Silicone Injection Removal: What You Need to Know

Pros

• Silicone injection removal surgery reduces or eliminates the harmful and uncomfortable side effects associated with this foreign substance, including pain, itching, redness, hardness, infections, inflammation, discoloration, and even cancer.
• If silicone migrates to other parts of the body, it can cause embolism, stroke, and infection—so removal surgery can prevent these life-threatening conditions. 
• Once you've healed, the treatment area can be enhanced and contoured with fat transfer, so it looks and feels more natural.

Cons

• Downtime during recovery can be long. Depending on the area, you could be out of commission for at least two weeks and not back to 100% for several more. 
• It can be uncomfortable. You’ll have stitches, pain, bruising, and swelling. You may have to wear compression garments, to reduce swelling and fluid retention.
• Removal surgery is not without its own risks, including numbness, and fat necrosis (fat cell death). However, all of these risks are present from the silicone itself, and having it removed is widely believed to be safer than living with it. 
• Removal can cause dents, scarring, contour irregularities, and other deformities, which only reconstructive plastic surgery (usually fat transfer) can correct. 
• Sometimes surgeons are unable to remove all the silicone. While your symptoms will likely be improved, you may have lingering problems that need to be addressed with future surgeries and additional medical care.

• Average Cost:
• $10,450

• Range:
• $1,500 - $24,000

Your cost will depend on how many body areas are involved, your plastic surgeon’s technique, their level of experience, their practice location, and the type of anesthesia you get.  

If you have documented medical symptoms, a portion of your removal surgery (and possibly the MRI) may be covered by health insurance. Talk with your insurance provider and surgeon about whether you will qualify for coverage.

Most providers also offer monthly payment plans or accept third-party financing options, such as CareCredit.

The silicone injection removal photos in our gallery have been shared by the provider who performed the procedure, with the patient's consent.

Injectable silicone is not FDA-approved for cosmetic use: in fact, the FDA issued this safety warning against its use. It is still used “off label,” however, by some dermatologists and plastic surgeons. These doctors may use medical-grade liquid silicone conservatively, in microdroplet fashion, to permanently augment certain facial features. 

Of far greater concern are unlicensed providers who inject illicit forms of silicone, including industrial-grade silicone, biopolymers, Hydrogel, PMMA, and Aqua gel. These foreign materials can lead to serious complications in the surrounding tissues, sometimes years down the line. 

Illegal forms of silicone should be surgically removed, even if they’re not yet causing symptoms, because they can eventually migrate, leading to potentially fatal problems.

Dr. J. Timothy Katzen, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California, explains that “your body recognizes silicone as a foreign body and creates scar tissue, which can lead to localized pain and hardness. It can also pinch on neighboring nerves. If the silicone is injected into the buttocks, silicone and associated scar tissue may cause pain in the thighs, calves, and even feet."

As Dr. Katzen explains, "Over time, this scar tissue can turn into nodules and granulomas [tumors]. In the medical literature, there have been reports of these granulomas turning into cancer.” 

These complications can reach beyond the treatment area, as the silicone migrates throughout your body over time.

Injected silicone can also cause serious infections, particularly if it’s contaminated or not medical-grade. Some patients have also experienced tissue death so severe that they have lost limbs, as the BET documentary Killer Curves so painfully illustrated.

Removing liquid silicone can reduce or eliminate pain, infections, and discoloration, while minimizing associated risks, including tissue necrosis, cancer, stroke, or death.

Related: 5 Things Reputable Plastic Surgeons Say Should Never Happen with Butt Augmentation

Even in cases where removing all liquid silicone is impossible, removing most of it (along with scar tissue and granulomas) can significantly reduce pain and health risks.

Once silicone has spread and complications have developed, it needs to be surgically removed. This is extremely challenging, even for a skilled plastic surgeon. 

Your surgeon may use MRI before surgery to pinpoint the location of the silicone and develop your treatment plan.  

Some surgeons prefer liposuction to remove large amounts of silicone. Others say lipo can actually cause the substance to spread further, so they recommend excision surgery. 

“The only treatment option for dealing with hardened, painful silicone nodules and granulomas is to surgically excise or cut them out. Unfortunately, this frequently results in more tissue deformation," says Dr. Ryan Stanton, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California. "It’s impossible to remove 100% of the silicone, so you may still require more surgery in the future, if problems recur.” 

Removal surgery requires either general anesthesia or local anesthesia with twilight sedation.