The implant in the mammary gland burst. Capsular contracture, implant rejection and other terrible consequences of mammoplasty. Damage to the ducts and tissue of the mammary glands

When a woman decides to undergo an operation to correct the shape of her breasts, she does not expect to get serious health problems instead of a beautiful result.

But any plastic surgeon will tell you about the possible risk of complications at the first appointment.

Sometimes postoperative consequences cannot be avoided, and the patient should be informed about all the complications after mammoplasty, as well as ways to solve them.

General idea of ​​the procedure

Mammoplasty is a surgical restoration of the size or shape of the breast by installation of specially designed implants in the mammary gland. The operation is performed under general anesthesia, the incision is made with a surgical scalpel.

To place a foreign body in the chest, it is necessary to form a pocket by separating the tissues from each other. Such an intervention does not pass without a trace for the body and requires certain reserves from it for a quick recovery.

The average rehabilitation period after mammoplasty lasts about 1-3 months, depending on the health of the patient. The full result can be assessed after six months.

Limits of the postoperative norm

Throughout the recovery period, a woman must follow all the recommendations of a plastic surgeon. This will minimize all possible risks.

Of course, it is impossible to do without postoperative complications. For example, about a week after the intervention, the patient will be disturbed by palpable pain. Such discomfort is the norm and is eliminated by specially selected analgesics.

You can not do without bruises and swelling - they are an acceptable consequence after mammoplasty, if not accompanied by severe pain and fever.

To control the situation, it is necessary to regularly visit a plastic surgeon throughout the entire rehabilitation period.

Complications and solutions

In some cases, a woman notices that the implant in the breast is not positioned correctly or any movement of the body brings unbearable pain.

Most complications develop in the first hours and days after surgery, but sometimes disorders can appear months or even years later.

If discomfort occurs, it is important to consult a specialist in a timely manner in order to immediately begin treatment, if necessary.

puffiness

With normal recovery of the body, the edema disappears 3-5 days after the operation. This is the maximum period for which excessive hyperemia and tissue swelling must pass.

Edema is pathological if:

• there was a feeling of bursting;
• the skin around the chest is very reddened;
• local subfebrile condition (skin is hot to the touch);
• increased body temperature;
• pain is not relieved by analgesics.

When such signs appear, you should urgently seek the advice of a doctor.

Excessive puffiness is eliminated by physiotherapy, the application of cooling compresses in a hospital setting. It is not recommended to act on edema on your own. If the pathology is accompanied by the formation of pus under the implant, surgical treatment is prescribed.

Seroma

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Seroma is the accumulation of lymphatic fluid in the subcutaneous fat. Such a complication can be provoked by incorrect actions of the surgeon during the operation, too large implants for a particular breast, or non-anatomical tissue dissection.

When to suspect gray:

• the chest is very swollen;
• a clear liquid is separated from the unhealed scar of the swollen mammary gland;
• the pain is permanent;
• scar reddened a lot.

To eliminate the serous fluid, drainage of the postoperative wound or its dissection is prescribed, followed by pumping out the biological material. Anti-inflammatory drugs are prescribed in the complex.

Dangerous hematomas

Hematoma is called an ordinary bruise, that is, subcutaneous hemorrhage. It may appear due to trauma to the breast that has not recovered, improper bleeding control during implant installation, and unskilled actions of medical personnel during the rehabilitation period.

Small bruises are normal and resolve on their own. But in some cases, medical attention is required.

When consultation is needed:

• the hematoma is very extensive, can spread under the chest or in the shoulder area;
• the symptom is accompanied by an increase in body temperature;
• the pain does not go away a week after the operation.

The first step is to stop the bleeding. To do this, the specialist uses hemostatic agents, drugs to lower blood pressure (if necessary) and the application of ice compresses.

In the future, an extensive hematoma must be removed using tissue drainage.

sagging chest

Sometimes sagging occurs a long time after surgery, as a natural process of tissue aging. But if we talk about complications, we should mention ptosis.

It is artificial and expressive. In the first case, sagging occurs due to an implant that is too small; in the second case, tissue descent is a feature of the body and its reaction to a foreign body.

How to determine ptosis:

• nipples are above average breast level;
• the mammary glands are strongly lowered down;
• the distance between the collarbones and the beginning of the chest has increased.

Correcting the sagging of the mammary glands is possible only with the help of repeated plastic surgery. The specialist must select implants that are larger in size and perform the operation based on the characteristics of the body.

Implant contouring

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This complication most often develops in those women who have too thin a layer of subcutaneous fat. When the implant is placed not under the muscle, but directly under the mammary gland, its contours can be seen through the surface of the epidermis.

How to define contouring:

• the contours of the implant can be seen visually and palpated;
• the chest protrudes unnaturally.

