Best Sleeping Position After Breast Augmentation
Breast augmentation enhances the size and shape of the bustline so that women feel more confident in their appearance. Breast augmentation has a high rate of surgical success, but the ultimate effects of treatment depend largely on how patients take care of themselves following surgery.
Sleep is especially important in the days and weeks following breast augmentation, but the way a person sleeps also matters. Sleep position after breast augmentation can affect how incisions heal and how breast implants settle. Dr. Gregory T. Mesna offers his Minneapolis, MN, patients the following tips for sleeping comfortably after their cosmetic treatment. This post-op advice will help promote quick healing and a problem-free recovery.
Why Rest and Sleep Position Matter
After breast augmentation the body has to work hard to heal and recover. This takes a lot of energy. It is common for patients to feel extremely fatigued in the first several days following breast augmentation. Rest allows the body to recharge and encourages a healthy immune system that is essential to healing.
We encourage our Minneapolis patients to rest as much as possible following their surgical procedure. But the way they sleep is important. The goals after breast augmentation are to minimize swelling around the breasts, encourage blood flow, and alleviate pressure from incision sites and implants. Some sleeping positions are better for this than others.
Sleeping on Your Back Is Best
After breast augmentation, the best way to sleep is on the back, and preferably with the body slightly propped up while reclined. Back sleeping in a reclined position improves circulation so that blood flows freely to and from the surgical site. This helps to reduce swelling and improve comfort.
Sleeping in a reclined position also keeps pressure off the breasts so that incisions do not get pulled or disturbed as they are healing. The breast implants have a chance to settle into their position.
Finally, a reclined sleeping position improves mobility and makes it possible to get out of bed without using the arm or chest muscles. Patients should rest their upper arm and chest muscles during breast augmentation recovery.
Tips for Sleeping Comfortably
Many of our Minneapolis patients sleep on their side or stomach, so switching to a reclined sleeping position during breast augmentation recovery can be difficult. We recommend these tips for making the transition comfortably:
- Switch to sleeping on your back several days prior to surgery, so the body has time to adjust
- Use extra pillows (or special positioning pillows) to support you in a reclined position
- Consider sleeping in a recliner if a bed does not feel comfortable
- If sleeping on your back causes pain in the lower back, place a pillow beneath the knees to hold the spine in proper alignment
When Can I Return to Side or Stomach Sleeping?
Once people get used to sleeping on their back, some find that they prefer it. It is especially common for those who have increased their breast size significantly to find that sleeping on the side or stomach is no longer comfortable. However, for those who never quite adjust to back sleeping, the switch doesn’t have to be permanent.
Sleeping on your side can usually be resumed a couple of weeks after breast augmentation. Sleeping on your stomach should be avoided until the breasts are fully healed, which usually takes between four and six weeks. Be sure to observe all post-op sleeping instructions provided during follow-up visits to our practice.
Get In Touch
If you are considering breast augmentation and would like to learn more about the procedure and the recovery that follows, Dr. Mesna would be happy to meet with you. To schedule a personal consultation, contact our practice online or call (952) 927-4556.
