Infection? Breast Aug 1 Year Ago, Hardness, Redness, Pain?

I got a breast augmentation a year ago and a month after surgery I got a fever and experienced a lot of pain and redness on my left breast. The hardness never disappeared and 3 months later I went back to surgery for capsular contracture, but a month later started again with the same symptoms redness, pain and hardness. My doctor gave me an antiiflammatory but this still happens every month. I'm afraid if I go back to surgery to get my implant replaced this will continue to happen.

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7 Doctor Answers | Asked by Brens5

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Infection? Breast Aug 1 Year Ago, Hardness, Redness, Pain?

Sorry to read about your difficult course. From the narrative my primary suspicion is of an implant infection, and if I am correct, the only appropriate treatment will be removal of the implant and capsule. Afterward, a delay of at least three months will minimize the chance of a recurrence when a new implant is placed. Next on the list of possibilities is capsular contracture. There are surgeons who when seeing someone with recurrent contracture would recommend the same treatment:... more

Inflammation and contracture after augmentation

Brens, I hope the preceding comments have given you information you can take back with you to your surgeon. Yours is not a common scenario and in order to prevent it in the future, you will have to be quite aggressive in your approach that will incur additional costs. I hope your surgeon has a liberal revision policy and is able to help you through your long journey ahead.

Curtis Wong, MD

7 reviews

Redding Plastic Surgeon

Breast infections

I have had a few patients whose breasts became red swollen and painful post augmentation. It occured on one side and usually responded to oral antibiotics. My antibiotic of choice was cipro. If there is no improvement then removing the implant and sending appropriate cultures might be necessary. Then waiting until the implant can be replaced after the infection and inflammation have settled down.

Recurrent capsular contracture

Hi Brens, Sorry to hear about your story. This is a difficult problem and unfortunately, does happen to a few patients. I would agree with the other PS here: take out the implant and capsule, allow the smouldering infection / inflammation to settle down, and then have a new implant placed later. one question: is your incision at the areola? Yes, this is a real inconvenience to you and added cost given the second stage surgery, but in the long run will... more

Implant problems and possible infection?

Without examining you and knowing exactly what was done in surgery makes is difficult to answer your question. If you have recurrent capsules, you may have a low grade infection and a full capsule removal will possibly be necessary along with exchange of implant. Another option could be to remove the implant wait a few months and start over.

Steven Wallach, MD

12 reviews

Manhattan Plastic Surgeon

Indolent breast implant infection

You sound like you have a smoldering breast implant infection. If that is the case, the implant needs to be removed as antibiotics will not cure this.

Breast hardness after implants

Thank you for your question about your breast implants. Your problem is probably a chronic infection around the implant. Implant hardening and pain is called a 'capsule' - hard tissue. Once an infection settles around an implant, surgery can't fix the capsule. Consider having the implant removed, then a new one placed in 3 months. Capsules are less common when implants are under the muscle Discuss other possible causes with your surgeon... more