Please Don't Start Asking for the “Kylie Jenner Boob Job”

05.06.2025, 02:29 allure.com

For the second time in two weeks, a Jenner’s impromptu plastic-surgery confession has had doctors dashing from operating rooms to film reaction reels. On the heels of Kris disclosing the name of her surgeon, Kylie took to TikTok announcing the particulars of her most recent breast augmentation. (Kylie had previously shared that she first got implants at age 19.) In response to a post from content creator, Rachel Leary, who asked Kylie to explain “what it is that you asked for when you had your boobs done,” Jenner obliged with the details: 445 cc, moderate profile, half under the muscle, silicone, Garth Fisher.

One after another, plastic surgeons took to social to decode these specs, explaining that 445 ccs describes the size of the implant in cubic centimeters; that “profile” refers to how wide an implant is in relation to its projection (or how far it sticks out from the chest); and that “half under the muscle” means her surgeon, board-certified Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Garth Fisher, MD, used a dual-plane technique to place the silicone implants partially behind the pectoralis major muscle (the lower portion of the implant sits behind breast tissue). Dr. Fisher confirmed in his Instagram stories that the implants he used on Jenner were from Allergan’s Natrelle line.

When I reached out to Dr. Fisher, he said, “I’m truly honored to be acknowledged as a surgeon, especially by Kylie,” and added, “I do not—and will not—discuss any details of procedures beyond what a patient has personally chosen to share.” He cautions against using the work he did for Jenner as a guide for yourself: “This is not ‘cookbook’ surgery—it’s highly personalized, thoughtful, and tailored care,” says Dr. Fisher. “Each patient is unique.”

His last two sentences could serve as a flashing, neon PSA for the entire internet. While Jenner was merely delivering the specifics she was asked for, what struck an uncomfortable chord with me was the manner in which she rattled off her procedural specs, as if they were ingredients in some not-so-secret recipe for the Kylie Jenner Boob Job. “Sounds like an order for a drive-thru,” someone wrote on content creator Dana Omari’s Jenner post, perfectly capturing my concern.

“Hope this helps,” Jenner wrote in her comment to Leary. But … does it? Breast augmentation is, as Dr. Fisher notes, a bespoke procedure, its every aspect customized to suit not only an individual’s goals but their lifestyle and anatomy—the precise measurements of their chest, how much natural breast tissue they have at baseline, the elasticity of their skin, whether or not this is their first breast surgery, and various other factors.

She rattled off her procedural specs, as if they were ingredients in some not-so-secret recipe for the Kylie Jenner Boob Job.

Since “you and I don't know what Kylie's dimensions are, we don't know exactly how those implants were chosen for her,” says Kelly Killeen, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. “So, when you come in asking for ‘The Kylie,’ you might be shaped very differently than her—you might have a different breast footprint or a different amount of breast tissue—and you're not going to get that same result.”

Let’s start with Jenner’s reported implant size and profile: 445 ccs is a relatively large implant that would bring the average woman up about three full cup sizes. Combine this amount of volume with the width of a moderate-profile implant, and “you end up with a very Jessica Rabbit look,” says Dr. Killeen. Jerry Chidester, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Draper, Utah, also noted that this particular implant can create a rather exaggerated effect. “The 445 moderate profile is a pretty wide implant and it’s less projected,” he explains. “You can see that the implants come up high near [Jenner’s] collarbone and they’re closely touching in the midline,” meaning the middle of her chest.

While Jenner might be comfortable with this look, it’s not for everyone. “If you took that 445 cc implant and put it in 100 women’s chests, it would look incredibly different across the board, because everyone’s anatomy is unique,” Dr. Chidester says. What’s more, adds Dr. Killeen, on Jenner, these implants “don't look truly as large as they are because of her [presumed] BBL.” Without those complementary curves, “her breasts would look much larger than they do right now, but because she's [allegedly] had this, frankly, large BBL, her breasts now match her hips,” making her appear more proportional overall. (Jenner has never publicly admitted to having a BBL, or Brazilian butt lift, but some surgeons speculate that she has, at some point, enhanced her butt and hips with fat injections to create her current shape.)

