Breast Implants

The most common complication connected to breast implant surgery, capsular contracture, is where the membrane that grows around the implant, which usually cannot be felt or seen, behaves in a similar fashion to shrink wrap.

There are now breast implants available in Australia, at Ashbury Clinic, that can reduce the risk of capsular contracture to roughly 1%.

There has been no evidence found to suggest that silicone implants can filter through to the breast milk. It remains possible for a woman to breast feed effectively and without difficulty after a breast implant has been placed, providing no surgical damage is made to the milk ducts (a risk most commonly associated with an areolar incision).

Products in which silicone regularly occurs include:

• Heart valves, suture materials, and blood bags
• Puddings, cakes, and soft drinks
• Lipsticks
• Body lotions and sun cream
• Bedding, clothing, and tissues
• Baby-care products

Breast implant surgery has shown no associated increase in the incidence of breast cancer and a woman’s ability to examine effectively or undergo mammograms is left possible, although screening can prove more involved. It is advisable that you consult with your doctor as to the most effective way of self-examining your breast when checking for breast cancer, so that you are able to determine your implant from your natural tissue with greater clarity.

Age is not an issue when it comes to breast augmentation. It is the overall health of the person that counts most when considering suitability. Many women over the age of forty have had successful breast surgery.

Ashbury Clinic has performed thousands of breasts surgeries with minimal complications; however, any surgical operation involves the risk of complications or side effects. After-effects of the anaesthesia, infection of the wound, swelling, bleeding, pain, and healing problems in the recovery process may occur. These are all things for which you should be prepared.

In addition, specific complications may occur following the insertion of breast implants, including:

• Capsular contracture
• Folds and wrinkling in the surface of the implant (this occurs with saline-filled implants in particular; the risk of folds and wrinkling is greater with this type of implant than with gel-filled implants)
• Displacement of the implant
• Tissue necrosis (i.e., the death of tissue, often due to insufficient blood supply to the area concerned)
• Interference with mammograms (mammographic screening for breast cancer is more difficult in the presence of a silicone breast implant and may need extra attention from the radiologist)

Finally, it is important to remember that a breast implant, whatever it is filled with, is not necessarily in place for life. There are women who have had the same breast implants in place for over thirty years without problems, but there are also women who have had to have their implants replaced within a relatively short period of time. For these reasons, you should be aware that you may need to undergo surgery on your breasts again for reasons relating to your breast implants.