Dr. C. Bob Basu: The Symmastia is a very rare problem that can arise from breast implant surgery. Fortunately, it is very, very rare. What is it? It's basically when patients describe they've lost their cleavage. They have no more space between their breasts. Some patients describe it as a monobreast deformity where the two breasts have kind of converged together. Anatomically, what's a symmastia? It's when the internally attachments of the breasts have been violated and the right breast pocket now communicates anatomically with the left breast pocket. Usually this can occur when there's over-dissection of the medial pocket from breast augmentation surgery where there's been violation of the muscle attachments to your chest bone, also known as your sternum.

Dr. C. Bob Basu: And can symmastia be fixed? Absolutely. I've treated several patients that have experienced symmastia over implant surgery elsewhere. And we've had great success utilizing tissue substitutes, materials called Stratus. Some people like to use Siri. But essentially using tissue substitutes that can recreate the barrier medially so these pockets no longer communicate. Using these tissue substitutes are very powerful because it recreates the anatomic barrier that should have been there with the pectoralis major muscle. So we're really recreating that fence or barrier to prevent the implants from migrating together. Often times, a downsizing of your implants may be required so that we can protect this barrier long term.

Symmastia After Breast Augmentation Is Correctible

Dr. C. Bob Basu explains what treatment options are available when a patient experiences symmastia, or the loss of cleavage due to a migrating implant.