Do Breast Implants Have An Expiration Date?

I read someone said she had to get her implants re-done 20 or so years later. I thought that getting breast implants was a one-time thing. How long do breast implants last?

Breast implant surgery is definitely not to be considered a “one time thing.” That is one good finding that came out of the breast implant craziness of the 1990′s in the US; the time at which the FDA banned silicone gel implants and demanded studies.

Interestingly, the implants themselves are not always the problem that leads to re-operation. It can be the body’s reaction to them. Silicone gel breast implants in particular can encourage a more profound reaction requiring surgery to remove it and soften the breast. Take a look at a piece of a

Silicone Breast Implant Capsule

Silicone Breast Implant Capsule

scar capsule that I removed for a woman who had had silicone breast implants about twenty years prior. These things harden the breast quite a bit.

Saline implants do not encourage this kind of reaction (much less so,) but they can break flattening the breast on that side and leading to the need for a replacement operation. With these things being considered, breast implants should probably be considered to have a “lifespan” of ten years on average.

*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*


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