Surgeon Squeezed my Encapsulated Breast. 16 Months Post Op. Is This Ok?

If you are lucky and your breasts are soft you don't have to do anything else. Unfortunately, the capsular contracture will probably recur. The Pop was your capsule tearing/rupturing.Closed capsulotomy procedures are not recommended as they can cause implant rupture, internal bleeding, distortion and other complications. Off label usage of Singulair may be your best bet and if this does not work capsulectomy, change of implant and its pocket and other options are more acceptable techniques to deal with your problem. Discuss with a board certified plastic surgeon.

    The pop was the sound of a closed capsulotomy, which may give temporary relief of contracture.  This does not fix the problem in the majority of cases.

Hello and thanks for the question. The procedure you described is called a closed capsulotomy. It is still performed, but  not recommend by many surgeons because the capsule tends to come back in the same fashion after it heals. There's also a risk the breast implant could be ruptured by the pressure, so hopefully your surgeon discussed these facts with you. The standard therapy for severe contracture is surgery to remove the scar tissue and exchange the breast implant. See a board certified certified plastic surgeon for a second opinion. Best wishes, Dr. Aldo.

Thank you for the question.

Breast implant encapsulation is a frustrating problem that can occur after breast augmentation surgery.  Based on the severity of the encapsulation,  treatment options will vary. If breast implant encapsulation occurs, some surgeons would recommend treatment with  anti-inflammatory such as Accolate or Singulair.

If, at this point, your breasts are soft and the impulsive and good position I would suggest that you avoid any surgery. However, if you have silicone gel breast implants in place you may want to obtain an MRI study to rule out leakage of the silicone gel.  

If breast implant encapsulation occurs, some surgeons would recommend treatment with  anti-inflammatory such as Accolate or Singulair.

 Continue to follow-up with your plastic surgeon;  if in doubt about the best route to take, consider in person 2nd opinion consultations with  board-certified plastic surgeons in your area.

Best wishes.

 

It sounds like you surgeon performed a closed capsulotomy. However this is only a temporary fix.  If you have a capsule and it is tight, you probably need a revision.

Hello,

Thank you for the question.  It sounds like your plastic surgeon suspected you had a capsule contracture and he performed a closed capsulotomy.  If this is the case it might be that you may not need any further treatment, however, in most instances the capsule reforms and the breast characteristics return.  At that time a full capsulectomy would be indicated which involved the removal of the entire breast capsule and replacing the implant.

All the best,

Dr Remus Repta

 

Squeezing of your breast is the way they used to take care of the encapsulation before. If you’re not having any issue now you should be ok. Maybe getting a second opinion would be good.