Silicone Implants Preferred After Mastectomy
Breast Cancer Patients Increasingly Choosing Silicone Over Saline for Breast Reconstruction, Study Finds
Silicone or Saline? Patient Should Choose
And one important question about the safety of silicone implants remains unanswered, McCarthy says.
“No one has ever done a study to examine what happens if a woman has a leaking silicone implant for a long period of time, and, of course, that study will never be done,” she says.
Because implant ruptures are usually not felt, women who have silicone implants are advised to have MRI screenings beginning three years after the initial implant surgery and every two years thereafter to look for ruptures.
The newly published report included about 500 women who had had reconstruction following mastectomy one to eight years before completing a survey designed to explore satisfaction with their reconstructed breasts.
The survey revealed that women who had radiotherapy after having their breasts removed were the least likely to be satisfied with their reconstructed breasts, no matter which implant they had.
This comes as no surprise to American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery president Felmont Eaves, MD, who practices in Charlotte, N.C.
“After radiation, it is much harder to get a satisfactory result,” he tells WebMD. “There is likely to be scar tissue, which impacts outcomes. And there is a higher incidence of complications.”