Robert Whitfield MDAmerica's Breast Implant Illness Expert™

Removing Breast Implants: Incisions, Lifts, and Scar Capsules Explained #shorts

5 Dec 2025 · 1 min

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0:54

Short-form transcript of Dr. Robert Whitfield explaining surgical considerations for removing breast implants (explantation). He discusses incision sites (inframammary fold vs. periareolar vs. axillary), typical incision lengths when removing textured/capsulated implants, and constraints that affect approach (presence of a lift, scar capsule, and how implants were originally placed). The clip references Danica Patrick’s explant as an example.

Chapters

I want to see the candy inside. If there's not going to be a lift then it's purely about how was it put in. Was it put in periareolar or through the fold? Because I can't take an implant and it's scar capsule out through the armpit. So that's off the table. So if we're underneath the breast we need a slightly bigger incision. Typically get all out because the tissue around it makes it hard to get out. It's not smooth anymore. Can't just advance it through a small incision. So typically about 6 to 7 centimeters. Once again 6 to 7 centimeter incision to get that out all hidden in the fold. If the tissues will drape over that fold incision and then of course I can take things out through a peri areolar incision. Obviously Danica Patrick talked about this when she explained her explant journey and how it was done. The then ramifications of doing these different types of procedures. We'll take them one by one.