Breast Implant Revision Surgery
What is Appropriate for You?

Michael C. Edwards, MD, FACS

General Comments

Dr. Edwards is board certified by both the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery. Although fully trained in all aspects of Plastic Surgery, Dr. Edwards has chosen to specialize in breast and body procedures. We see patients from the U.S. and other countries for evaluation and treatment of breast revision complaints.

Breast augmentation is a procedure that is assumed by many to be so simple that almost anyone can perform it. Breast implant surgery is actually complex in nature in that every woman, in fact every breast must be considered and treated individually and proper planning and execution are critical to a good outcome. We tell all of our patients that they really have one opportunity to have their first breast augmentation surgery. By this we mean that the patient should be as discriminating in who they chose to perform their breast surgery as they are in many other important life decisions. In the arena of ?cosmetic? surgery there are dentists, Family Practitioners, OB/GYN, General Surgeons, Ear Nose and Throat Surgeons and even Dermatologists who advertise and perform breast surgery. It is often not until we have met breast revision patient that they realize they did not have a plastic surgeon as their doctor. A cosmetic surgeon is not the same as a board-certified plastic surgeon; they have not had the same rigorous training. This is a topic for another article.

The common reasons for revision breast surgery are implant deflation, changing implant size, capsular contracture, implant malposition, a double-bubble deformity and the more complicated revisions usually result from poor decision making in the part of the first surgical procedure. Many women are not good candidates for a breast augmentation alone at their first surgery and should have had a breast lift as well. A common example of this is a patient who has breast laxity or sagginess after having had children or losing weight. Some surgeons will stage these procedures either performing the lift first, followed by the breast augmentation or visa versa. We realize that some women do not want the additional scars that accompany a breast lift procedure. Every patient is an individual and should be evaluated and treated as such.

We will review the issues that often bring patients in to see us for revision surgery. They can occur individually or in combination as you will see.