Saline Breast Implant Risks: Part 2

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

(Page 2 of 2)

Once the implant ruptures, surgery is required to remove or replace it. Surgery may also be necessary in the event of infection, shifting of the implant, or formation of calcium in the surrounding tissue.

Another potential complication from implant surgery is nerve damage, causing some women to experience a change in sensation or loss of feeling in their nipples and breast tissue. These symptoms may disappear eventually but can be permanent in some patients.

Additionally, says S. Lori Brown, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, "many women with implants are unable to breast-feed successfully." It is unclear whether insufficient milk production to breast-feed is due to damaged nerves or to other reasons, says Brown.

Making Cancer Harder to Detect

Breast implants can interfere with finding breast cancer during mammography. "The implant can hide breast tissue and, as a result, can hide lesions as well in the breast tissue," says Wendie Berg, M.D., director of breast imaging at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. In addition, extensive scarring and calcium deposits in tissue surrounding an implant can mimic cancer, Berg says, making them difficult to distinguish from tumors on a mammogram.

The process of taking a mammogram, which includes squeezing, or compressing, the breast, may increase the chance of rupture. But limiting the compression may compromise the quality of the picture.

When scheduling mammography, women with implants should ask for a comprehensive, or diagnostic, mammography instead of the regular screening mammography. They should request an x-ray technician who is experienced with mammography in women with breast implants. At the time of the appointment, women should inform the technician of the type of implant (saline or silicone) and its location (whether it is in front of or behind the chest muscle).

Making an Informed Decision

Women considering breast implant surgery need accurate information to help them make an informed decision. FDA requires breast implant manufacturers to provide printed information to help women with their decision, and has assisted manufacturers in developing this information. Women should ask their doctors for this "patient informed decision labeling" if they do not receive it.

Factors to Consider Before Getting Saline-Filled Breast Implants

Whether for augmentation or reconstruction, breast implantation may not be a one-time surgery. You are likely to need additional surgery for replacement or removal of the implants over the course of your life.

Many of the changes to your breast following implantation are irreversible. If you later choose to have your implants removed, you may experience dimpling, puckering, wrinkling or other changes of the breast.

Breast implants may affect your ability to produce milk for breast-feeding. Also, breast implants will not prevent your breasts from sagging after pregnancy.

Routine screening mammography will be more difficult with breast implants. You will need to have additional views taken, which means more time, more radiation, and higher cost.

For women who have undergone breast implantation either for augmentation or reconstruction, health insurance premiums may increase, coverage may be dropped, or future coverage may be denied. Treatment of complications may not be covered as well. You should check with your insurance company regarding coverage issues.

Despite complications, most women who have received breast implants report they are satisfied with the results.

About the Author

www.fda.gov
FDA is A United States government body that oversees medical devices, including contact lenses, intraocular lenses, excimer lasers and eyedrops. In the US, these products must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.