The mains reasons to replace breast implants
Why breasts implants are replaced
Multiple reasons can require a breast implants replacement procedure.
Implants are outdated
Until a couple of years ago, patients were advised to replace their implants every ten years, but this is no longer systematic with the latest generations of implants with more longevity and reliability. Surgeons are also able to monitor the implants more precisely today, which allows them to determine with certitude when patients need to replace their implants. If it is necessary, breast implants replacement surgery is a fairly simple and quick operation.
Implant damage
Breast implants are extremely reliable devices, but they can be damaged. In most cases, the problem is a leak or rupture. In that case, a surgeon will have to replace the implant.
Replacing textured implants
Textured implants have been removed from the market by certain health authorities because they were suspected of increasing the risk of anaplastic large cell lymphoma. While there are still many unknowns on that subject and extremely rare cases, certain women with textured implants wish to replace them with smooth implants.
Correcting the implants’ position
Over time, morphological changes of the body can progressively change the position of the implants (depending on their initial position), which can be a problem for patients. In this case, replacing the implants allows the surgeon to reposition the implants to meet the patient’s expectations.
Changing the implants’ shape or volume
After several years, certain patients want to change the shape of their implants (they want anatomical implants over round implants for instance) or their volume (smaller or bigger implants). This can be explained by a misjudgment from the patient who chose one size too small or too big, but also by preferences changing as the patient gets older.
Medical necessity
As any other foreign object introduced in the human body, breast implants can cause capsular contraction, which is a natural defense mechanism forming a tissue shell around the implants. In rare cases, this shell hardens significantly and cannot be treated medically, which requires a surgical procedure to be removed as well as implants replacement.
Benefitting from fat grafting
Certains women with sufficient fat deposits are interested in replacing their implants with fat tissue through fat grafting breast augmentation. Significant progress has been made in fat grafting surgical techniques, which can be applied to breast surgery to improve shape and volume.
