A Miami plastic surgeon addresses breast implant illness concerns, noting that large studies found no link between silicone implants and autoimmune disease, though some patients report symptom improvement after removal. He discusses surgical options after explantation and emphasizes evidence-based decision-making over social media claims.
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Okay, so another thing I want to talk about, and this is in regard to a lot of information that people receive over the internet, talking to their friends, social media, especially since that's where most people get a lot of their information these days, is this also involves breast implants. So I talked about in another video, if you haven't seen it, check it out, talking about very natural-looking results for breast augmentation using small, you know, generally silicone gel implants, which has always been a big part of my practice. So let's talk about another trend that kind of has definitely been a trend over the last several years, although I see it already kind of quieting down, you know, to a noticeable degree the last year or so compared to the 2 or 3 years prior to that, and that is breast implant removal. So this was something that was promoted a lot on social media channels, you know, talking about some of the issues that people have with breast implants and some maybe systemic problems, you know, inflammatory issues that may go along with that, that were causing in their bodies and the concerns they have. My best advice to patients, if you have this concern, because I've seen many of those patients, I've done lots of surgeries like that where I take out implants and do lifts or don't do lifts, use fat grafting, all different methods of sort of reconstructing that breast. And oftentimes you can get the breast to look much better even without the implant. Just depends on the patient and what needs to be done. My best advice is to sit down with someone who's not trying to promote or scare you into doing a procedure, but just gonna be honest with you and tell you what the real facts are. We do know, actually, in the plastic surgery literature that we have a lot of information about breast implants. There was a massive study done for hundreds of thousands of patients between the '90s and 2000s that looked at these issues and never really found any kind of correlation between between having a breast implant and having any kind of systemic illness, especially with regards to immunocompromised states, having autoimmune disorders that are associated with those implants. So we know that those problems, there's really no good scientific proof for them. However, there are some patients that do have issues and they feel that they are related to the breast implants. So I try to have an open, honest discussion with each one of those patients and tell them whether or not I think removal of implants and not replacing them is going to have some benefit for them. If they choose to do that and remove their implants, then the next thing is to consider what's going to give them the best overall cosmetic outcome. Now, of course, do I want those physical symptoms or whatever is ailing them to get better with the removal of implants? Absolutely. And can it happen? Yes. So that's something that I'm always going to ask them afterwards too, to assess, see, did it make a difference? Has it helped them? You know, so, but the important thing is to look at the facts that we know Have a good open discussion with your doctor to really have your best interests at heart with regards to what are your options, should you do it, are you going to be happy removing your implants and not having implants, are you going to have an outcome that you're going to be satisfied with and not end up having to replace those implants at some point. And I've seen patients like that that have gone through these types of surgeries and then come back and said, hey, you know, I have my implants removed for such and such reason, you know, a year ago, 5 years ago, but are really not happy with my, my breast look and end up putting breast implants back in, in some of those patients. So it's an important discussion to have during a consultation with your doctor. Anyway, if you have those types of questions, concerns about breast reconstruction, taking out implants, or issues you might be having with implant, whether it's in specifically related to the breast or problem with the implant or something else in your body, please schedule a consultation. I'll be happy to advise you and we'll come up with a plan together.
