I'm 47 and every before and after I find is someone in their twenties. Will implants alone work or do I need a lift too?

#1FionaW(Joined Sep 2026 · 3 posts)September 29, 2026, 9:05 pm

Two kids, both breastfed, now 15 and 12. I've lost the top half of my breasts entirely and what's left sort of sits lower than it used to. I've wanted implants on and off for about ten years and I've finally booked two consultations.

But every result I look at is a 26 year old with no children and I can't picture what it would look like on me. A friend says I'll "need a lift at my age" like that's obvious, which has rattled me because the scars look so much worse.

Is there a way to tell beforehand? And is it daft to be doing this at 47 at all?

#2Natalie88(Joined Nov 2024 · 26 posts)September 30, 2026, 7:40 am

Not daft at all. I'd stop looking at strangers and ask both surgeons to show you their own cases of women who've had children and are your sort of age. If they have none, that's an answer in itself.

#3sixweekspost(Joined Feb 2025 · 19 posts)September 30, 2026, 12:22 pm

My aunt had hers at 51 with a lift. The scar round the nipple and down the front was the bit she dreaded and she now says it's the bit she thinks about least. She said the implants on their own would have just made heavier versions of what she had.

#4Claire AshleyAdmin(Joined Aug 2024 · 231 posts)October 1, 2026, 7:30 pm

FionaW said:

Is there a way to tell beforehand?

Fiona, not daft, and you're in good company. The woman in the room next to mine at my recovery hotel was 48, and she was the most prepared person there.

Your friend isn't wrong that a lift comes up more often after children and breastfeeding, but it's not about your age as such. It's about where things sit. The simple check surgeons formalise at consultation is where your nipple sits compared with the crease underneath your breast. If it's above the crease and what you miss is fullness at the top, implants alone may do it. If it's at or below the crease, or the breast tissue hangs below it, implants on their own tend to add weight to the droop rather than lift it, and a lift is usually discussed, either at the same time or as a separate stage. The ASPS says it plainly: augmentation alone does not correct severely drooping breasts.

The other things worth asking at your age: whether your breast screening is up to date (if you're getting near 50, ask whether to have your first mammogram before the op so you have a baseline without implants), what happens to the result through menopause, and what a revision in ten or fifteen years would involve, because implants are not lifetime devices. I wrote up how screening works with implants in the guide to mammograms with breast implants, and the augmentation versus lift guide shows how surgeons decide between the two. Your surgeons will be the ones who can tell you which camp you're in.

#5FionaW(Joined Sep 2026 · 3 posts)October 1, 2026, 9:47 pm

Did the mirror check after reading this. Nipples are pretty much on the crease. So I suspect I know what they're going to say.

#6FionaW(Joined Sep 2026 · 3 posts)October 26, 2026, 8:12 pm

Both consultations done. Both said implants with a lift, the first one quite quickly and the second one took 40 minutes to explain why and showed me six women with similar starting points, which is the one I'm leaning towards. Scars look less frightening on real people than in diagrams. Having a mammogram first as you suggested, booked for next month. Not rushing, but I'm not scared off either.