Robert Whitfield MD discusses what happens to breast implants over time, including why cancer patients face higher complication rates from chemotherapy and radiation. Doctors typically wait eight years before discussing maintenance, and implant complaints get less attention than similar issues with knee or penile implants, partly because of gender and cosmetic framing.
Questions this video answers
Starting at eight years after the initial procedure.
Chapters
Also tell me this is wrong. I imagine if you're somebody that has these, you have to do maintenance on them every, you know, 15, 20, 30. I don't know how often you have to do it, but if you're a young woman, call it 25. Like, you're probably going to have to get these redone, what, at least two to three times in your lifetime, or is that not accurate?
Yeah, I would tell you I was trained in a manner that's very different. I had discussions with my clients from cancer and cosmetic realms about implants starting at eight years after their initial procedure, because the experience with cancer is very. There are a lot more issues with cancer patients because they get chemotherapy, obviously, many of them get radiation therapy. They'll have capture contractures. They'll have pain. They may have a device rupture. A device will fail. So you're just operating on them at a higher rate. And then. So that always was like, I better have these same discussions with a cosmetic patient so that they're aware. And that's, you know, I. I never tried to, like, just because it was a cosmetic case, didn't de. Emphasize how important having an implant is because it's a big deal to have an implant. Once again, if he. I told Michael if he had his knee replaced and his knee hurt, they'd be going to the nth degree to figure out what was wrong with this. But.
So why don't they do that in this space?
It's just like, I don't know it. To me, it's like the ostrich head in the sand method. So I think it doesn't fit a pattern.
I also think if it was a bunch of men complaining, it'd be a very different story.
Well, the penile implant thing is hilarious because those things get ripped out all the time. But there's a problem.
Oh, there's actually a penis implant. People can get.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah. Let's start implanting a bunch of implants into guys. And if guys started complaining, no one would be like, oh, my God, these guys are being so dramatic. They would actually take it seriously.
Do you think it gets less scrutiny or there's less of an emphasis on health because it is cosmetic, where, like, say, a knee replacement is. Is not necessarily cosmetic.
