Repairing Botched Breast Implants

Breast implant problems occur. They are not universal, but in some cases such as in the case below they can be scary. Fortunately, more often than not we can improve them.

BEFORE

1 MONTH AFTER

This young lady had had five breast operations by another surgeon when I first saw her. The previous operations were cosmetic at first but then centered around reduction of breast implant scarring (Capsular Contracture). Her surgeon kept telling her that she had a "good result" and would not benefit by further surgery. She then found her way to me for a second opinion.

Her operation was the replacement of her "anatomic" breast implants (I am not a fan of these and they looked pretty terrible here) . We also addressed her scar capsules, re-designed her implant pockets and performed a modified breast lift.

Redo breast implant surgery in cases like these can be difficult. Predicting the outcome is not always easy and re-operation is common. In this case, the patient's scarring tends to be hypertrophic (raised and red), but is reduced after surgery. The redness should fade although after as many operations as she has had there may be some that persists. Her shape, softness and cleavage are improved. She is happy.

A Few General Points About Redo Breast Implant Surgery:

(1) Just making your implants bigger does not usually solve your problems. It often can make them worse.

(2) Similarly changing your implants from saline to silicone gel is not a "universal fix."

(3) Carefully focus upon that which you would like to correct to help guide your surgeon.

(4) Be prepared for additional surgery or "living with" some of the problem issues. We can't fix everything. Sometimes we are limited by that which happened before.