Robert Whitfield MDAmerica's Breast Implant Illness Expert™

Surgeon Reveals Shocking "En Bloc" Implant Removal Request! #shorts

28 May 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:05

In this YouTube short, Dr. Robert Whitfield recounts a unique patient request to have her breast implants removed "en bloc," meaning the implant and its surrounding scar capsule are taken out together as an intact unit. He explains the pathology origin of the term, contrasts en bloc removal with total and partial capsulectomies, and clarifies that a simple implant removal can leave the capsule behind. Dr. Whitfield draws on his background in cancer surgery and reconstruction to illustrate that the technique is familiar to him, and he describes his open, intellectually curious attitude toward fulfilling the patient’s request without making a big deal of it. The dialogue also touches on the doctor‑patient dynamic, with a brief challenge from the co‑host about the surgeon’s role in honoring patient wishes.

Chapters

She asked me to do something I had never been asked before by a patient. She said, can you take out my implants en bloc? And so for the audience, en bloc is a term used in pathology. It's tumor extirpation or removal is done en bloc. Say for a sarcoma or any cancer, you want to be around it, not in it. Okay, so she wanted you to take the tissue around the capsule? Right, the scar capsule and the implant together. So when I talk about it, I say it's like taking things out in an undisturbed manner, like not breaking the Easter egg.
So the Easter egg, just for listeners, you have the silicone or whatever the bag of fluid is made out of, the implant, and then you have a scar capsule around it. That your body made. And you could take out just the implant and leave the scar. Correct. Okay, good deal. And so en bloc meant removing the scar tissue and the balloon.
En bloc versus total versus partial capsulectomies. Okay. So, I mean, I had done cancer surgeries with my colleagues and on our own and reconstructed. And so this was not a big thing for me to do. Yeah, and so I did it that way.
But how dare you do what your patient wanted? I mean, aren't you the doctor?
I think it was just kind of one of those things where I was like, I've always been intellectually curious, and I didn't make a big deal about her asking me that. I said, well, I take them out that way basically anyway, so yeah, it's fine if it's— there's some nuances to it, but yeah, of course.