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Breast Augmentation Risks or Breast Augmentation Complications

Although breast enlargement is a very safe and reliable procedure, complications occasionally occur.  Described below are the complications that occur following breast augmentations.  Mentioned are those specific to breast augmentation and the use of breast implants.  General surgical complications are not dicscussed here.

Below is a list of the more common complications:

Breast Asymmetry

Your surgery could go very well but you notice one breast is higher /and/or larger than the other. In most cases, asymmetry will correct itself within four months of surgery. Fortunately, most reputable surgeons will perform revisions within the first year at no cost to the patient.

Capsular Contracture

Your body will form a fibrous capsule around each implant, as it would around any other foreign body, like a piece of glass or metal.  In the great majority of patients, the capsule remains thin and supple, and your breasts remain soft and natural appearing. In approximately 10% of patients, this capsule thickens and squeezes the implant, producing firmness and, in sever cases, deformity.

Messaging exercises can help prevent and, in some cases, coupled with the administration of anti-inflammatory agents, even reverse early capsular contracture. Usually, however, surgery proves necessary.  The surgeon scores or removes part or all of the capsule.  With aggressive messaging exercises, recurrent capsular contracture might be avoided.

Most studies show placing the implants under muscles reduces the risk of capsular contracture.  Some studies show textured implants have a lower risk of capsular contracture than smooth ones.

Hematoma

Although uncommon, the onset of bleeding after surgery produces a collection of blood deep inside the wound.  If the bleeding stops, a minor hematoma will be absorbed by the body in several months.  However, if the bleeding continues, the surgeon must take the patient back to the operating room, stop the bleeding and remove the blood.

Early signs of a serious hematoma include worsening pain, the appearance an enlarging breasts and/or bruising.  Obviously, these are easier to recognize when they occur on one side only, which usually is the the case.

Implant Rupture

Implant rupture occurs in less than 10% of implants within the first 10 years after surgery.  If a saline implant ruptures, the breast will go flat.  A ruptured silicone gel implant, however, can go undetected for this reason, the manufacturers are recommending MRIs of the breasts every three years, which will detect any rupture. Fortunately, replacement of an implant is a simple, quick procedure.

Rippling

To some extent, all breast implants ripple.  In the great majority of patients, however, this rippling is completely camouflaged by the soft tissue covering the implant.  For some women who are very thin, the soft tissue layer covering the implant is too thin to hide the rippling, and some rippling could be visible along the inside and outside surfaces of the breasts.  The incidence of rippling is lower when the implants are placed under the muscle and if they are of silicone gel rather than saline.

Infection

Infections following breast enlargement surgery are uncommon.  However, if one occurs, the implant must be removed and re-augmentation must be delayed for four to six weeks in order to completely clear the infection.

Pain and tenderness are the most reliable signs of infection. A fever may or may not develop.

Nerve injury

The fourth intercostal nerve provides the majority of sensation to the nipple areola complex as well as 100% of the nerve supply for the milk ejection reflex and the ability to have a nipple erection.  In the rare occurrence that this nerve is severed, the milk ejection reflex and the ability to have an erect nipple would be permanently lost and sensation to the nipple would be diminished

Fortunately, as suggested above, complete severing of this is rare.  It is however common that the nerve becomes stretched during surgery, which can result in temporary loss of its functions mentioned above. This is referred to neuropraxia. Normal function of the nerve, in this case, is expected to return in six to ten weeks. Temporarily, the patient might even notice increased sensation, which can be very annoying.

Autoimmune Diseases

There was a large amount of hype in the 1980's about the role of breast implants in the development of arthritis, lupus, scleroderma and other auto-immune diseases.  The great majority of studies now indicate saline and silicone gel implants do not cause these diseases.  In fact, these studies reveal that the incidence of those diseases in women with breast implants are the same as those in the general population of women.