Robert Whitfield MD explains why removing textured breast implants requires removing the surrounding capsule too. Textured implants stick to the capsule like Velcro, leaving particles behind, and the capsule is where implant-associated lymphoma can develop.
Robert Whitfield MD
November 1, 2025
I mean, it's very. I do capsule removal for these obvious reasons that we talked about. The ruptured implant, the textured implants that, you know, are. They're not really. There's really no recommendation for removing textured implants by the fda. My gut doesn't feel right with that, because there aren't a lot of scenarios where we know there's a risk and we'd rather wait for a patient to develop the symptom of a developing cancer to treat them. I just don't think it's that, you know, morbid to a patient to remove a device that may be putting them at risk. Although I. I don't understand surgeons that take out the textured implant and leave the capsule behind. Because when you remove textured implants, you find that they are adherent to the capsules. And pulling the. The textured implant out of the capsule is like peeling apart two pieces of Velcro that are stuck to each other and they shear apart. So I have to believe you're leaving some particulate of that textured surface behind in the capsule. And the capsule is, you know, the biologic material that forms the lymphoma. So for me, if you're going to remove a textured implant because of those reasons, the risks, you should be removing the capsule. And people say, well, we don't have proof yet that it's going to prevent cancer. Well, we do know that these cancers don't form in people who don't have these implants. You know, I just don't know what the big fear is of taking them out. If people want implants, they can have them replaced with smooth implants, but get the capsules out.
