Published in:
01-06-2017 | Original Paper
Current practises in primary breast augmentation: a continental European vs UK primary survey
Published in: European Journal of Plastic Surgery | Issue 3/2017
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Background
Breast augmentation has gained widespread popularity since its inception. During recent decades, several techniques have developed. Debates concerning the superiority of a particular technique for achievement of optimal results exist. In this primary survey, we evaluate a selection of UK and European Aesthetic surgeons for their preferred techniques and practises of breast augmentation and the influence of patient choice on their favoured surgical approach.
Methods
A 10-item questionnaire was sent to 715 European Aesthetic Surgeons by e-mail with a cover letter including the link using SurveyMonkey©. Contact details were obtained from respective national registries. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 20.
Results
One hundred aesthetic surgeons from Europe including Greece, Italy, UK, Switzerland, Denmark, Malta and Ireland made up the respondents. Of the 27 surgeons practicing in the UK, the majority (96.4 %) use the inframammary approach, with a single respondent from UK indicating preference for the periareolar incision. However, of the 68 surgeons outside the UK, including Ireland and Continental Europe, a significant proportion (28.4 %) utilise the periareolar incision. Majority of the UK surgeons (56 %) place the breast implant in the subglandular plane whilst in Continental Europe, the preference in 50 % of the responders is for the dual plane pocket (p = 0.016). Most patients (54.3 %) express a preference for a certain incision with surgeons tending to comply with patients’ wishes. When they do not, it is mostly due to unrealistic patient expectations (in 63.3 % of cases). The duration of oral antibiotics varies from 2 days (5.2 % of responders) to 1 week (25.9 % of responders).
Conclusions
UK aesthetic surgeons prefer the inframammary incision and subglandular plane compared with alternative approaches undertaken by other Continental European counterparts. There remains an unestablished common approach for primary breast augmentation. In the current climate of division with UK leaving Europe, there remains a need for multiple Aesthetic Surgery Societies to collaborate, in order to produce robust multicentred data.
Level of Evidence: Not ratable.