Breast Implant Risks & Complications

Breast Implant Risks and Complications

We have known that any kind of surgery may pose some risks and complications because every procedure aims to alter a natural part of the human body. Breast augmentation is not different from all the other cosmetic surgical procedures. There are still some of the breast implant risks and complications we have to watch out for.

Before going under the knife for the nip and tuck procedure of breast augmentation, you must understand and accept these possible breast implant risks and complications. By educating yourself with them, you will be able to acknowledge these risks if any of them occurs post op. There’s a 60%-70% chance that these risks won’t happen to you but preparedness is a key in every breast augmentation success.

Different Breast Implant Risks and Complications

• Infection

Infection may occur after a few days or weeks of the breast augmentation procedure. Just like other surgical procedures, infection is somehow a normal or expected risk. It can be treated by taking some antibiotic medications prescribed by the doctor and avoiding some of the prohibited foods while you’re still in the recovery stage.

There are some rare cases where the implants are removed until the infection subsides. This usually happens when the infection doesn’t respond positively to any medication prescribed by the doctor.

• Bottoming Out

Bottoming out of the implants usually happens when the tissue support underneath the implant placement has weakened substantially. Since the support can no longer hold the implants in place, the breast implants slid downward thereby causing the natural breast fold to lower as well.

This breast implant risk and complication can be fixed by creating a new pocket for the breast implants’ position. This time, the pockets are made durable and it is possible that a portion of the pocket is rolled upward to provide substantial support for the implants. If the implants are too big and too heavy, they may be replaced with smaller and lighter ones as well.

• Symmastia

Symmastia is a breast implant risk and complication that shows the breasts appearing too close to one another and sometimes they meet on top of the breast bone. This usually happens when the placement of the breast implants are submuscular.

In order to correct this condition, a follow up surgery is needed and if possible, the implants are going to be replaced with smaller ones. During the recovery stage, the patient is to wear a special support bra to avoid having Symmastia while the implants are healing and staying put into their proper places.

• Capsular Contraction

It is normal for the body to envelope the implants with a capsule as it heals itself from the breast augmentation procedure. However, in some cases, the capsular formation tends to abnormally harden and contract around the implant and this result in the so called capsular contraction.

Capsular contraction is more prevalent in silicone breast implants than with saline breast implants. If capsular contraction happens a few months after the surgery, the implants may look distorted because the capsule compresses the implants.

In order to measure the severity of your capsular contraction, the plastic surgeon will use the Baker grading system which has four grades in measuring capsular contraction severity.

• Grade I – the breast are normally soft and looks natural
• Grade II – the breasts are a little firm but still looks normal
• Grade III – the breasts are firm and may be distorted
• Grade IV – the breasts are hard, maybe painful, and appear to be distorted

• Double Bubble

Double bubble is a breast implant risk and complication that occurs in women who have experienced sagging of their breasts. Usually, the breast implants have been placed submuscularly and they remain in place but when the breasts naturally sag, there would be an appearance of two separate breast folds – one from the natural sagged breasts and the other one from the breast implants. This is the Double bubble complication.

• Hematoma and Seroma

Hematoma is the collection of blood or blood clotting while Seroma is a collection of watery blood either around the implant or the incision. Hematoma naturally occurs after the breast augmentation procedure and the collection of blood may be absorbed by the body little by little as it heals.

However, if Seroma and Hematoma lingers after a few weeks of the surgery, a surgical drain may be needed to allow the body to heal naturally. If these breast implant risks and complications haven’t been resolved at the soonest possible time, they may contribute to capsular contracture, another breast implant complication.

• Implant Displacement

Implant displacement is one of the rarest breast implant risks and complications. The implants, when displaced, move out of position. If they move only a little, it may not be noticeable but if they move a lot, a corrective follow up surgery is needed to put them in their correct position. This complication usually occurs in women who opted to have larger implants.

• Necrosis

In some cases, Necrosis happens when there’s a dead tissue surrounding the implant that hinders the patient to normally heal. The risk of Necrosis may be increased b using steroids in the surgical pockets, smoking, chemotherapy, and excessive heat and cold therapy.

• Galactorrhea

One of the breast implant risks and complications that you may incur is the so called Galactorrhea or the abnormal production of breast milk. This usually happen when you have previously lactated and breastfed. In order to correct this complication, a medication may be prescribed by your doctor to suppress the milk production. If this method fails, the implants may be removed by your plastic surgeon.

• Rippling

Rippling of the breasts looks like small indentions or the appearance of waves on the surface of the breasts. This may be caused by under-filled implants or implants with rough and textured surfaces. Also, the rippling may also be caused by breast implants placed just below the breast tissues and not under the pectoral muscles.

• Rupture and Leakage

Rupture and leakage is bound to happen in 69% of 344 women who have undergone breast augmentation. Depending on the type of implants, the possible health risks of implant rupture and leakage will coincide with the longevity of the occurrence of the deflation.

Saline implants, when ruptured and leaked, will have the sterile salt water filling absorbed by the body with no risk of health complications and the deflation is noticed right away. The silicone implants, on the other hand, may cause pain, tingling sensation, swelling, numbness, burning, and changes in sensation. Also, the deflation for silicone implants is not noticed right away. It could take a few weeks before the patient notices that one of the breasts look uneven. No matter what, the patient must inform her doctor right away of the rupture and leakage.

• Loss or Change of Sensation

The loss or change of sensation is inevitable after the breast augmentation procedure. This is usually caused by the wounds that cause some of the tissues to be numb temporarily. However, the risk of having a permanent numb nipple has about 15% ratio in women undergoing breast augmentation.

This risk and complication usually happen in women who opted to have subglandular placement of their implants because they may have interfered with the breast tissues near the skin. Also, the loss of sensation is also common for those who have chosen to have areola incision for the procedure.