Robert Whitfield MDAmerica's Breast Implant Illness Expert™

Drains vs. No Drains — BII Livestream Wednesday 6PM CT

3 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief excerpt from his BII livestream, Dr. Robert Whitfield explains his rationale for rarely sending explant patients home with surgical drains. He outlines the conventional purpose of drains—removing fluid to prevent seroma—but stresses that drains are uncomfortable, serve as a direct infection conduit, and do not reliably prevent seromas or hematomas. Instead, he advocates eliminating the dead space during surgery through muscle repair and related techniques, which allows most patients to leave without drains. He acknowledges that drains are not inherently wrong but are less effective than his method, and he invites viewers to a full, detailed discussion on his Wednesday 6 PM Central livestream.

Chapters

Don't watch this unless you want to know why I don't send you home with drains. If your surgeon says drains are non-negotiable, ask them what they're doing instead. You know, drains versus no drains— drains exist to solve a real problem. They help you get fluid out where the implant was. If it doesn't happen that way, it's a seroma potentially down the road. That's the traditional answer. It's a tube in your side for a week or two. It's miserable. It's a direct path for infection because the bacteria can come inside where the implant sat. The other answer is to not leave the space in the first place. That's what we do with muscle repair and other techniques. And that's all part of my methodology, and it's why most of the explant patients that we have go home obviously without drains. It's not that drains are wrong, it's that they don't prevent seromas or hematomas. So we'll do a full breakdown of this on Wednesday, 6 PM Central. Comment guide for the link.