UNDERSTANDING THE PROCEDURE
What Is Breast Augmentation?
Breast augmentation, or augmentation mammaplasty, is surgery that places a breast implant to add or restore volume. It can change fullness, projection, and proportion, but it does not automatically lift a breast that sits lower on the chest, guarantee symmetry, or create one predetermined shape.
At her Scottsdale practice, Ashley Howarth, MD, FACS, evaluates chest and breast dimensions, tissue coverage, breast position, asymmetry, and goals before recommending a plan. Implant dimensions, incision access, and pocket position are connected choices rather than isolated upgrades.
EVERY DECISION IS PERSONAL
Why Women Consider Breast Augmentation
Women consider augmentation after development, pregnancy, breastfeeding, weight change, or simply because they prefer different proportions. None of these concerns makes surgery necessary. Consultation is where the requested change is considered alongside anatomy, alternatives, and the tradeoffs of implants.
- Restore volume after pregnancy or weight change
- Add fullness that fits your frame
- Refine upper-pole or overall breast shape
- Improve a difference in breast volume
- Choose proportions that feel more like you
The goal is not a prescribed look. It is a proportionate result planned for your anatomy.
A THOUGHTFUL CONVERSATION
Breast Augmentation Candidacy, Alternatives, and Consultation
Breast augmentation may be appropriate for a healthy adult who wants to add or restore volume and has realistic expectations about implants, scars, healing, surveillance, and possible future surgery. Candidacy also depends on breast position, tissue coverage, skin, asymmetry, health history, nicotine use, and the change requested.
During consultation, Dr. Howarth determines whether augmentation alone fits or whether a breast lift, fat transfer, a staged plan, or waiting better serves your priorities. Preference photographs can describe direction, but another woman’s anatomy or result is not transferable.
When Surgery May Not Be the Right Choice
The purpose of consultation is to identify the most appropriate next step—not to presume that an operation is needed. Dr. Howarth may recommend waiting, further evaluation, a different setting or approach, nonsurgical care, or no surgery when that is the more appropriate recommendation.
PERSONAL DECISIONS. THOUGHTFUL CARE.
Privacy During Breast Surgery Consultation and Care
Questions about breast surgery can feel personal. When you contact us, you can tell us whether you prefer a call or text. Your consultation with Dr. Howarth is a thoughtful conversation about your anatomy, concerns, and goals.
JUDGMENT MATTERS
Choosing a Breast Augmentation Surgeon: Why Dr. Howarth
Ashley Howarth, MD, FACS, is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Scottsdale, an Instructor in Plastic Surgery at Mayo Clinic, and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Her background includes nine years of formal surgical training in general, plastic, and reconstructive surgery.
Breast augmentation is not simply a choice of implant size. Dr. Howarth connects breast-base dimensions, tissue coverage, skin, asymmetry, implant dimensions, incision access, and pocket position as one plan. She determines which choices may fit only after reviewing your health, examining your anatomy, and understanding the aesthetic direction you are considering.
Your consultation should leave you understanding why augmentation alone does or does not fit, how the surgical choices work together, and what reasonable alternatives would change.
Dr. Howarth participates in the National Breast Implant Registry (NBIR), the national device-safety registry maintained by The Plastic Surgery Foundation.
PLASTIC SURGERY
OF SURGEONS
SCOTTSDALE · MODERN OFFICE SETTING
FROM CONSULTATION TO CONFIDENCE
Breast Augmentation Consultation and Patient Care Coordination
From your first inquiry, your patient care coordinator helps organize scheduling, estimates, financing, forms, travel, and follow-up logistics. Dr. Howarth and her clinical team answer medical questions and make all clinical recommendations.
A thoughtful conversation.
Your patient care coordinator can arrange an in-person or virtual consultation with Dr. Howarth and explain what information to have ready. The consultation focuses on your health history, anatomy, concerns, and goals. An in-person examination is completed before the operative plan is finalized.
Clear information before you decide.
After Dr. Howarth recommends a plan, your coordinator can review the written estimate, available financing options, scheduling requirements, forms, and next steps. Your coordinator can explain the practice process and help you understand what is needed before you decide whether to schedule.
