In the United States, almost 300,000 women choose breast augmentation surgery annually. Interestingly, there is also a consistent increase in women wanting to have their implants removed. Last year, nearly 25,000 women opted for breast explant surgery.
There are many reasons for this decision, ranging from personal preference to medical complications. If you are considering breast explant surgery in Chicago, know you are not alone. This article will outline why many women have chosen to get their implants removed.
Unsatisfied With Original Outcome
Some people end up disappointed with their breast augmentation results – perhaps due to factors like a lack of surgical skill or choosing the wrong implant shape or size for your frame. Unfortunately, the outcomes of your original augmentation surgery might look unnatural or differ widely from your expectations.
To avoid this problem, choose a board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in breast surgery. Dr. Mussat will discuss your goals in detail before any type of breast surgery. For example, you may wish to undergo breast implant removal and a breast lift to achieve your ideal look.
New Lifestyle Priorities
Maybe you got your original breast augmentation when you were younger, and you’re now in a different phase of your life where larger breasts are no longer your aesthetic ideal. If your enhanced breasts have become uncomfortable or are preventing you from doing things like pursuing your fitness goals, explant surgery could be a wise decision for you.
Breast Appearance Changes
Just like natural breasts, surgically enhanced breasts may change shape, size, and appearance over time. This phenomenon may cause asymmetry or sagging. Choosing breast implant removal, with or without replacement, can enhance your chest appearance.
Your body has probably changed since your initial breast augmentation, which can result in an imbalance between your breast size and body frame. Examples of life events that can affect your figure are pregnancy, significant weight fluctuations, or hormonal changes with aging. Combining breast explant surgery with other procedures to enhance your breast contour can bring your body and chest into a harmonious shape and figure.
Breast Implant Complications
Though breast augmentation complications are rare, they’re not impossible. Some of these issues are severe enough to make implant removal a medical necessity. One example is capsular contracture, or a painful tightening of scar tissue caused by your immune system’s response to the implant.
If this problem occurs, an explant procedure can bring you relief. Other complications include implant rupture, leakage, displacement, or deflation.
Replacing Older Implants
Today’s breast implants are long-lasting, safe medical devices. Still, they will likely need replacement eventually. After your breast implant surgery, your surgeon should have informed you about their estimated lifespan. When it’s time to replace your implants, you’ll need to have the old ones removed first.
Choosing Your Breast Explant Surgeon
Selecting a board-certified and highly skilled surgeon for your breast implant removal is essential. Depending on your situation, other surgeries like a breast lift could benefit you after breast explant surgery. Dr. Mussat understands the different factors that may affect your procedure.
To schedule a discreet consultation with Dr. Mussat to learn more about breast explant surgery, contact our Chicago office online or call (312) 751-9000 today.
When a woman undergoes breast augmentation surgery, probably the last thing on her mind is that a second surgery, called breast revision surgery, may be needed in the future.
Breast implants are not intended to last a lifetime. Over time, impants can be subject to rupture, rippling, deflation, asymmetry, sagging, or capsular contracture caused by the formation of a hard and dense tissue capsule.
Breast revision surgery is also frequently performed when a woman is not happy with some aspect of how her breasts look or feel. She may want to replace her current breast implants with a different size or style or to simply have her natural breasts back.
Understanding Your Options for Breast Implants
The decision about where you would like your breast implants to be placed during your revision breast surgery will be made in consultation with your plastic surgeon, board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Florence Mussat, in Chicago, IL. She would be happy to help you make this decision and to plan for the procedure itself.
Influencing Factors on Breast Implant Placement
There are several factors to keep in mind when deciding on the position of your breast implants:
- the desired shape and size of your breasts and thus the implants
- your body size
- expected recovery time and post-operative discomfort and pain
- your lifestyle
- your goals and expectations
Where Can Breast Implants Be Placed?
Breasts implants can be placed:
- over the muscle, but under the breast tissue
- under the muscle
Since there are advantages and disadvantages to each placement, Dr. Mussat will help you decide which placement method is best for you. There are several factors which will help determine the optimal implant placement:
- Your body type
- Your current health
- The actual size of the implants
- Saline vs. silicone implants
- Your individual goals and desires
All these factors help you understand the pros and cons of the different breast implant placement options.
Subglandular Placement
Also known as “over-the-muscle” placement, the subglandular placement technique positions the implant between the chest muscle and the existing breast tissue. With this positioning, the implant lies behind the glands of the breasts, thus providing the patient the ability to breast-feed in the future.
Advantages: Patients can expect less movement of the implants during physical activity and less discomfort immediately following surgery.
Disadvantages: The appearance of the breasts may seem more artificial, and during mammograms, the readings may be less accurate.
Submuscular Placement
The other breast implant placement option is known as submuscular or under-the-muscle placement. The technique includes partially placement of the implant under the pectoralis major chest muscle in a “dual plane” placement.
Advantages: Patients experience more accurate mammograms. In addition, submuscular placement tends to produce a more natural result.
Disadvantages: Some patients experience slightly more discomfort after surgery, with a longer postsurgical recovery.
