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Can Fungus or Bacteria Grow Inside a Breast Implant?
I heard a web report of bacterial or fungal growth in a saline implant. Can this happen with mentor silicone breast implants?
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Breast implant complications
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Silicone Implants
I have never personally seen this happen, nor do I have any colleagues who have personally seen it. I have however heard of such things happening with saline implants, but it would not be possible with a silicone filled implant. Silicone implants are filled at the factory, and sealed in a sterile packaging system. There are pros and cons to both types of implants. If you are most concerned with possible fungal growth, silicone may be the best option.
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This shouldn't be possible with a silicone gel implant.
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Silicone implants come prefilled, so no you cant have something grow "inside".
There were some reports early in our experience of Saline implants growing fungus in them because some plastic surgeons would pour saline in a bowl, and then fill the implant from there. We learned this early, and started having it be in a "closed system" by placing a 3 way stopcock on the syringe, and go straight to an IV bag. This leaves no air to get spores in the bowl, and then into the implant.
Silicone implants come prefilled with silicone. So the only way that one could...
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Bacteria or fungus can grow in contaminated saline implants
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Fungus in saline implants
I personally did have experience with this. I removed an implant placed by another doctor in my town, since retired, which was black when I exposed it. Luckily there was no leakage of the saline when I removed it. When I called the doctor to tell him about this he admitted to using the open basin technique as decribed by the other surgeons here. I think he also added an antibiotic to the saline as well. In any event, I can confirm from personal experience that this can happen.
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Fungus or bacteria inside breast implants theoretically possible
Yes, this is THEORETICALLY possible especially when implants were filled step wise with syringes from an open bowl (open system). But even when does this way, this was a rarity which was publicized by a magazine article featuring a single Plastic surgeon in Georgia.
Why was it so uncommon? Simply, to infect something 2 requirements must be met. First, you must place enough bacteria or fungus in a certain part of the body that overwhelms the local immune defenses. (Anything less than that...
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Silicone (and saline) breast implants are resistant to fungal growth, if handled well.
There was an epidemiological cluster in Southeast Texas or Louisiana, where saline implants, which were filled with an "open system" of irrigation saline poured into a surgical container. Apparently the prevalence of "spores" in these more humid environments may have been inadvertently imported into the implants. This practice is a historical foot note, so it doesn't reflect what is done today. Saline implants are filled with intravenous grade saline (salt water),...
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