I work in construction, what is considered an adequate amount of time until I can return to work after breast augmentation?

Breast implants under the muscle should not hinder your ability to perform most tasks once your are healed in 6-8 weeks. Lighter activity can be resumed in as early as a week or two. It is a fact that since the surgery affects your muscles and the way they move, using your chest for strenuous activity may feel funny for a long time, even permanently. I warn my higher functioning active patients about this. We have a lot of patients that participate in triathlons, marathons, teach yoga or pilates, etc... Most are able to resume their activities but do report that their chest never quite “feels the same”. Listen to your body and make sure you don’t do anything painful and you should be ok. Ask for help if you need to. You can always use the cover story of a “hernia repair” if you don’t want your coworkers knowing that you had cosmetic surgery. Hope that helps!

I typically tell patients that they can return to strenuous activity at 3 weeks post-op. The rate limiting factor is that whatever you try needs to feel comfortable. If not, then wait a few days and try again. I recommend that you check with your surgeon before you do anything strenuous.

It really depends on your surgeon and the techniques used in your procedure. But most people can return to work at 6 weeks without restrictions. In my practice, primarily a submuscular practice, I allow my patients to start resuming activities as tolerated at 3 weeks post-op and to start slowly and work their way back to what they could do without thought or reservation. Ideally, you should have your surgeon's blessing and I'm sorry he doesn't seem interested in managing post-op issues and questions but he will be the one responsible for managing any post-op problems so you should clear it with him.

My general rule of thumb for breast implants placed under the muscle is that at 6 weeks my patients may return to all activities including upper body weight training. In certain situations this period of time may be increased or decreased by one week. In your particular situation I would let your body be your guide. If you are uncomfortable performing certain tasks I would delegate it to another worker.

From the history in your question, it seems that your surgeon has given you appropriate post-operative instructions; that is, that you can return to work in 6 weeks. I generally allow patients to begin upper body exercises at 3 weeks and instruct them to increase gradually over weeks 4-6 until they reach their preoperative level. If there is any discomfort at all, I advise them to stop or reduce the level and frequency of their exercise for a period of time. Having said that, subpectoral implants do change the interface or gliding plane between the pectoralis muscle and the chest wall. In most patients this does not make a difference, but there is an occasional patient who always experiences some awareness of a change when the pectoralis muscle is contracted.