Dr. Robert Whitfield describes removing breast implants and clarifies a common surgical mistake: what doctors call gel bleed is often actually biofilm, a bacterial slime that grows on implant surfaces. Accurate identification matters for patient care.
We just kept rolling along doing these cases, and in Q4 of '18, I had an ICU nurse travel from Louisiana. Her sister lived in Austin. She wanted me to do her explant. I did her explant, and it was the nastiest set of implants I had ever taken out. I take everything out. Hers went according to plan, no disruption in the capsule at all. Took it all out, put it on the back table, got everything, you know. At that point, I used to use drains and all the explain why I don't anymore. But, uh, got her clothes wrapped up. I open these things on the back table, and I think many providers confuse gel bleed for biofilm. Um, oh, oh, so they're saying that, that the gel is coming out of the thing, but it's not, it's actually growing on it. So you know what biofilm is, it's basically a polysaccharide and it's gooey. And when people like feel it, and I see them on, you know, YouTube or, or IG going like, this is bio— or this is gel bleed, I'm like, No, that's biofilm. So it's basically a bacterial slime. Yes, like kind of snotty, right?