Women with very large or strong chest muscles will be best suited for the over-the-muscle positioning of their implants. The reason is that, with larger chest muscles, there will be a tendency for distortion of the breasts as the chest muscles are flexed. In this case, subglandular placement may be advised.
Keeping in mind all the advantages and disadvantages of the possible placement of your implants, you are well equipped to meet with Dr. Mussat to discuss what is best for your particular situation.
Why Choose Dr. Florence Mussat for Your Breast Revision?
Dr. Florence Mussat is a Board-Certified Plastic and Reconstructive surgeon in Downtown Chicago and has a passion for Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery.
With her help, you can soon be on your way to achieving the bustline you’ve always wanted. Schedule a personal consultation or by calling (312) 751-9000 today!
Ill-fitting blouses, bra strap imprints, and sore shoulders make having large breasts not as desirable as many would think. Women with breasts too large for their body type often vent these complaints. In many cases, breast reduction surgery may be the only option to correct a disproportionate bust line and cause these types of discomfort. If you are a healthy woman who doesn’t smoke and have large breasts causing a whole lot of discomfort; this solution may be what’s best for you!
Why Consider a Breast Reduction
Having large breasts is more than finding clothing that fits. They can prevent a woman from living an active lifestyle comfortably and having confidence in her own skin. The extra weight at her bust line can cause physical and emotional distresses, including:
- Shoulder, back, and neck pain
- Irritation near the bra straps and at the breast crease
- Makes exercising uncomfortable
- Causes headaches
- Loss of self-esteem
- Depression
There are multiple causes for breasts to become out of proportion with the rest of a woman’s body. They include weight fluctuation, pregnancy, and growth spurts during puberty. Breast reduction offers a safe resolution to ease the physical and emotional issues resulting from breasts which are too large.
Breast Reduction Benefits
Okay, if you’re reading this article because you are considering a breast reduction, nobody has to tell you why you’re here. The benefits are the most important topic of any surgical procedure. Breast reduction surgery has many upsides, which will improve a patient’s quality of life. They include:
Aesthetics
Just like women seek breast augmentation surgery when their breasts are too small, breast reduction has a cosmetic value to patients who have breasts too large. Creating a sleeker body outline is essential to women who are concerned with their figure. Reducing breast size can bring harmony between her breasts and the other body parts. This physical accordance will not only improve her appearance but her self-confidence as well.
More Active Lifestyle
Women who enjoy leading an active lifestyle may find sudden movements to be difficult with large breasts. Breast reduction surgery will help the patient avoid stress injuries like “jogger’s breasts,” which forms from repetitive motion. Physical activities like jogging, tennis, or going to the gym will help a girl stay in shape and remain healthy. Once recovery from breast reduction is complete, exercise, and hobbies like golf and skiing can become more fun.
Shopping
Because clothing off the rack will fit comfortably, shopping will become more an enjoyable outing and less a chore. When breasts are too large, finding clothing which fits comfortably can be an issue. Sizes and fashions are more in line with a streamlined figure. Slimming down the bust line to align more with the rest of your body will make those trips to the shops delightful again. You will have more of a selection and can take advantage of more deals.
Improved Quality of Life
Women who choose breast reduction surgery are generally very pleased with their results. Not only is there a cosmetic benefit, but the elimination of discomforts like back pain and headaches are a welcome effect. Combine these benefits with wearing what you want when you want to, working out with your friends, and not relegated to specialty stores to find clothes that will fit will have a significant impact on improving your quality of life. You will be happier with yourself and the way others see you. Your confidence will rise, as will your self-esteem. To learn how you can achieve these benefits for yourself, it’s simple. Just contact us to schedule a consultation today.
You probably don’t still love the same hairstyle or clothing that you loved ten years ago… Why should your physical preferences be any different? As we learn and grow, our tastes change, and this can sometimes reshape our views on cosmetic enhancements. It therefore probably won’t surprise you to learn that some women eventually choose to have their breast implants removed.
Whether you’re considering breast augmentation or breast implant removal, it’s a good idea to review the reasons why women decide to undergo explant surgery. Understanding how breast implants might impact your lifestyle can help you make the right choices.
The Top 4 Reasons Why Women have Their Implants Removed
1. Changing activity levels.
Breast implants weigh about the same amount as natural breast tissue. This means that for every 1000 cc of implant fluid, you’re adding two pounds to your frame. Though you probably won’t notice this additional weight when you’re walking or sitting down, it can feel cumbersome during high-impact activities. With the increasing popularity of cardio workouts, many women are choosing to have their implants removed in favor of creating a lean, toned physique.
2. A desire to keep up with the latest trends.
Large breasts used to be all the rage, but today, their place has been usurped by full, curvaceous buttocks. In keeping with this trend, we’ve seen an increased demand for Brazilian Butt Lift surgery and a decreased desire for large breast implants. That’s not to suggest that breast augmentation isn’t still popular—it is—women are just more likely to pursue a C cup than a DD cup. Likewise, some women who had large implants placed in the past are choosing to either downsize or have their implants removed altogether.
