Can Fungus or Bacteria Grow Inside a Breast Implant?

Question

I heard a web report of bacterial or fungal growth in a saline implant. Can this happen with mentor silicone breast implants?

Ricardo A. Meade, MD · Answer

Infection is exceedingly rare in breast augmentation.  If you add to it a rare microorganism then the math becomes less and less likely.  Once an implant is exposed to infection it must come out.  They are rarely salvageable but fortunately an exceedingly unusual event.
Best Wishes.

Otto Joseph Placik, MD · Answer

Yes this can happen and was typically associated with open filling of the implants.
Currently, the risks of this developing have greatly diminished with the use of the closed system which is also known as the aseptic fill kit.

Darrick E. Antell, MD, FACS · Answer

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.

Samir Shureih, MD · Answer

The saline we put in the saline implant is sterile and we use a close technique to fill the implant. We try to handle the implant as little as possible to prevent contamination
If contamination does occur, then yes, the bacteria or fungus can grow in and around the implant.

Robert B. Pollack, MD · Answer

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.

Steven Wallach, MD · Answer

Yes, there have been reports of fungi or bacteria growing in implants. This has been in saline filled implants. Since silicone implants are solid structure without a fill valve, they have not been reported as far as I know in these implants.

Darryl J. Blinski, MD · Answer

Yes in saline, it has been reported in the Plastic Surgery literature. Though unlikely in silicone implants, the thought of 'never say never' applies. 
Hope this helps.

Peter A. Aldea, MD · Answer

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 and the body will kill the germs). Second, once the immune defenses are overwhelmed there must be enough food there for the bacteria to support many cycles of cell division and multiplication of the germs to allow them to spread the infection. Simply put, like people, bacteria and fungus need food (substrate) to live on. The salt water in implants has no nutrients and although not hostile, does not provide a welcoming nutrition full environment for them.As a result, even with open system implant filling this was not a common complication.
These days, most of us use closed sterile system to fill saline breast implants. I have never seen this complication nor have I had any friends who reported seeing it.
Good Luck.

Lavinia K. Chong, MD · Answer

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), which is instilled using an Aseptic Transfer System, sterile tubing, which draws the fluid directly from the IV bag into the implant; essentially a "no touch" technique. Good luck.

John P. Di Saia, MD · Answer

Hello,
While it is theoretically possible, I have never seen it happen in either silicone gel or saline-filled implants. Web reports are unfortunately impossible to verify.

Can Fungus or Bacteria Grow Inside a Breast Implant?

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