Breast implant exchange is a secondary operation to change breast implants. A minority of women will request to have larger breast implants placed because the first sized breast implants were not large enough or perhaps were too large. Other women may decide to exchange older silicone gel breast implants for saline filled breast implants, or saline filled breast implants for silicone gel breast implants. Some other woman may elect to have the breast implants exchanged for other reasons.
These other reasons for breast implant exchange may be because of the age of the breast implants, or for the correction of some implant caused breast asymmetry. It is not uncommon for a woman who is having a corrective secondary breast surgery to request that the older breast implants be removed and new breast implants placed. Some women will request a change in their breast shape and aesthetics. These women usually request a natural look improvement and are trying to get away from the ball like look of previous breast augmentations. Other women will actually request the ball like look over the natural looking breasts. This is a very personal choice and either request can usually be accommodated at the secondary implant exchange.
After a woman has decided to have her secondary surgery, the next issue is the pain and the recovery process from the breast implant exchange. Fortunately the recovery from a straight forward breast implant exchange is relatively quick and does not involve much discomfort. There is essentially little or no down time because the majority of the pain from a primary augmentation is from the stretching of the chest muscles. If the muscles have already been stretched then the breast implant exchange surgery is relatively painless with a recovery of one day. This is especially true if the woman had large pockets made at her first breast augmentation.
The surgery usually begins with making an access incision and then tunneling down to the breast implant scar tissue layer or capsule. A cut is then made in the capsule and the older implants are removed. If the capsule pocket is large enough to accommodate the new breast implants, then the new implants are put into the pockets and filled to the appropriate fill volume. The wound is then closed and that is it. So in this instance the pain is only from the skin incision and slight tunneling that was required.
If the woman is requesting a much larger breast implant or has some scar tissue problems, she will require more techniques used during her breast implant exchange. There will need to be some scar tissue removal or scar tissue cutting to allow the breast pocket to expand for the larger breast implant. These plastic surgery techniques will usually result in a bit more discomfort than the straight forward implant exchange but still considerably less than the original breast augmentation. Sometimes the entire breast scar capsule has to be removed. When this is the case there can be more discomfort but still less than the original breast augmentation. Typically, the only time a secondary breast implant exchange is more painful than the first breast augmentation is when the original breast implants were placed above the muscle and at the second operation the breast implants are placed below the muscle. It is this muscle stretching that causes the most discomfort. This recovery is similar to a first breast augmentation surgery.
Rate this Article
Disclaimer
This web site has been designed and created to assist in providing information about breast implants, and breast enhancement surgeries including breast augmentation. It is not meant to replace an informed consent document, or a visit with your plastic surgeon. This web site is for informational purposes only and not intended to provide medical advice.
