Breast implants are not intended to be lifetime devices. The manufacturers of breast implants caution that they may need to be replaced within 10 to 15 years of the initial procedure. With this in mind, it is important for breast augmentation patients to understand that they might need to undergo revision breast enhancement surgery at some point in their lives.
Aside from changes in personal preferences about the size, shape or projection of implants, implants may leak or rupture, necessitating revision breast augmentation surgery to replace them. Here, Dr. Ary Krau explains what you should do if you experience a ruptured implant that needs to be replaced.
What Might Cause an Implant to Rupture?
A breast implant may rupture or leak for various reasons. For instance, experiencing a car crash or another source of blunt force to the chest might cause an implant to rupture. In other cases, a small tear may develop in the shell, or outer lining, of the breast implant, causing a slow leak of the filling material.
Detecting a Problem With an Implant
In the case of a ruptured implant that is caused by a car crash or a similar source of chest injury, the problem with the implant is typically easy to detect. Also, when saline implants leak or rupture, the body naturally absorbs the filling material. This causes the problematic implant to deflate, letting the patient know there is something wrong with the implant.
However, with silicone gel-filled implants, the body cannot absorb the silicone filling material, which often stays intact either within or close to the implant pocket if there is a leak. This makes it difficult to detect a problem with a silicone implant. For this reason, the FDA recommends that patients with silicone implants undergo a breast imaging exam, such as a mammogram or MRI, every three years, starting the third year after the initial procedure, to help monitor the health of breast implants.
Experiencing a Problem With Your Implants?
Have you suffered a chest injury that caused one or both of your implants to rupture? Or maybe you underwent a breast imaging exam that has exposed a leak in an implant. Whatever the case, Dr. Krau can help. He has extensive experience performing revision breast implant surgery and can restore the look of your breasts following a problem with your implant(s).
To schedule a consultation with Dr. Krau to learn more about revision breast augmentation surgery, please contact his office by calling (305) 861-6881.