Practical details, clearly organized.
If you are traveling to Scottsdale from elsewhere in Arizona or out of state, your coordinator can help align required appointment dates and share planning guidance for consultation, surgery, and follow-up. Dr. Howarth and her clinical team provide individualized medical and recovery guidance.
PLANNED FOR YOUR ANATOMY
Your Breast Augmentation Options
Implant Dimensions
Width, volume, projection, gel characteristics, and shell design are considered together with your breast base, tissue coverage, torso, and desired change.
Incision and Pocket
Incision access and pocket position are connected choices shaped by anatomy, the selected implant, tissue coverage, activity, and prior surgery.
Augmentation or Lift
An implant adds volume; a lift addresses position and excess skin. Consultation determines whether one, both, or a staged plan may fit.
Aesthetic Direction
Your preferred silhouette guides the conversation, while anatomy, tissue, device characteristics, and the complete operation determine which choices may reasonably fit.
A CLEAR, INDIVIDUALIZED PLAN
What to Expect on the Day of Breast Augmentation
Breast augmentation is generally performed as an outpatient procedure. The setting, anesthesia, implant, incision, pocket, and any combined procedure are confirmed for your individual plan. Dr. Howarth performs the procedure and reviews the operative plan with you before surgery begins.
Your plan, confirmed with you.
Dr. Howarth reviews the surgical markings, selected implant, incision, and pocket with you. The team confirms preparation, medication, fasting when required, and the anesthesia plan before the procedure begins.
Care matched to your surgical plan.
After anesthesia, Dr. Howarth creates the planned incision and pocket, places the selected implant, and closes the tissues according to the operation discussed with you.
Clear instructions and a direct next step.
Monitoring continues during early recovery. Before discharge, the team reviews written guidance for dressings, medication, activity, postoperative support, warning signs, and follow-up. Transportation and responsible-adult requirements are explained in advance.
CLEAR INFORMATION. INFORMED CHOICES.
Breast Augmentation Safety, Risks, and Limitations
Breast augmentation has general surgical risks and implant-specific considerations. Careful patient selection, individualized planning, and appropriate follow-up are intended to reduce risk, but complications cannot be eliminated. Dr. Howarth reviews how your health, breast tissue, prior surgery, the selected device, nicotine exposure, medications, and operative plan affect individual risk.
Breast implants are not lifetime devices, and there is no universal replacement date. [1] Current labeling and the Patient Decision Checklist for the exact implant help place uncommon risks and long-term responsibilities in context before surgery.
Possible Complications Include
- Bleeding, infection, fluid collection, or delayed healing
- Capsular contracture, firmness, pain, or position change
- Rupture, leakage, rippling, visibility, or palpability
- Asymmetry, contour difference, or dissatisfaction
- Changes in nipple or breast sensation
- Future imaging, treatment, removal, or revision surgery
What Surgery Cannot Guarantee
- A precise cup size or another patient’s result
- Perfect symmetry or cleavage independent of anatomy
- Invisible scars or unchanged sensation
- Implants that never require monitoring or future surgery
- A result unaffected by pregnancy, weight change, aging, or gravity
HEALING HAPPENS IN STAGES
Breast Augmentation Recovery
Recovery after breast augmentation varies with implant position, the extent of surgery, daily demands, and individual healing. The stages below are a general overview rather than a schedule. Your clinical instructions take priority.
Swelling, tightness, soreness, and temporary sensation changes are common early. Most patients plan for a quieter start while following their instructions.
Comfort, medication use, mobility, work demands, and healing guide driving and the gradual return to ordinary routines.
Lifting, impact, chest-focused movement, and exercise return later. Timing depends on the pocket, combined procedures, healing, and clinical guidance.
Swelling resolves, tissues relax, scars mature, and breast position and softness continue changing after ordinary routines have resumed.
BEFORE & AFTER GALLERIES
Private Breast Augmentation Before & After Gallery
Breast Augmentation before-and-after photographs can feel deeply personal. As both a woman and a surgeon, Ashley Howarth, MD, FACS, understands the trust involved in sharing them. Howarth Plastic Surgery in Scottsdale makes galleries of real patient results available by request through private before-and-after reviews.