To eliminate such a complication, the specialist will suggest the introduction of special corrective fillers. In some cases, lipofilling is indicated.

This procedure involves taking sebum from suitable areas on the patient's body and then transplanting them into the chest area.

Implant displacement

Implant displacement is another unpleasant complication after mammoplasty. Most often it develops due to its incorrect selection of endoprosthesis or illiterate actions of the plastic surgeon during the operation.

How to determine offset:

• the implant protrudes unnaturally away from the main position;
• mammary glands look asymmetrical.

In the early stages, you can correct the situation by wearing a special corrective corset and a certain position of the body during sleep. Also, when the implant is displaced, all physical activity is temporarily excluded.

Inflammation, suppuration

One of the most dangerous complications is suppuration of the postoperative suture. This can happen due to non-compliance with the rules of asepsis and antisepsis during surgery, the patient's failure to follow the doctor's recommendations and improper treatment of the scar.

How the complication manifests itself:

• the chest is very swollen, burning;
• in a short time, body temperature rises to high levels;
• the skin around the breast turns red;
• pus is separated from the seam or nipple itself.

In the initial stages, inflammation can be stopped by taking antibacterial agents and enhanced treatment of inflamed skin.

If the process is not amenable to medical control, surgical intervention is prescribed.

Loss of sensation

In the first time after the incision on the skin, it loses its sensitivity. This is not a pathology and with the help of physiotherapy is quickly eliminated.

But sometimes the patient does not feel the breast tissue or the nipple itself for a long time. Such a complication occurs due to incorrect actions of the surgeon during mammoplasty, due to which the neural network can be damaged.

To combat the problem, the specialist prescribes a complex of physiotherapy and massage.

Capsular contracture

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After the implant is placed in the mammary gland, connective tissue begins to form around it. In the normal state, it does not exceed a tenth of a millimeter, and the growth stops there..

But due to the characteristics of the body, this process can progress, which provokes the formation of capsular contracture.

How to identify a complication:

• the endoprosthesis and its contours can be felt by hand;
• breast deformity occurs;
• seals, dents or defects appear on the mammary gland;
• when touched, the patient feels pain.

The second stage of capsular contracture is eliminated with the help of physiotherapy, massage, the use of vitamin E and a complex of anti-inflammatory injections.

Stages 3 and 4 are corrected only by surgery. To do this, the specialist completely removes the implant, removes the contracture and installs it again. Sometimes a smaller endoprosthesis is selected.

Rippling or skin rippling

Rippling, also called skin rippling, is a fairly rare complication after mammoplasty. This can happen due to the characteristics of the patient's body, the wrong type and size of the implant, as well as the illiterate actions of the surgeon.

How to identify the appearance of skin ripples:

• predominantly, the defect is noticeable when the body is tilted forward;
• peculiar folds appear on the skin of the chest, similar to fingerprints.

Most often, breast lipolifting is used to eliminate the defect. In some cases, the specialist may advise replacing the implant with an endoprosthesis with a denser structure.

Preventive measures

To minimize the risk of possible complications, first of all, you will need to responsibly approach the choice of a plastic surgeon.

The specialist must have the appropriate qualifications, have a diploma and certificates confirming regular professional development.

This will eliminate the problems that most often arise due to the wrong actions of the doctor during mammoplasty.

What can be done for prevention:

• wear corrective underwear for the entire recommended time (1-3 months);
• reduce physical activity to a minimum;
• do not lift weights;
• carefully treat the seam and the chest area with antiseptics;
• do not injure the mammary glands;
• regularly attend doctor's consultations until the tissues are completely healed;
• the entire rehabilitation period should not drink alcohol, smoke;
• take antibacterial agents after surgery as prescribed by the doctor.

With the right actions during the rehabilitation period after mammoplasty, most serious complications can be avoided.

Of course, some problems may appear due to the individual characteristics of the organism. But a good doctor will definitely warn about all possible troubles, based on the history of a particular patient.

The video provides additional information on the topic of the article.

Rupture and leakage of the implant

The shell of silicone and saline implants consists of a silicone elastomer. This is a soft and elastic material, but it can sweat. If this silicone shell changes, it may break or leak the contents of the implant.

When the silicone shell of the saline solution implant is passed through, it is said that the implant is leaking. The solution flowing through the shell is absorbed by the surrounding tissues, and the implant itself becomes wrinkled.

When the silicone gel flows, the shell is said to break. The output of silicone gel can be to varying degrees, but the breast itself usually remains the same size. Typically, a rupture of a silicone implant can only be detected by the appearance of capsular contracture.

