All of us visiting the gym have noticed that often one group of muscles will grow easily — chest, arms, legs, calves, etc. whereas another group will not, despite focusing high energy to those particular muscles. That is the most common reason males visit me for calf, buttock and pectoral implants in Toronto.
Body implant surgery is one of my specialties and has been for the last 15 years. I also have a 20-25% male clientèle in downtown Toronto, so muscle augmentation in males (fit, athletic and body-builders) is one of my expert procedures. In my body implant practice, I perform calf, pectoral, breast, hip, chin and buttock implants. As you may know, only a few plastic surgeons perform those procedures in North America. I also see a larger number of pectus (i.e. chest) malformations (pectus excavatum and carinatum), Poland’s syndrome, etc. Over more than 15 years, I have worked with several patients with either smaller pectorals or with chest deformity (minor and major ones), including pectus excavatum, pectum carinatum, gynecomastia, Poland’s syndrome, plain hypoplasia, trauma, etc.
A pectoral implant is similar in texture as the calf and buttock implants: solid but very soft and pliable and made of medical-grade silicone material (I have samples to show at the office). The implants are shaped to complement the pectoralis muscle anatomy.
Each pectoral implant is inserted via a small incision within the underarm (hair-bearing) area, hence easily camouflaged once healed. The implant is placed under the original pectoralis muscle, blunting all edges of the implant so it looks smooth and natural. I place the implants as close as possible to get a strong masculine pectoral cleavage. Most of the time, I can use the pre-made ones, with or without some carving intra-operatively.
Pre-op measurements of your chest are important as it will guide you and I in choosing the correct implant. Too much width and the implant’s edge could be visible and/or palpable. The good thing is that even with shorter and narrower implants (for small-framed males), the thickness, i.e. projection, is still significant.
Since they are going under general anesthesia, males often add liposuction to reduce love handles, chest rolls and/or some abdominal etching.
It is also common for men seeking pectoral augmentation to have excessive breast tissue, a condition called gynecomastia. Gynecomastia consists of harder and tender breast tissue under the nipple area. Gynecomastia can be from hormonal imbalance but more commonly from use of anabolic steroids. Males smoking marijuana frequently will also often demonstrate this excessive breast tissue formation. Males with gynecomastia will have “conic” breasts and pectoral augmentation with implant will project this cone forward, hence the importance to recognize this condition and to surgically correct gynecomastia at the same time.
Recovery after pectoral implants is associated with the expected discomfort seen with procedures stretching a muscle such as subpectoral breast augmentation, sub-fascial calf augmentation, and intramuscular buttock implants. Most patients will cease the pain medications 4 to 5 days post surgery and return to a desk-type of work can be expected within 10 to 14 days. Because the pectoral muscles are attached to the upper arm, I do not recommend upper body exercises for 2 months.
Cost varies depending on what additional procedures are added to the pectoral augmentation itself.
Complications are very rare but some of the ones I routinely discuss with my patients are bleeding, inflammatory fluid accumulation around the implant (seroma), infection, abnormal scarring, asymmetry, visible/palpable edges and muscle/nerve trauma.
Surgeries are all performed at Visage Clinic, downtown Yorkville, at our accredited surgical facility, with board-certified anesthesiologists.
Pectoral augmentation with implants is a very gratifying procedures that complement well a fit, athletic or muscular when the pectoralis muscles won’t respond enough to weight lifting.
Dr. Marc DuPéré