Women Are Spending Big Money for Little Breast Implants
In the age of Ozempic, patients are downsizing their implants and seeking surgeries that offer subtle enhancement. One surgeon called the trend ‘Park Avenue quiet luxury.’
Vale Genta spent years googling “tiny boob job” before she found a surgeon who could give her the “perky” B cup of her dreams. “I just wanted a little oomph,” said the 27-year-old content creator, who lives in Miami.
So two summers ago, Genta spent $9,000 to get 200-cubic-centimeter implants that took her one cup-size up from her natural A. When she shared details about her implants on TikTok in early June, she was flooded with comments from fans also looking for a tiny enhancement.
“We all want little perky boobs,” Genta said.
Plastic surgery has not always been known for subtlety. But when it comes to breasts, more patients are asking for enhancements that are barely noticeable. Where DDs used to be the goal in operating rooms, now women are requesting Bs and small Cs suited to shifting aesthetics. In the Ozempic era, the aspirational feminine physique has moved away from curvy and voluminous and toward bodies that are fit.
“They call them Ballerina Boobs,” said Dr. Payman Danielpour, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. “We’re using subtle, cute, nice implants.” He charges clients around $20,000 for the procedure.
Breast augmentation was the second-most popular cosmetic surgery in the U.S. last year, at 306,196 procedures, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, just behind liposuction.
Between 2013 and 2018, medium-size implants of 300 to 500 cubic centimeters made up 69% of breast-implant sales at Mentor, a leading implant supplier. Surgeons and implant makers now say demand for smaller implants is rising.
The sales of implants 250 cubic centimeters and under grew double digits from 2023 to 2024 at Allergan, the company said.
In Utah, plastic surgeon Dr. Jerry Chidester said implants in the range of 180 to 250 cubic centimeters at his practice had increased 250% from 2022 to 2024.
“On average, instead of women going to a DD cup, they are going to a full C,” said Chidester.
In New York City, Dr. Ira Savetsky said that three years ago he had mostly worked with implants in the 330 to 350 cubic centimeters range, but now mainly did implants sized 190 to 250 cubic centimeters.
Cubic-centimeter measurements don’t quite correlate to cup size because women’s bodies can vary, but Savetsky estimates the desired aesthetic has gone from a small D to big B. Women are seeking breasts that are “understated,” Savetsky said, noting that on the Upper East Side, small implants are now considered “the Park Avenue quiet luxury.”
Surgeons say advancements in the field of breast augmentation have helped contribute to the rise of smaller and more subtle augmentations. Some doctors are trading implants for fat transfers, taking from the stomach or thighs and injecting it into the breast. Chidester said he also worked with harvested fat cells from cadavers. Doctors are also working with “internal bras” for breast lifts, where a scaffold helps with support and eventually dissolves once the body replaces it with collagen.
The entrant of implants from Motiva, a medical-technology company that obtained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval last September, has also been a “game-changer,” Danielpour said. About one-third of Motiva implants sold in the U.S. from late 2024 through May 2025 were under 300 cubic centimeters, a spokeswoman for parent company, Establishment Labs, said. Newer-generation implants like Motiva’s are well suited to be placed above the muscle, said Chidester, which can yield more natural results because of their “softer, more adaptive design.”
“Times change, styles change, like eyebrows,” said Jennifer Fisher, a jewelry designer and entrepreneur in Los Angeles, who recently downsized her implants. “A lot of my friends considering this surgery now just want a little bit of a lift.”
A fitness-focused lifestyle is changing the coveted female aesthetic.
“People are aspiring to be lean, long and flexible,” said Danielpour, in Beverly Hills. “No one wants to be busting out of their Alo” (as in the yoga brand).
Women with larger implants who have lost weight with GLP-1s “now want breasts proportionate to their bodies,” said Savetsky. Those with natural breasts can also sometimes experience something doctors call “Ozempic breasts.”
“The breasts are becoming super deflated,” said Danielpour. “Everything is sagging, so one way or another, they have to do something. But they say, ‘go as small as you can go.’ They don’t want to look busty.”
Plastic surgery is no longer considered taboo, and many people now speak openly about their surgeries online. On TikTok, the cherry emoji has become the official symbol for smaller implants.
That open dialogue helped convince Jackie Boyle, a 30-year-old dialysis nurse in Boston, to take the plunge and get breast implants last April.
Boyle said she’d wanted breast enhancement surgery since she was 15, and followed other women posting about their #naturalboobjobs on TikTok before she got hers. She opted for 300-cubic-centimeter implants to bring her to a B cup.
“I wanted something where I’d look good in sports bras but not in your face,” she said. Boyle said her new breasts gave her confidence. “You can dress them up and or dress or down. You can wear them without a bra and have nice, little cleavage or wear them with a bra and have a girl’s night out.”
Breast augmentation surgery comes with potential risks. Women with silicone implants have reported complications including pain, distorted breasts and a rare form of cancer. This may be why some women are opting for fat transfers or breast lifts.
Kelsey Rose, a 33-year-old fitness instructor in Miami, got small, 180-cubic-centimeter implants in December. She initially did a fat transfer to her breasts, but the procedure didn’t have lasting results. Her goal, she said, was to have breast implants that were undetectable: “You look at me and you’re like, ‘Did she?’”
Rose believes that fitness as a lifestyle has directly impacted the popularity of smaller breast augmentations. “You don’t really see the classic Pilates girl with big, massive boobs,” she said.
Dr. Anna Steve’s TikTok bio describes her as “specializing in small volume, elegant implants 🍒.” Breast augmentations start at $18,500 at her New York office, where she says 30% of her patients come from out of state.
The plastic surgeon is often swapping D and double-D implants for “perky Bs and small Cs.” But she also works with menopausal women “who gain breast volume and overwhelmingly feel matronly.” Steve has also identified a huge market for small implants in mothers, she said, “who’ve always identified as small-breasted but then lost volume” due to breast-feeding or aging.
Amy Levy, a 48-year-old mom of two in Los Angeles, got small implants in March to take her to a small C cup. She said she’d never considered surgery until perimenopause. “They got absolutely deflated,” she said. Now, she said, they’re full again, but not imposingly so. “They still look and feel like me.”
Racquel Bettencourt, an influencer and swimsuit-brand owner in Miami, decided to remove her implants entirely in November, after struggling for years with pain and discomfort.
“At 24, I had a tiny body and wanted to feel more like a woman,” said Bettencourt, 38. “But now, I’m very happy to be my natural self. I don’t give a s—what they look like.”