Risk of rupture or leakage

The risk of a saline implant leaking is approximately 1% per year. The risk of rupture of a silicone implant is about 4% per year for the first four years. The risk of a saline implant leaking can be reduced by overfilling it, however strange it may seem. The fact is that with incomplete filling of the implant, small folds form on its shell. With the frequent formation of such folds, the shell becomes thinner and weaker. Therefore, there is no point in filling the implant with a minimum volume. Silicone implants do not need to be overfilled, as they are always optimally filled with gel by the manufacturer.

Saline implant leak

Usually, saline implant leakage is immediately noticeable. Within a few hours, the breast loses its shape. There was even a case where a woman went into the shower with one breast shape and came out with another, as a result of the implant leaking (in this case, the shower was not the cause of the leak!). In some cases, implant leakage may occur gradually over several weeks or even months. Such breasts are usually slightly asymmetrical. Such changes are still much less common and are more often associated with a change in the position of the implant or its weight.

Rupture of silicone implants

If a silicone implant ruptures, the silicone gel may come out of the shell and lead to the development of capsular contracture. This is the first and only sign of a silicone implant rupture. However, this complication does not always develop when a silicone implant breaks. That is why it is recommended that women with silicone implants undergo an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) every two years.

But it should be remembered that MRI also gives accuracy only in 90% of cases, so a negative MRI result does not always indicate the absence of implant rupture. Also, a positive MRI does not always mean the presence of such a gap. Therefore, many women only get an MRI when they have some kind of problem.

Complications after mammoplasty can be divided into two groups: general surgical and specific, associated with the presence of an implant. General surgery includes hematoma, seroma, infection of the wound, pathological scarring. To specific ones - rupture of the prosthesis, displacement of the prosthesis, wrinkling of the implant, capsular fibrous contracture, contouring of the implant.

You need to contact your doctor immediately if one of the mammary glands suddenly enlarges, you have a fever, vomiting, diarrhea, you faint, feel dizzy and / or notice a rash on your body in the early postoperative period.

Capsular contracture

Capsular contracture is the formation of dense fibrous tissue around the installed implant, which compresses and deforms the endoprosthesis, and in the later stages can cause significant pain and discomfort.

The formation of a capsule is a normal physiological process that begins immediately after the completion of the operation and takes several months; its thickness normally does not exceed tenths of a millimeter. Capsular contracture leads to deformation of the prosthesis and, accordingly, to a distortion of the shape of the breast. Only a second operation can fix this.

Usually, capsular contracture occurs within the first year after mammoplasty, less often in the interval from one to several years after surgery. Capsular contracture can also occur with low-quality implants, but the problem is easily avoided by using high-quality and reliable breast implants, such as Mentor.

There are four degrees of capsular contracture. First: the enlarged breast does not differ in softness from the usual one; second: the breast is denser than usual, but its shape is preserved, the implant is palpable, but its contours are not visible; third: the breast is clearly denser, the implant is well palpable and visible, the shape can be preserved, but more often it is distorted, asymmetry, bulges or dents may appear; fourth: the fibrous membrane becomes very hard and inelastic, the skin is cold to the touch, the deformation of the tissues is even more noticeable, and painful sensations are intensified, especially on palpation.

Two types of operations can correct the situation: capsulotomy - dissection of the fibrous sheath, which allows you to reduce pressure on the implant and return it to its normal shape, and capsulectomy - partial or complete removal of the fibrous membrane, which may be accompanied by replacing the implant with a different size, moving it to the intermuscular zone or complete removal.

Implant rejection

Any surgical intervention is associated with the risk of infection. In most cases, it develops within a few days or weeks after surgery. If the infection cannot be controlled with antibiotics and the presence of an implant makes treatment difficult, the prosthesis may need to be removed. Installation of a new implant is possible only after recovery.

In rare cases, after implantation of the prosthesis, toxic shock syndrome develops, which is life-threatening. Its symptoms are sudden fever, vomiting, diarrhea, fainting, dizziness and/or rash. When they appear, you should immediately consult a doctor and begin treatment.

The main causes of complications

Complications may arise due to the patient's irresponsible attitude to the recommendations of a plastic surgeon, non-compliance with the rules for preparing for surgery and the rules during the recovery period, if the girl does not pass all preoperative examinations, she does not go to the doctor in time after she finds suspicious symptoms, changes in the glands, and other ailments or will not provide the doctor with all the information about her health, that she has contraindications. And finally, the last item on this list is self-treatment, which you did not agree with the surgeon.

A rupture is a hole or even a crack that appears in the implant shell under the influence of various causes.

Causes of implant rupture

There are several reasons that can lead to damage to the prosthesis.

