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Risks
By Mayo Clinic staffBreast reconstruction with a breast implant carries the possibility of complications, including:
- Poor wound healing
- 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.
- Breast reconstruction after mastectomy. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/002992-pdf.pdf. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Surgery choices for women with early-stage breast cancer. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/SurgeryChoicesESBCPDF. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Breast reconstruction. American Society of Plastic Surgeons. http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Patients_and_Consumers/Procedures/Reconstructive_Procedures/Breast_Reconstruction.html. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Hu E, et al. Breast reconstruction. Surgical Clinics of North America. 2007;87:453.
- Reavey P, et al. Update on breast reconstruction in breast cancer. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2008;20:61.
- Wilhelmi BJ, et al. Breast reconstruction. In: Townsend CM, et al. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/207919050-3/0/1565/0.html. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Wilkins EG, et al. Breast reconstruction in women with breast cancer. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Atisha D, et al. Prospective analysis of long-term psychosocial outcomes in breast reconstruction. Annals of Surgery. 2008;247:1019.
- Walsh MF (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. July 22, 2010.
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