Why is it important to wear a sports bra after explant?

hello cmf89 Dressings: These will vary from patient to patient. Some patients may be placed in a bra; others will wear an elastic bandage. Your doctor will decide after surgery and in subsequent weeks, which dressing will suit your needs. #results #sportsbra

The purpose of the sports bra is to try to prevent fluid accumulation in the pocket where the implant once was.  The compression on the tissues by the sports bra helps with this.  It typically will not affect the overall look.  The length of time recommended to wear it will vary by surgeon.  Check with yours to see what is best for you.

Wearing a sports bra after explantation allows compression of the breast cavity to avoid formation of a "dead space"  where fluid can potentially build up.  Other than avoiding formation of a seroma, it typically does not improve the aesthetic result.  4-6 weeks of daily compression should be sufficient.  

Goretti H. Taghva MD

Your implants will have created a pocket in your chest in which they sit. Once the implants are removed, then this pocket is empty and therefore creates a space in which fluid could accumulate (seroma). Wearing a sports bra will help to provide compression on your chest in order to reduce the risk of this fluid building up in the space.

It probably isn't important to wear a bra of any type after a simple implant explant. If it was a simple explant, only the incision needs to heal. The worry is that blood or fluid will build up in the space where the implant was inside the capsule and the compression of the bra will help prevent this. In my experience it doesn't seem to make any difference and even if fluid where to build up (blood is highly unlikely in a simple removal without doing anything to the capsule), it's very easy to drain off with no implant there to worry about. I recommend wearing the bra for a week after explant but don't require it.