Dr. Kevin Brenner

It sounds like everything went great with your operation, yet you are now having a problem with one breast. If one breast now starts hurting, becomes firm and does not move quite the same as the other, this may be a sign that you are developing a capsular contracture. You should go back to your plastic surgeon immediately to have it evaluated. There are oral medications that are effective for this problem, but if they do not work you may require a revision operation of that breast.

Although it poses no danger, having a depression in the area following lipoma removal is quite common if it is not reconstructed properly. That is why it is important to have a plastic surgeon remove medium and large sized lipomas so that they may fill the space with your own tissue and avoid this problem.

The need for minor revisions to breast reductions is fairly common and can be performed without opening all of your incisions, particularly if it is toward the bottom of the breast. If a nipple-areola complex needs to be elevated, then it tends to be a bit more involved.

From the pictures provided, it appears as though your areola are at the correct level. However, I think you are right that you implants may have bottomed out a bit. Either the implants are too heavy for your breast, or you simply do not have bresat tissue to support the implant. This can be corrected, but I would wait at least 6 months.

Although the general lifespan on a saline implant is about 12-15 years, if they are not causing you a problem I would leave them alone. You do not need to have an MRI to check a saline implant. If it leaks, you will usually know since it will likely deflate. If and when an implant does leak, then I would have both implants replaced. If you had silicone implants in for 17 years, I would definitely have you get an MRI to evaluate their integrity. You should however, continue to do monthly self breast exams as well as annual breast exams by your doctor.