Breast augmentation adds volume and refines shape with an implant, chosen to your anatomy. Dr Thomas Colson uses Mentor and Motiva implants at SKMC, places them dual-plane or retroglandular by soft-tissue cover, and often combines them with your own fat for a natural, made-to-measure result.
Breast augmentation adds volume and reshapes the breast using an implant. Dr Thomas Colson uses Mentor and Motiva implants, smooth or nano-textured, and plans volume, projection and position with a Crisalix 3D simulation at the consultation.
The implant pocket is chosen from the soft-tissue cover: a dual-plane pocket when the pinch test is under ~3 cm, or a retroglandular (prepectoral) pocket when it is over ~3 cm — unless the patient prefers otherwise. Three incisions are available: inframammary, periareolar and transaxillary.
For small frames, Dr Colson favours modest volumes (often under 300 cc) for a natural result. In most patients he combines the implant with the patient's own fat — a composite (hybrid) augmentation — to refine shape and correct natural asymmetry that an implant alone cannot.
Placed before surgery, it reduces the strong painkillers needed afterwards and supports a faster, more comfortable recovery. Surgery is ambulatory (day-case) at SKMC.
The implant is introduced with a Keller Funnel no-touch technique, limiting contact between the implant and the skin during insertion.
In line with UAE Department of Health guidelines on modesty and medical advertising, breast surgical results are not published online. Outcomes relevant to your own anatomy are reviewed privately during your consultation, alongside a Crisalix 3D simulation of your planned result.
Some discomfort is normal in the early days. Our guide to pain after breast augmentation explains what is normal and when to seek help.
Breast augmentation is a well-established operation and most recoveries are uneventful. It remains surgery, and an implant is a medical device rather than a permanent part of the body. Dr Colson reviews each of the following with every patient before consent. They are set out here so that the decision is made on complete information, not on benefits alone.
| Risk | What it means | How it is managed |
|---|---|---|
| Capsular contracture | The scar capsule that forms around any implant can tighten, making the breast firm, high-riding, distorted or painful. It can appear months or years after surgery. | Graded clinically (Baker I–IV). Grade III–IV is treated surgically — see capsular contracture. |
| Implant rupture | An implant shell can fail with time. Silicone rupture is often silent and causes no symptom at all. | Suspected on examination, confirmed by ultrasound or MRI, treated by exchange — see implant rupture. |
| Further surgery over time | Implants are not lifetime devices. A proportion of patients will need another operation during their lifetime — for contracture, rupture, malposition, or simply a change of preference. | Planned for from the outset and reviewed at long-term follow-up — see implant revision. |
| Change in nipple or skin sensation | Numbness, hypersensitivity or altered nipple feeling is common in the early months and usually improves. It can be permanent in a minority of patients. | Discussed before the incision and pocket are chosen; the periareolar route carries the greater sensory risk. |
| Bleeding (haematoma) and infection | Uncommon early complications. Both can require a return to theatre and, rarely, temporary implant removal. | Sterile no-touch insertion and perioperative antibiotics; warning signs are listed in pain after breast augmentation. |
| Rippling, palpability, asymmetry, malposition | Implant edges can be visible or palpable, particularly in thin patients with a prepectoral pocket. The two sides never match exactly, and an implant can sit too high, too low or too lateral. | Pocket and implant chosen for the available soft-tissue cover; fat grafting used to camouflage edges; residual small asymmetry is normal. |
| Breastfeeding and breast imaging | Most women can breastfeed after augmentation, but it cannot be guaranteed. Implants obscure part of the breast tissue on standard mammography. | The radiologist is told that implants are present, and additional (Eklund) views, ultrasound or MRI are used. Routine breast screening continues as normal. |
| Scarring | Every incision leaves a permanent scar. Scars mature over 12–18 months and can remain thicker or pigmented in some skin types. | Incision site chosen with the patient; scar-care protocol from the second week. |
| Anaesthetic and thromboembolic risk | As for any surgery, including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. | Pre-operative assessment and early mobilisation. Calf pain, chest pain or breathlessness needs emergency care. |
Breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is a rare lymphoma of the scar capsule around an implant. It is not a breast cancer. It has been described almost entirely in association with textured implant surfaces, and the reported risk varies substantially with the type of texturing; the highest reported figures relate to macro-textured devices that are no longer in use. It usually appears late — most often as a new one-sided swelling or fluid collection around an implant, months or years after surgery — and is generally curable when it is diagnosed early and the implant and capsule are removed completely. The practical consequence for patients is simple: any new, one-sided swelling or lump around an implant should be assessed rather than watched. Implant surface is discussed explicitly during consent, and the device details (manufacturer, reference and lot number) are recorded at SKMC so that any implant can be traced.
Under UAE Department of Health rules on health media and advertising, patient information must be balanced. It is also simply better medicine: a consultation that describes only the benefits of an operation is not an informed one. None of the above is a reason to avoid surgery — it is the material on which an informed decision is made, and each point is discussed again, applied to your own anatomy, before you consent.
Consultations and surgery with Dr Thomas Colson are performed exclusively at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) in Abu Dhabi, within the SEHA network. A pre-operative Crisalix 3D simulation lets patients preview the planned breast shape before deciding.