1. Natural wear of the implant walls under the influence of time. This is the most common reason.
2. Careless actions of the surgeon when the implant receives a hole during the operation. The operation of breast augmentation in case of detection of such a gap should be stopped. However, it will not always be immediately possible to notice such a hole.
3. Marriage, which was allowed during the production of the implant.
4. external injury. Most often, such damage occurs after car accidents, when the silicone prosthesis is torn from hitting the seat belt.
5. Surgical intervention. The implant may be damaged during an external capsulotomy.

Break detection.

It is often very difficult to detect implant damage in time. In the early stages, there may not be any symptoms that signal a rupture. That is why women with silicone breasts need to see a doctor several times a year. At the same time, the older the implants, the more often you need to visit specialists. You need to be especially careful if the service life of prostheses is more than ten years. Implant damage is most accurately diagnosed by examination using ultrasound or MRI.

Consequences of a break

Previously, when a liquid gel was used as a filler, the consequences of an implant rupture were really terrible. The filler spread over the fabrics. Now in the production of implants, a cohesive gel is used, which, even with serious injuries, does not “wander” around the body and keeps its shape. At the very least, cases where the cohesive gel enters adjacent tissues, such as the arm, are extremely rare. The consequences of implant damage are divided into local and regional depending on the degree of spread of damage.

1. Local. Despite the risk of implant rupture, breast plastic surgery usually has the most positive reviews. This is due both to the reliability of the implants and to the fact that most often only local consequences occur during a rupture. This is due to the fact that even in case of leakage outside the shell of the prosthesis, the silicone remains inside the fibrous capsule that forms around the implant. This is called an intracapsular rupture. The shape of the breast in this case changes little, most often you can not even notice a leak. If silicone is in contact with tissues for a long time, then capsular contracture may develop. If an implant with a hydrogel or saline solution was used during the operation, then in the event of a rupture, the filler is absorbed into the tissues and excreted from the body without harm.
2. Regional If the gel has penetrated beyond the fibrous capsule, then the consequences of the rupture can be immediately detected, since the volume and shape of the breast change. Usually the gel does not penetrate beyond the pocket that was formed during the operation. In this case, it is easy to remove it. Sometimes silicone penetrates into tissues, such as muscles or breasts. In this case, it may be necessary to remove part of the damaged tissue. However, such complications are almost non-existent in our time.

The article was prepared based on materials from the website about breast plastic surgery - www.uvelicheniegrudi.ru

As for silicone, it all depends on its variety. Old mixtures can leak and affect the muscles and lymph nodes, modern jelly-like ones remain in place.

In any case, when ruptured, scar tissue can form - capsular contracture, which leads to seals, breast deformities, and asymmetries.

Implant rupture symptoms

In most cases, implant rupture occurs asymptomatically, and the woman herself may not be aware of this until a specialized examination. However, often the signs of a gap are quite obvious:

• pain, especially when it comes to the flow of saline;
• a change in the shape of the breast, from falling off and shrinking (if the implant is damaged with saline) to the appearance of obvious external signs, such as asymmetry;
• appearance during palpation of tubercles, lumps and other neoplasms;
• the ability to feel the edge of the implant when touched;
• changes while maintaining shape and size, such as loss of contour, new outlines.

How to identify damage to a breast implant

In many cases, only a doctor can determine the damage to the implant. That is why women after prosthetics are recommended to undergo an examination on a magnetic resonance tomograph or an ultrasound scan about once every two years.

Sometimes a woman herself understands that damage has happened, as she observes a change in the shape of the breast, experiences discomfort. In this case, you should immediately go to the doctor, who will conduct a full examination and prescribe an operation to remove the prosthesis, evacuate the spilled contents and install a new implant.

Consequences after implant rupture:

• Local effects, which do not have a serious impact, and which are easy to deal with. This happens if the contents of the prosthesis remained inside the fibrous capsule, or it was a biocompatible gel that was excreted naturally without harm to the body.
• Regional implications associated with the penetration of the contents of the prosthesis beyond the formed pocket. Gel that has penetrated into muscle tissue, into the lymph nodes and nerves of the hands and into the armpit, can cause irritation and discomfort, as well as the formation of scar tissue at the sites of penetration.

What to do if an implant ruptures?

If there is a suspicion of damage to the implant, you should immediately consult a doctor. Most often, the consequences can be dealt with without harm. The damaged implant is removed, the leaked contents are evacuated, if necessary, the scar tissue is excised, and then a new prosthesis is installed. It should be noted that the risk of such damage is significantly reduced if modern materials are used and breast augmentation surgery is performed in our clinic by professionals with extensive experience. A good operating doctor is a guarantee that you will never encounter such problems, but will enjoy beautiful breasts with an ideal shape.

The information on the site has been personally verified by plastic surgeon Osin Maxim Aleksandrovich, if you have any additional questions, please call the phone number listed on the site.