Does Breast Augmentation Affect Your Nipples?

If you’re thinking about getting breast implants, one of the first questions that might come to mind is, “How will breast augmentation affect my nipples?” While this is absolutely something that you’ll want to bring up with your cosmetic surgeon during your consultation, here’s what you need to know to get you started.

Not Usually, Unless You Want It To

In most cases, breast augmentation on its own doesn’t affect your nipples at all. In some rare cases, nipple sensitivity may be affected, either temporarily or permanently, but that’s not the norm.

However, if you’d like the size, shape or position of your nipples and/or areolas to be addressed during your procedure, that is possible. If your nipples are lower than you’d like them to be due to sagging breast tissue, adding a breast lift to your augmentation might be the best route.

You can also talk to your cosmetic surgeon about altering the size or shape of your areolas as part of your breast augmentation + lift combination if you’d like.

Retracted nipples can be corrected during breast augmentation or as a separate procedure.

A Word on Incision Types

If you’re concerned about your nipples being affected during your breast augmentation, you may want to choose the inframammary incision vs. the periareolar incision. The periareolar incision traces a semi-circle around your areolas, which may increase the risk of loss of nipple sensitivity or problems with breastfeeding down the road.

The inframammary incision follows the natural crease beneath your breasts and doesn’t affect your nipples.