say come to Benenden Hospital -  it's the best!