Keeping breast augmentation before-and-after galleries off unrestricted public pages helps preserve patient dignity and clinical context while limiting casual viewing, unauthorized reposting, and collection by automated systems or AI agents.
During your private before-and-after review, you can see a range of breast augmentation results and discuss how starting anatomy, surgical choices, healing, and time influenced each outcome. These photographs can support an informed consultation, but individual results vary, and no image can predict your outcome.
PATIENT CASE SUMMARIES
Selected Breast Augmentation Case Summaries
These deidentified case summaries illustrate how Ashley Howarth, MD, FACS, evaluates breast augmentation at Howarth Plastic Surgery in Scottsdale, Arizona. Each case connects patient goals and anatomy with implant selection, pocket planning, related procedures, or a recommendation not to operate. To protect patient privacy, some nonclinical identifying details have been generalized or modified. Individual anatomy, procedures, healing, and results vary.
Case 01
Petite frame
A petite breast base required implant dimensions matched to the patient's frame
Patient presentation
The patient wanted fuller breasts while maintaining a proportionate silhouette and avoiding an implant that appeared too wide for her chest.
Clinical evaluation
Dr. Howarth evaluated breast base width, tissue coverage, chest dimensions, skin elasticity, nipple position, and reasonable projection.
Procedure performed
Breast augmentation was performed using implant dimensions selected to fit the patient's breast base and soft-tissue envelope.
Clinical rationale
Width, projection, tissue coverage, and chest-wall relationships were considered together rather than selecting by volume alone.
Follow-up
Follow-up evaluated implant position, incision healing, symmetry, and settling within the natural breast boundaries.
Case 02
Postpartum volume
Postpartum volume loss prompted an augmentation versus breast lift decision
Patient presentation
The patient reported lost upper-breast fullness after pregnancy and wanted volume restored without a lift unless necessary.
Clinical evaluation
Examination separated deflation from nipple descent and assessed skin laxity, tissue distribution, and the available breast envelope.
Procedure performed
Breast augmentation was performed after examination showed volume restoration could address the primary concern without mastopexy.
Clinical rationale
An implant restores volume but does not reliably correct significant nipple descent or excess skin.
Follow-up
Follow-up evaluated implant settling, breast shape, skin accommodation, and the original volume concern.
Case 03
Breast asymmetry
Pre-existing breast asymmetry required a side-specific augmentation plan
Patient presentation
The patient wanted augmentation and improvement of a breast size and shape difference.
Clinical evaluation
Dr. Howarth compared breast base width, volume, fold position, nipple position, chest-wall anatomy, and coverage on each side.
Procedure performed
Breast augmentation was performed with side-specific implant and pocket planning.
Clinical rationale
Equal implants do not always improve side-to-side balance when starting anatomy differs.
Follow-up
Follow-up documented implant position, fold relationships, nipple alignment, and expected residual asymmetry.
Case 04
Active lifestyle
An athletic patient's chest activity influenced breast implant pocket planning
Patient presentation
The patient exercised frequently and wanted added volume while minimizing visible implant movement during upper-body activity.
Clinical evaluation
Dr. Howarth assessed pectoral activity, tissue thickness, breast dimensions, implant visibility risk, and pocket tradeoffs.
Procedure performed
Breast augmentation was performed using a pocket and implant plan selected for the patient's anatomy and activity priorities.
Clinical rationale
Pocket placement affects coverage, visibility, and movement with muscle contraction.
Follow-up
Follow-up evaluated implant stability, breast contour, healing, and the staged return to activity.
Case 05
Upper-pole fullness
A request for upper-pole fullness required expectation matching before breast augmentation
Patient presentation
The patient wanted more visible upper-pole fullness while maintaining proportions that fit her chest and existing breast shape.
Clinical evaluation
Examination considered breast width, tissue thickness, skin capacity, existing shape, implant profile, and the degree of upper-pole change the tissues could support.
Procedure performed
Breast augmentation was performed with an implant selected for measured volume and anatomical fit.
