Dr. Robert Whitfield (MD) answers common patient FAQs about breast explant surgery: timing for removal after implant rupture, implications of capsular contracture, the clinic's approach to fat transfer (including preoperative toxicity testing and detoxification), special considerations for mastectomy patients (noting very thin remaining tissue and use of fat grafting), and options after multiple prior implant surgeries. He emphasizes earlier removal for ruptures, that capsular contracture may require tissue removal if symptomatic, and that fat transfer can often be performed simultaneously after addressing toxicity findings.
Questions this video answers
Approximately 94–96% of the breast tissue.
Phthalates, parabens, glyphosates; also screens for heavy metals and mycotoxins.
Chapters
Hi, everyone. I have a new set of FAQs. I'm gonna go through them right now. First one is, I have a ruptured implant. How soon should I get them removed, or can I wait? All right, so think of it this way. We don't drive our cars with deflated tires. So if you have a ruptured implant, although it's not a medical emergency, it still should be taken out. I always prefer sooner rather than later. If it's a saline deflation, that's not going to be as important. But if it's an intracapsular rupture, I would prefer that it be taken care of before potentially it becomes an extra capsular rupture. So sooner rather than later. Next one. I have a capture contracture. Does this impact my explant surgery? So capture contracture can be for a variety of reasons. The thing that is important to understand is if it's giving you pain, stretching, pulling, causing nerve symptoms, tingling in the hand, tingling in the area that nerve pain is not going to resolve until you have that tissue removed, potentially. I have taken care of capture contractures, you know, since, oh, my gosh, early 2000s for breast cancer patients, cosmetic patients. And there are levels of the capsular contracture, but certainly it doesn't prohibit you or change in terms of surgery. A timing for me. Next, I would like a fat transfer. What is the process? Do I have to come in every 6 months or 3 months? Fat transfers are very, very valuable tools. I have certain specific criteria for my patients who want fat transfers. So if you go through the short process, we look at your functional genetics, we look at your toxicity testing. So toxicity testing in our environment is. We use urine test that checks for environmental toxins, things like phthalates, parabens, glyphosates. We look for heavy metals. Heavy metals can come from the shell of devices, can come from groundwater, paint, all sorts of sources. Then we look at mycotoxins. A lot of our patients get exposed to mold, as we all can get exposed to mold through, like, a roof leak, a leak in the apartment building, a leak at a resort where we went to just in general, off of food, fruits, grains, coffee. So once all that's been determined, we'll examine those results, set up a detoxification program with my detox team, and then work to help either preoperatively improve that or delay the fat transfer if we don't feel like we can. Fat transfers themselves work incredibly well, and I want to offer them as often as possible as a simultaneous procedure. Next1 is had a mastectomy and implants were put in, I'm ready to have them removed. Are there any special considerations for mastectomy patients? Obviously, mastectomy patients have the majority of their tissue removed, especially in a bilateral case. So they would say 94 to 96% of the breast tissue has been removed. Some of that includes the fatty layer, so it can be very thin. So that's why in breast cancer patients, I have so much experience doing fat transfers. And fat transfers do not lead to increased problems with recurrence. So that's number one, no increased recurrence with fat transfers. Number two does not change screening. That's been borne out in studies. But three, when you take everything out, then they have a lot less tissue. So you want to provide that layer of fat to enhance that tissue and aesthetic flat closure, if that's what you're doing. And finally, I've had three previous breast implant surgeries. I am terrified of how I'm going to look. What are my surgical options? Can I have a fat transfer, a lift or lift and fat transfer? And how does that work? So many times people have a lot of different surgeries. I can always typically design an explant and lift and then fat transfers. Like I just have said over and over again, I like to provide them simultaneously. So if anybody's looking for more guidance on this, please reach out to us@breastimplantilnessexpert.com Fill out a form, contact us, set up a consultation or virtual discovery session. Also, you can follow us on Instagram restimplant illness expert, obviously here. Subscribe if you're on YouTube to our channel. Follow us on x robwhitfieldmd.evd in on LinkedIn. I'm there as well. This is Dr. Robert Whitfield and on Facebook, Dr. Robert Whitfield.
