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What should I do with a broken prosthesis?

Although it is not a situation that puts our health at risk immediately, we must be aware that it is an anomalous situation that we must resolve.

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Aumento de Pecho | Dr. Paloma

Is a breakage an urgent situation?

The breakage of a prosthesis is not an emergency since the material contained in the implant is neither toxic nor harmful to our body. Anyway, if the rupture supposes a loss of the volume or the shape of the breast, a situation of pain or another unpleasant symptom can generate an emergency situation in the need to solve the problem.

 

How should I act after the diagnosis of prosthetic rupture?

Although it is not a situation that puts our health at risk immediately, we must be aware that it is an anomalous situation that we must resolve. In all cases of rupture, the solution passes through the removal of the affected implant and the filling material that may have spread.
If it is an intracapsular rupture, the content of the implant will be limited and the risks are less. In this case we can take a more prudent attitude and schedule the intervention on a date that should not be more than three months from the diagnosis. In the case of an extracapsular rupture in which the content of the filling has spread to other areas, it is advisable to perform the intervention immediately, although it is not an emergency.

What possibilities of intervention exist?

Typically, the diagnosis of rupture occurs in one of the two implants, so we must bear in mind that although the need for intervention is on one of the breasts, we should think that we cannot act only on the affected chest if we want to maintain desirable symmetry.

The first alternative that we can consider is the removal of the prosthesis without performing any other action. It would mean removing the affected prosthesis and the contralateral so that both breasts would be in the same situation with a loss of volume. If the prostheses are small and the skin and tissues still maintain good elasticity, the chest can recover and fill the gap left by the prosthesis. When we have larger prostheses or due to age or personal characteristics, the skin has lost elasticity, and an empty and sagging chest may remain.

Prosthesis replacement. It involves removing the affected and contralateral prosthesis and replacing them with new prostheses, having the opportunity to vary the volume or characteristics of the new implant. We can use the pocket or hole left by the removed prostheses to place the new ones, which facilitates adaptation to the new implant.

Withdrawal or replacement with mastopexy. If the passage of time from the initial placement of the prostheses has generated a fall of the chest, we can take advantage of the removal or replacement procedure to perform a breast lift through what is called a mastopexy intervention. In this intervention, incisions and actions are performed to remove excess skin and lift the breast, offering a result of rejuvenation and elevation of the breast areola.

Removal or replacement with fat graft. The placement of fat that we can extract from another part of the patient’s body, can be, after being properly treated, an excellent solution to naturally improve the gap left by the removed prostheses or to complement a prosthesis replacement.
As it is autologous material, extracted from the organism itself, it does not give rise to rejections or incompatibilities and it becomes an excellent filler material. It can be especially indicated for women over 50 who do not want to replace the implants or who want to improve the result of just the replacement.

 

 

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