Got Breast Implants Today But Ended Up With a Broken Rib Also?

Broken ribs would be a very rare type of complication after breast augmentation. Deflation of the lung, called a pnemothorax, is well known and usually the result of injection of local anesthetics. You should discuss all of this with your surgeon. 

Thank you for that interesting question.  It would be very unusual to have a broken rib after breast augmentation surgery.  If you were told this, I would certainly want to know who diagnosed it and how they did it.  If it is a non-surgeon, they may have confused pain/discomfort for a rib fracture.  Some sort of imaging (x-ray or CT) would really be needed for this.  

 

As far as a surgeon placing a different size of implant during surgery, this can happen but it should be within a small and reasonable margin from your discussion in the office before surgery.  After all, the goal is to give you breasts that you are happy with.  

Good luck.

While a pneomothorax or collapsed lung is a known complication of breast augmentation, rib fractures are very rare.  Please discuss this matter further with your surgeon to get a better understanding. Best wishes on your recovery.

 600 cc implant is a very large implant, and I cannot imagine going much bigger than that.  No matter what volume was used, the volume alone would not have caused a rib fracture.  Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

Hello, with all due respect, I have Never heard about such a bizarre complication due to a regular Breast Augmentation surgery, no matter the size of the implant. Nevertheless the first tissues expected to be afected by high volume pressure will be the ones arround the aproach incision.  ... Did you ask you PS.  how  they diagnosed it, by CT, ? Hope you get well soon

Best Wishes

I have never heard of nor can conceive of a fractured rib happening in breast augmentation. I have heard of the pleura of the lung being violated and that certainly can make you feel like you can't breathe. Regardless, the size of a breast implant is not going to be the cause of a rib fracture even in larger implants of 600cc or greater in any body type.

I've never heard of such a complication.  Rib fractures are sometimes very hard to diagnose with just a chest x-ray.  Was a CT scan done to confirm it?  If just a CXR was done, it may be a "false positive" result (meaning it may look like a fracture, but a CT is needed to confirm). Is the rib fracture directly below one of the implants or on the side of your chest? As far as the size implants, most plastic surgeons discuss this pre-op with their patients in detail and respect the patient's desires.

I have never heard of a patient developing a broken rib after a breast augmentation. It is a bit odd.

I can only imagine strange situations that would lead to a broken rib with breast augmentation.  I spend alot of time in the office with breast augmentaion patients measuring and deciding on implant size.  It may not be unusual to vary the implant size 10-25 cc's but a much larger implant than expected is unusual in my 25 years of practice.

It is extremely rare to have a rib fracture during an augmentation. I would sit with my plastic surgeon and find out exactly what happened to lead to this complication.  It is less rare to have a pneumothorax from a punctured lung during augmentation. This can be due to injection of local anesthesia prior to surgery.