Clinical rationale
Breast augmentation planning must reconcile the requested upper-pole contour with tissue limits and implant dimensions rather than treating fullness as a volume choice alone.
Follow-up
Follow-up assessed implant settling, upper-pole contour, symmetry, and alignment with the patient's stated preference.
Case 06
Surgery deferred
Breast augmentation was deferred when future changes could undermine the plan
Patient presentation
The patient anticipated pregnancy or substantial weight change and remained uncertain about her desired size and shape.
Clinical evaluation
Dr. Howarth reviewed anatomy, skin quality, reproductive plans, weight stability, health, and expectations.
Recommendation
Breast augmentation was not recommended at that time, with reassessment advised after her body and goals stabilized.
Clinical rationale
Predictable breast and weight changes could lead to avoidable stretching, volume change, or early revision.
Follow-up
The patient received guidance about factors supporting future candidacy.
PLANNING WITH CLARITY
Breast Augmentation Cost, Financing, and Travel to Scottsdale
Breast Augmentation Cost
At Howarth Plastic Surgery in Scottsdale, primary breast augmentation typically costs $14,000 to $19,500. More complex or combined surgical plans may exceed this range. Your final fee depends on implant selection, the operative plan, anesthesia, and surgical setting. After consultation with Dr. Howarth, you will receive a personalized written estimate for the plan she recommends.
Financing Options
Howarth Plastic Surgery is a cash-pay practice and does not accept or bill insurance. Your patient care coordinator can review financing through PatientFi and CareCredit, subject to third-party approval.
Planning Care in Scottsdale
If you are traveling from elsewhere in Arizona or out of state, out-of-town patient information can help you plan around consultation, surgery, and follow-up. Required appointment dates, how long to remain nearby, and when travel may resume are individualized. An initial consultation may take place virtually, but an in-person examination is required before the operative plan is finalized.
QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING
Breast Augmentation Frequently Asked Questions
Selection involves width, projection, fill, tissue coverage, chest dimensions, and the degree of change requested—not volume alone. Bra cup sizes are inconsistent. The Breast Implant Selection guide explains the decision in depth.
Implants add volume; a lift changes skin excess and breast and nipple position. Some patients benefit from one, both, or a staged plan. Examination clarifies which concern is dominant.
A restrained, body-matched result may be possible, but “natural” means different things to different women. Anatomy, tissue coverage, implant dimensions, pocket, and healing shape the result. Consultation should translate the look you mean into specific choices and limits.
Neither is best for everyone. They differ in fill, feel, failure behavior, incision considerations, available dimensions, FDA age labeling, and monitoring. Current labeling for the exact implant should guide the discussion.
Placement may be above or below the pectoralis muscle or use another anatomy-specific plane. Tissue coverage, activity, breast shape, and possible movement or edge visibility influence the choice.
Every augmentation leaves a permanent incision line. Possible locations include the breast fold, areolar edge, or axilla. The chosen location depends on the implant and plan; scars usually fade but remain variable.
Swelling, tightness, and soreness are common early. Daily activity returns gradually, while work, driving, lifting, exercise, caregiving, and travel depend on medication use, pocket, job demands, follow-up, and individual healing.
Implants are not lifetime devices, but there is no universal replacement date. The chance of a complication and another operation increases over time. Follow-up and recommended imaging guide decisions.
Current FDA labeling recommends ultrasound or MRI for rupture screening beginning five to six years after silicone implant surgery and every two to three years afterward, even without symptoms. Concerns may require earlier evaluation.
Yes. Continue age- and risk-appropriate breast screening and tell the imaging center about the implants. Implant surveillance does not replace routine breast-health screening.
At Howarth Plastic Surgery in Scottsdale, primary breast augmentation typically costs $14,000 to $19,500. More complex or combined surgical plans may exceed this range. Your final fee depends on implant selection, the operative plan, anesthesia, and surgical setting. After consultation with Dr. Howarth, you will receive a personalized written estimate for the plan she recommends.
Travel may be possible when consultation, surgery, and follow-up can be planned safely. Timing depends on the procedure and clinical recommendations. Begin with the Out-of-Town Patient guide and the coordinator.
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