3. Physical illness or discomfort.
Some women report that their implants begin to feel sore or hard years after their initial operation; they may also experience a broad range of health issues that resolve after their implants are removed. Scientists are not sure why breast implant illness occurs, but it’s possible that the patient’s immune system plays a role. Sometimes, when foreign objects are placed in the body, the immune system reacts to them adversely (as if they are an “invader”). This is why patients who have organ transplants and medical implants are at risk of having their bodies reject them.
In patients with breast implants, this immune response can create generalized inflammation, cognitive problems, flu-like symptoms, gastrointestinal distress, dizziness, infection, etc. During breast implant removal surgery, Dr. Mussat carefully removes the entire implant without rupturing it. She also removes the capsule of scar tissue around the implant. This approach ensures that no contaminants from the implant enter the patient’s body during the explant procedure.
4. The wish to return to a more natural look.
In the past, many slender women opted to have mid-sized or even large implants inserted. Because slim women don’t usually have enough natural breast tissue to cover large implants, doing this sometimes resulted in an overly round, artificial look. Today, these women frequently ask to have their large implants removed and replaced with smaller implants that better suit their frame.
Breast Implant Removal: Understanding Your Options
If your implants are causing you discomfort, Dr. Mussat can help you heal. Her approach of combining breast implant removal with breast lift surgery can address both medical and aesthetic concerns. Patients often leave her office with perkier, more even breasts (as compared to their pre-implant breasts) owing to her expertise in performing breast lifts. If you’d like to learn more about how she performs explant surgery, feel free to contact us to arrange a consultation.
Breast revision surgery is the removal and replacement of original saline or silicone implants. Patients often have this procedure performed for two reasons: to correct any complications from previous surgery or to change the size or type of implants from the first breast implant procedure. What is the ultimate goal of breast revision? To give a person the youthful appearance that they desire.
There are actually a number of reasons a person could need or benefit from a breast revision. The first is any kind of leak. The saline implants could have deflated, or your silicone implant could have a leak. The second reason involves a change in size or a different type of implant. If you are not satisfied with your implants, then this procedure can easily solve that unhappiness and hopefully send you home with something better than before. Scar tissue is also an unfortunate factor as to why breast revision might be necessary. It can tighten around the implants, constricting them tightly. It is also a possibility that your implants have shifted. Some people also opt for a revision if they have extreme weight loss or any kind of change in their skin.
Am I a Good Candidate for Breast Revision?
The ideal patient for a breast revision needs to be in good physical health. This involves a healthy diet, exercise, emotionally healthy, and staying away from harmful substances. It is extremely important that a patient have realistic expectations when it comes to their procedure.
What Are the Pros and Cons of a Breast Revision?
Every person’s body will age – you cannot stay young forever and that is just fact. This is an obvious con to any procedure including breast revision. Gravity and aging will have an effect on your body regardless of what you do to it. But in the short term after your procedure, these factors won’t even be on your radar. You will have a youthful appearance. This procedure can also fix any problems that occurred with your first breast implant surgery.
What Happens During Breast Revision Surgery?
Plastic surgery is a unique business. Meaning it is completely individual. A person’s procedure is specifically designed for their needs. This procedure is planned out from conversations with your surgeon and according to your needs and wants. In this specific procedure, there are a number of reasons as to why someone is having a breast revision done.
Sizing Change
A common reason, as mentioned above, is changing the actual implant size. This procedure will involve your surgeon using previous incision sights, so as to not cause unnecessary scarring, to remove and insert the new implants.
Implant Malfunctions
If your implants have hardened, your surgeon can remove those implants and give you new implants. Your surgeon can use the original incision sights to either remove or move the implants back into place, depending on the incision that was originally used. Another common issue with implants is malposition. This involves implants that are too close together or too far apart. The surgeon can use a tactic involving scar tissue and the original incision sights to correct the positions making the breasts look more natural.
Removal of the Implants
Breast revision is used very commonly to remove implants. There are various reasons for the removal of implants, such as changing opinions of one’s body or health reasons. Each reason is specific to the individual.
How Can I Get the Results That I Want?
The key to a successful procedure is communication with your surgeon. It is also important that you truly know what you want when it comes to your procedure. This will give your surgeon a better understanding of what exactly they need to do to give you the results that you desire. The conversations between you and your surgeon will include many different topics that include the type of implants, location, size, and what type of anesthesia is needed for your specific procedure.
How Can I Prepare for This Procedure?
During your visits and consultations with your surgeon, you will be given a list of procedures to follow in regards to preparing for the procedure itself. The list includes: avoiding anti-inflammatory drugs, drugs that increase bleeding, abstain from smoking and alcohol, hydration, post-surgery care, stocking up on healthy foods, avoiding hot showers for a couple of weeks following your procedure, and give yourself time to rest and heal after your procedure.
If you’d like to learn more about breast revision you can schedule a private consultation. During your initial meeting, Dr, Mussat will provide you with all the information you need about the procedure and answer any questions you may have.
