Most women who have breast augmentation performed are exceedingly satisfied with their results. Breast augmentation can provide beautiful and natural-looking outcomes, creating a greater sense of harmony between your breasts and the rest of your body, or even correcting issues of breast asymmetry.
Such results may not be obvious right away. Immediately following surgery, you can anticipate some swelling and bruising, which make it more difficult to discern the final outcome of your surgery. For some patients, it takes several weeks before they have a good sense of their final breast size.
There are steps you can take to ensure a smooth, safe, and expedient healing process. One of the most important steps is to wear supportive garments, as instructed by your surgeon. But is it necessary to wear a bra or a compression garment to bed each night?
Immediately After Surgery
Immediately after your breast augmentation surgery, the answer is yes.
When you wake up after your breast augmentation procedure, your chest will be wrapped in soft dressings. These dressings need to remain in place for 24 hours. When the dressing is removed, it will be replaced with a soft support bra, which helps your breasts to heal but does not adversely impact their final shape.
Generally speaking, you will need to wear this bra non-stop for two weeks. It can be removed when you shower, but other than that, we advise leaving it in place. This includes at night, as you sleep.
After about two weeks, your surgeon will likely give you the green light to switch to another bra of your choosing. We may recommend steering clear of underwire bras, especially if your incision is located under your breast fold. (An underwire bra may irritate this type of incision, creating difficulty or discomfort during your recovery.)
At this point, wearing your bra at night may be optional. However, for patients whose breast augmentation involves reshaping existing scar tissue, we usually recommend that you continue wearing a bra while you sleep for at least six weeks.
