How Common Are Breast Implant Removals?
By Michele Shermak | Published on July 23, 2010 | 0 Comments
Fortunately, it is not very common for a woman to need to have her implants removed after going through breast augmentation surgery, according to Dr. Michele Shermak, MD. Nationally, the current statistics show that only 25% of women who have saline implants will need some sort of revision within the first 10 years of having the implant, Shermak says. “So whether that means switching out the implants or not, the statistic that is given is 25% within 10 years,” she says.
A breast augmentation specialist in Baltimore, Maryland, Shermak explains that the above statistic applies only to women with saline implants, not to those with silicone. After not using silicone implants for years, plastic surgeons only began using silicone implants in their breast augmentation surgeries about four years ago, when the FDA began to allow their use once again. Because of that, there are currently not as many long-term follow up statistics about this particular generation of silicone implant.
Nonetheless, Shermak says that she would expect silicone implants to last at least 30 to 40 years these days without trouble. “In the past, it was 15 to 20 years, for the 1970s implants that we were removing in the early ’90s,” she says. “So it was 15 to 20 years before the implants would fail.” The silicone material that is used in silicone implants now, however, is much more cohesive than the substances used in implants made during the 1970s, which is why Shermak would now expect her breast augmentation patients to be able to wait at least 30 to 40 years, or more, before following up and needing any type of additional work. “The [silicone] implants have just improved over time,” she says.
Despite the evidence that today’s silicone implants are better products than the implants that surgeons used in the past, Shermak is careful to explain that there is little hard data on this particular generation of implants, and because of that, it is impossible to offer a definitive statistic on the matter.
Another reason, besides implant failure, that a woman in Baltimore may need to eventually have her breast augmentation revised is if she decides that she is not happy with the particular size she has chosen. Luckily, Shermak says this is very, very rare among the women she works with in Baltimore.
In order to make sure that her patients wind up happy with the implants they choose, Shermak works closely with them throughout the entire decision-making process. “In the pre-operative visit, we want to nail down what the patient’s goals are, and sometimes that takes two pre-operative visits because people start second guessing themselves,” she says.
No matter how many pre-operative visits it may take, Shermak says that she always gives patients enough time to make decisions on their own before proceeding with the surgery. In some cases, people may ask a close friends, relatives, or a spouse to weigh in on the decision as well. This is all beneficial to the final outcome, because the more certain a patient is about the size of the implant she is choosing, the higher the likelihood that she will end up happy with her decision.
Thanks to her years of experience performing breast augmentation procedures for patients in Baltimore, Shermak has seen enough cases to know precisely what it is that women want to see in their final outcomes. “I have to say, if you really talk to the patient then they shouldn’t really need a size change very often,” she says. “It is pretty rare to have to do a revision.”
Occasionally, Shermak says a woman who has undergone breast augmentation surgery might get some tight scarring that needs to be released, or there might be a little bit of asymmetry in the breasts, but that is much less common than people may think.
For women in Baltimore who are concerned about undergoing breast augmentation, Shermak recommends coming into her office for a consultation. Simply finding out what options are available is often a great place to start when considering any type of cosmetic surgery.
The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.
*Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your healthcare provider. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate healthcare provider.