Robert Whitfield MD discusses whether breast implants interfere with cancer detection. Implant-related cancers are extremely rare, but one in eight women get breast cancer overall. Early detection saves lives, as shown by patient Tiffany Blackman's case.
So let me ask you that, I kind of asked this question at the beginning of the podcast, but does having a breast implant reduce our ability to.
Catch breast cancer early in the studies? You don't see it change the outcome of breast cancer? You know, the, the questions that people are concerned about is like, am I going to get one of these cancers? Well, the breast implant associated cancers are extremely rare and they present a certain way. But what I see more commonly is, as you should, breast cancer, because it's far more common. One in eight women will end up having breast cancer. And if you send everything off and catch it early, which I have this great patient, Tiffany Blackman, you know, we found her really early breast cancer. This is very disconcerting to her. And now she just has to get her follow up. But she credits us with saving her life from that, which is.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Yeah, it's, it's, it's, you know, we're doing our jobs.
Why are you doing so many more explant surgeries compared to what it seems like the general public in healthcare?
I think for us people, one, I've got a lot of experience and that helps put people at ease. But two, my team and our protocols that are in the book Sharp are basically what people are really clamoring for, more of a integrative, holistic approach to their care.
So would you say your approach to breast health and particularly explant surgery is attracting more people to come in, or are you looking for it?
I think we're just trying to set the standard for how you should approach the problem. And then I think for surgical care in general, I would like to see practitioners elevate their level of care to give the patients the most complete experience so they can recover more efficiently.
That amount of surgery also makes me think about just the dangers inherent to surgery. I mean, anytime you go under anesthesia, there's.
Oh, good, let's talk about that. Yeah. All right. So everybody thinks they're going to die under anesthesia. That hasn't happened in the, you know, 20 years I've been taking care of patients and I operate, you know, three or four times a week. I said three or four times. Three or four days a week, most of the time. And I have a great group of anesthesia providers. Obviously we don't put anybody at high risk, so I don't take on high risk cases. But just from the standard 25 to 55 year old female with no underlying medical issues, extremely low riscase.
