Ex: (How Much Do Breast Implants Cost?, Gastric Bypass Nutrition and Diet)

Breast Implant Removal

Breast implants consist of inserting silicone sacs with silicone gel or saline in the breasts to improve their size and shape. Every woman would like to have a good figure and as breast augmentation is available, thousands of women go in for it. The procedure consists of making incisions and putting in the implants and then suturing back the incisions.

Though most women are perfectly satisfied with the procedure and have the implants in their bodies for decades, there are some who may want a reversal of the operation. The reasons can be that the implant has ruptured, or shifted from its place, or its size and shape have changed, or there is some pain associated with it, or that the implant is causing problems if a mammography is needed. Sometimes the implants cause asymmetry in the breasts, which may be obvious and cause social problems, or the implant may cause sagging or breast may wrinkle.

Occasionally there may be some hardness associated with the implant or it may get infected. The necessity to have breast implant removal may arise if there are any problems associated with the implants. In a few cases the body may react to the implant. Or the patient may feel conscious of the implants and may want them removed. Or she may have just changed her mind for reasons of her own and regretted the breast implant surgery. If cancer of the breasts is suspected then the implants may interfere while undergoing tests any may need to be removed.

In 2003, 235,000 women reportedly underwent breast implant surgery and 40,000 had them removed. This procedure is called explantation and can be done in the same way as the breast implant surgery. A suitable doctor with adequate experience and skill has to be found, his advice on the procedure has to be taken and a day has to be scheduled for the explantation. The procedure itself may last for an hour or two and can be done on an out patient basis. The patient can return home after a few hours. Breast implant removal is done under either general anesthesia or local anesthesia combined with IV sedation. Operating through an incision in the inframammary fold (under the breast) or the peri-areolar incision (through the nipple), surgeons carefully remove implants. If the implant is made of saline, doctors may choose to deflate it first to facilitate removal. The removal of the breast implants usually costs between $1,000 and $4,000.

The breasts may feel lighter and some tenderness or swelling or redness can be noticed which will disappear after a short while. For this procedure the same incision, which was made for breast augmentation, can be used. Hence there will not be a fresh scar. Recovery is quite fast unless there are complications and the patient can resume normal activities within a couple of weeks.

Total and full recovery is possible within a few months. Some complications like loss of sensation in the nipples, or loose skin may be there but they are rare. The breasts become smaller and there may be sagging also. Emotional problems are not unrelated to removal of breast implants. The patient may have the same sense of loss, which a mastectomy involves.