Robert Whitfield MDAmerica's Breast Implant Illness Expert™

29 Percent of Submitted Explant Specimens, Not Patients

11 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In a recent presentation, Dr. Robert Whitfield MD summarized his own research showing that 29% of explant specimens examined in his single‑surgeon series were positive for bacterial contamination when analyzed by PCR. The contamination was dominated by Staphylococcus epidermidis and Cutibacterium acnes. He also highlighted a related study by Dr. Mathun Sina, which demonstrated that oxylipids interact with bacterial biofilms, with Staph epidermidis being a prolific biofilm former. The talk underscores the prevalence of subclinical bacterial presence in explant material and points to emerging biochemical pathways (oxylipins) that may influence biofilm dynamics.

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2 weeks ago, I gave a talk about my paper that shows that 29% of the explant specimens that we examine using PCR analysis in my single surgeon series have bacterial contamination, predominantly with Staph epidermidis and Cutibacterium acnes. And then what we did last week, last Thursday, was discuss Dr. Mathun Sina's paper And it's a great paper, it talks about oxylipins interacting with the bacterial biofilm, and in their study, it was predominantly Staph epidermidis that readily produces biofilm, it's been known for a long period of time, discussed in the literature about Staph and biofilm.