How to get Ohip to cover explant? They are causing lots of pain/tenderness.

Hi,
Thank you for your question. I am a plastic surgeon in the GTA, practicing in the Durham Region just East of Toronto. Patients can sometimes have pain and tenderness around their implants many years after having them placed. This can sometimes be due to capsular contracture (scar tissue around the implants squeezing tightly on them causing deformity, pain, firmness, or a combination of these symptoms). Explantation of the implants can be covered by OHIP for a variety of reasons, including pain and tenderness, which you describe. What is important to remember is that sometimes after removing the implants, the breasts can be quite ptotic (droopy) and require a lift in order to give you a reasonable shape without the implants in. The lift portion of the surgery wouldn't be covered by OHIP. Certainly, I have removed implants for patients, through OHIP coverage, and it's not a problem. I hope this helps.