Silicone mammary prosthesis or silicone breast implants are a medical device. Over time the outer shell of the implant can become weak and tear or rupture. When this happens, the body can recognize the silicone gel as foreign, and the body can form scar tissue around the implant. The body can form scar tissue around the implant even if there…
Many breast cancer patients have been treated with lumpectomy and radiation therapy. In some patients, the lumpectomy defect and the whole breast radiation can cause significant changes or deformities to the breast. In the before and after photograph shown, the patient had previous right breast cancer treated with lumpectomy and radiation. The lumpectomy defect as well as the whole breast…
Secondary mastopexy, or mastopexy in previously augmented breasts presents unique challenges due to compromised blood supply to the nipple areola complex. Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) with contrast can be used to facilitate pre-operative planning in both cosmetic cases and breast cancer patients. We had the opportunity to describe our experience using breast MRI in complicated aesthetic and reconstructive cases at…
Removal of breast implants is a very common procedure. There are many women who have had breast implants in for a long period of time and who would like to have their implants removed. As patients reach 40’s and 50’s it is quite common for patients to want to participate in yoga, pilates, or other excercises that require more mobility…
Secondary mastopexy augmentation is when a mastopexy augmentation is performed in a previously augmented or operated breast. In these patients it is important to take significant attention to the previous plane of the implant and previous incisions to be able to discern the remaining blood supply to the breast. In the secondary mastopexy augmentation it is quite common to perform…
Capsular contracture can be a challenging problem for patients and surgeons. Often correcting a chronic capsular contracture may require a staged procedure to most effectively treat the problem. When a capsular contracture is recurrent, it is often best to remove the implants for approximately one year prior to placing the implants back into position. Removing the mammary prosthesis and changing…
Synmastia occurs when breast implants migrate to the center of the chest and cross the midline or when the two breast implant pockets join together. Correction of synmastia is challenging and often requires significant changes to the implant pocket and or change of plane of the mammary prosthesis in order to correctly re-position the breast implants on the chest wall.…
Breast implants can become dislodged or displaced from their surgical pocket. This can be the result of a trauma, surgery, radiation, or capsular contracture. Correction of the double-bubble deformity requires repositioning of the infra-mammary fold to its native location. Slightly decreasing the size of the mammary prosthesis can help with repositioning of the new breast implant pocket.
Patients with breast implants may encounter capsular contracture. Some patients may get capsular contracture repeatedly. In patients with capsular contracture we recommend removal of the mammary prosthesis. Often patients do not want do be completely done with their mammary prosthesis and we then encourage patients to have smaller mammary prosthesis replaced. It is often helpful to have the mammary prosthesis…
Patients who have breast implants schedule consultations wishing to undergo changes to their breast implants or mammary prosthesis. One common request is to downsize their breast implants. The first step is to determine their current bra size and to determine the volume of the mammary prosthesis that they have in place. Once these are determined, the patient and physician can…
