Breast reconstruction with breast implants

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Risks

By Mayo Clinic staff

Breast reconstruction with breast implants carries the possibility of complications, including:

  • Poor wound healing
  • Implant rotation
  • Implant rupture or deflation
  • Protrusion of the implant through the skin

Less common complications include:

  • Increased risk of future breast surgery to replace or remove the breast implant
  • Changes in breast sensation
  • Infection
  • Bleeding
  • Scar tissue that forms and compresses the implant and breast tissue into a hard, unnatural shape (capsular contracture)

Correcting any of these complications may require additional surgery. If you need adjuvant radiation therapy, you might not be an ideal candidate for breast implant reconstruction. Radiation therapy often leaves the skin and underlying tissue discolored or damaged. In such cases, doctors tend to recommend breast reconstruction with a tissue flap instead.

MY00207

Aug. 22, 2008

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