Dr. Robert Whitfield explains why indentations appear after breast reconstruction. Uneven tissue removal during mastectomy, differential healing, thin overlying tissue, and scar capsules can create a dent-like appearance that doesn't mean the implant failed.
Hi. This question's about a breast cancer reconstruction, and there's an indentation. It's a couple years after the patient's been reconstructed. And the question is, is it an implant issue? Well, usually when you do a mastectomy, the cancer surgeon is taking out the material, all the breast tissue on both sides. Now, it's not even side to side, and it may not be even along the surfaces. So you'll have little areas that are higher or lower, and then you'll get some different healing in those areas. And that can help create the perception of an indent. Also, if the tissue is super thin, the capsule, your scar capsule, that forms around the implant can actually be really adherent to the tissue below and make that look like a dent or a dimple or something like that, so that the implant itself is more visible, but it does not indicate that it's a failure.
