What are the Costs for Breast Augmentation?

This is one of the most commonly asked questions we get on a regular basis. We get several phone calls each day asking us our prices for breast augmentation. It gets confusing to patients why there can be such variability in pricing from doctor to doctor in the same geographical area.

First of all, you get what you pay for. Board Certified Plastic Surgeons certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery are the only qualified surgeons who are properly trained to do breast augmentation surgery. So do your homework and don’t cut corners on your safety. Check out the American Society of Plastic Surgery https://www1.plasticsurgery.org/find_a_surgeon or the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery https://www.surgery.org/consumers/find-a-plastic-surgeon for Board Certified Plastic Surgeons in your area. A physician or dentist who went to a weekend course to learn breast augmentation and happens to be cheaper is not a safe alternative.

Safe surgery needs to be performed in a fully accredited outpatient surgery center. Outpatient surgery fees per facility do vary, but can run $1000 per hour, inclusive of all the staff, and the preoperative and post anesthesia recovery care while at the facility. Doctors performing breast augmentation in their office may be much cheaper, but don’t risk your life by having a breast augmentation in anything less than a fully accredited outpatient surgery center. These facilities have the resources and protocols to manage emergent life-saving treatments to deal with any potential complication or emergency situation.

With safety in mind, a general anesthetic needs to be provided by a Board Certified Anesthesiologist. Anesthesia rates in our community are currently at $350 per hour in Las Vegas and Henderson, but can vary. For example, anesthesia fees in the Phoenix metropolitan area are $600 for a breast augmentation.

Implant fees are also expensive. Saline implant list prices are $550 each, cohesive silicone gel implants cost $1000 per implant, and the form stable gummy bear implant is $1500 each.

If you add all this up, you can see that there is a tremendous overhead cost for breast augmentation. At the minimum, for a saline breast augmentation taking 1 hour, overhead cost is $1000 for the operating room, $350 for the anesthesia, and $1100 for the implants=$2450. This is without a surgeon fee! What if the case takes 2 hours and not 1 hour? Many experienced surgeons take 2 hours to perform a breast augmentation. The overhead for a 1 hour silicone breast augmentation is priced at the minimum $3350, $4700 if the case takes 2 hours. These are fees without your surgeon receiving a dime! Expect to pay additional surgeon fees for the surgery itself, and all pre and post-operative care. Most Board Certified surgeon fees are in the range of $1000-$2000 per hour depending on the complexity of the case. These fees are inclusive of all pre and post-operative office visits and all post-operative care. I include all long-term future office visits as needed for implant maintenance as part of the surgeon fee.

So if you are price searching for breast augmentation and you see specials running in the $3000-$4000 range, obviously something is wrong and is not making sense. Corners are being cut somewhere. Why would a surgeon do a surgery for free? When corners are cut, your safety is jeopardized. Don’t negotiate when it comes to your health. This is not like buying a car. It is not worth dealing with complications or a life-threatening condition to save $500-$1000. Repairing unsatisfactory outcomes from botched breast augmentation surgery costs in the range of $8000-$15,000, so you loose out big time in the long run.

So as I said before, you get what you pay for. Don’t bargain with your life.

Dr. Hayley Brown MD, FACS
Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
Desert Hills Plastic Surgery Center serving Henderson and Las Vegas, Nevada

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