How to Recognize Infection Symptoms After Breast Augmentation?

If you have any infection, first you may have discharge from the incision, you may have some redness of the skin, you may have tenderness, pain and you might also have fever. For any of the symptoms, consult a board certified plastic surgeon near you to examine you further. 

Redness alone is not enough to make the diagnosis of an implant infection.  Sometimes the skin or the breast tissue can become inflamed.  If the implant is not involved, it can improve with antibiotics.  This may increase the risk of capsular contracture.  You need to have close follow up with the plastic surgeon.

Infection after breast augmentation will usually involve local increase in temperature, which might result in redness of the skin. That can also affect your systemic temperature. You might feel nauseous, fatigued, and in rare cases where there is an abscess formation, you might see an increase in the size of the breast.

Redness after a breast augmentation can happen for a number of different reasons that are not all due to infection. Close follow up with your plastic surgeon is recommended. 

Infection is a rare complication of routine primary breast augmentation. Typical symptoms include redness, warmth, fever, pain and drainage. Notifying your plastic surgeon early and starting an antibiotic is the right step and can often treat the problem. If you do not respond to the treatment then a different antibiotic may be indicated and if the problem persists, rarely it may be necessary to reoperate and replace or remove the implant.

Thank you for your question. It sounds like your surgeon is doing the right things in terms of putting you on antibiotics. The next step to determine if you have an infection would be to have some lab work done and an ultrasound performed to see if you have a fluid collection. But, go with what your surgeon advices; he knows the details of your case.

Inflammation, redness and tenderness or pain, with or without fluid accumulation, can be a sign of a post-operative infection.  With that said, I am happy to hear that you have been following up regularly with your operating surgeon as infections are best diagnosed in clinical follow up as not every infection is associated with a corresponding fever.  If the antibiotics are not helping after two courses on different antibiotics, I would strongly recommend following up again with your operating surgeon for further workup.  It is possible that your surgeon may order some blood work to check for infection markers, such as elevated white blood cell counts, but at this time regular follow up is important until your symptoms have resolved.  Best of luck.

Thank you for your question. Clinical assessment is usually the best way to detemine if you have an infection. Your surgeon can also order labs to see if there are any inflammatory markers such as elevated white blood count that may help when the clinical assessment is ambiguous. I would continue to follow closely with your surgeon.

 Any redness and tenderness can be a signs of infection or inflammation with or without fluid collection. I am glad that you have been in contact with your surgeon, follow his instructions and keep the activity down to a minimum. Stay in contact with your surgeon until the issue has resolved itself.  Good Luck

Redness and warmth are two signs that you may have an infection. It's good that you've seen your surgeon about this. Just follow their instructions, or if you don't trust them, you can see your doctor for a second opinion.