A 445 cc implant will surely work well for some patients, even if it bucks current plastic surgery trends. Over the past few years, the majority of plastic surgeons have been reporting a collective shift towards smaller implants. Dr. Killeen tells me that fewer than 5% of her patients choose implants over 400 ccs. “Almost all of my augmentations for the last year have been in the range of 175 to 300 ccs,” she says. Dr. Chidester has seen a similar downsizing. “My average volume was closer to 400 ccs a few years ago, but it’s come down slowly over time. Now, probably less than 15% of my patients are going higher than 400 ccs.”

“You end up with a very Jessica Rabbit look.”

Could Jenner’s enormous influence over aesthetics reverse the petite-implant trend? It’s possible, surgeons say, and they’re worried about what this could mean for women. “A beauty standard that is unobtainable by anything other than surgery is not something I want to go back to,” says Dr. Killeen, referring to outsized breasts and butts that were popular a decade ago. “I have an 11-year-old daughter and this is not a world I want her to live in.” While Dr. Killeen hopes “the shift towards smaller, more proportionate implants sticks,” she fully expects to have patients coming in and asking for The Kylie—and without truly grasping the possible consequences of their request.

Big implants can spell trouble from a health POV. According to Dr. Killeen, larger implants may be associated with an increased rate of complications, like malposition (the implant moving out of place) and capsular contracture (a hardening of the scar tissue around the implant, which can cause breast pain and distortion). Substantial implants have the potential “to stretch and deform the breast tissue” and cause “stretch injuries to the nerve [that supplies] the nipple,” leading to numbness, she says. Over time, heavy implants can also strain the neck and back. “One of the more common things that women in their 40s and 50s tell me when they come in to downsize or have their implants removed, is that they really have a lot of neck and shoulder pain.”

On top of that, “a lot of young girls, they see people like Kylie, and what they don't understand is that a large, disproportionate implant can affect clothing—you're not going to be able to find clothes that fits your breasts, your waist, and your hips, which means you're going to be very limited with what you wear,” Dr. Killeen says. “It's going to have to all be stretchy and very form-fitting, or you're going to need to alter your clothing, because, with those proportions, it's difficult [to buy] off the rack.” And unless you have the unlimited resources of a Kardashian, this could be a practical nightmare.

The placement of Jenner’s implants relative to her muscle is another aspect of her procedure that may not translate to the social-media masses. While every surgeon has their preferred implant position—be it above the muscle or below—the dual plane method has been the standard for several decades. Recently, though, a subset of plastic surgeons has transitioned away from the dual plane to what’s known as a subfascial augmentation, placing the implants over the pectoralis in order to avoid disturbing the muscle. They say this makes for an easier recovery and prevents what’s known as animation deformity (a complication that manifests as the implant visibly bouncing whenever the pec flexes). Each approach has its distinct advantages and drawbacks and surgeons generally position implants in whatever way works best for the patient's aesthetic, anatomy, and lifestyle.

Are you sensing a theme here? Breast augmentation “is all very customized,” reiterates Dr. Chidester. When patients come in brandishing Kylie inspo pics (as they have for years and frequently still do), his goal is not to mimic the operation that Dr. Fisher performed, but to find out what, specifically, his patients like about Jenner’s look: “Is it the close cleavage? The generous volume? The fact that her breasts aren’t super-round?” From there, “we can advise them on projection or profile and size based on their frames.” Depending on someone’s starting point, he may recommend an implant that’s larger or smaller than Jenner’s, or he may need to use a moderate-plus or high-profile implant to achieve the same degree of projection that she has.

Ultimately, plastic surgery is far more serious than social media suggests. It’s not about chasing trends or imitating your favorite influencer. “When women come to see us, they are adults, and this is not a place for judgment, but it’s really important that they know what they’re choosing when altering their bodies with surgery,” Dr. Killeen says. When signing up for breast augmentation, (which might cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 in Beverly Hills) you’re electing to have a foreign object placed in your body—a foreign object that comes with risks and requires surveillance, upkeep, and future surgeries. “Although the look of your breasts matters, your health and safety—having a complication-free run with your implants—that’s so important,” adds Dr. Killeen. “You want to choose a surgeon and an implant that will give you a beautiful, stable long-term result that in no way makes your