Dr. Yates performs breast implant removal surgery at his Layton practice.
Concern about lymphoma
VERY IMPORTANT – Lymphoma associated with breast implants is ONLY associated with textured implants and at that is VERY rare.
When the FDA and Health Canada announced a ban on a certain type of textured implant manufactured by Allergan, the Biocell implant, that’s when many women started to consider having their implants removed. This wasn’t necessarily only women who had these Biocell implants.
These Biocell textured implants have been linked to a very rare form of cancer: anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. In the announcement, the FDA called the cancer “breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma” (BIA-ALCL).
The occurrences of this lymphoma are exceedingly low — of the 40 million women who have had implants only between 300 to 500 have been diagnosed with genuine cases of anaplastic large cell lymphoma — but the news has brought implant removal to the forefront of the public consciousness.
Numbers
The past couple of years of COVID skewed the plastic surgery statistics from 2020 (2021 stats are not out yet) from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), and just about every cosmetic procedure (surgical and nonsurgical) declined. The one noteworthy exception? Breast implant removal, which increased 8% from 2019 to 2020, in marked contrast to the overall 14% decline in cosmetic surgery overall in the same period, which was mostly due to practices being closed due to lockdowns, on average, 8.1 weeks in 2020.
Breast augmentation is still very popular, with 193,073 augmentation procedures performed in the U.S. in 2020 (down from 287,085 in 2019).
The ASPS reported that 36,367 women had their breast implants removed in 2020, up from 33,642 removals in 2020. Those numbers are approaching 20% of the augmentation numbers, which is a dramatic shift.
What will my breasts look like after I remove my breast implants?
After implants are removed, your breasts will not look the same as before you had implants placed. The weight and size of the implants stretches the tissue and causes changes in the rib area.
The appearance of your breasts will depend to a large degree if you’ve had a breast lift when your implants are removed. When he removes implants, Dr. Yates recommends patients have a breast lift at the same time. A breast lift has the goal of returning the breasts to a higher position on the chest. It removes excess sagging skin and repositions tissue as needed. The nipple/areola complex is usually moved to a higher position, as well.
With a breast lift, your breasts will be smaller, but they will not be sagging and overly flattened. That can be the result if the implants are removed without a breast lift.
If you have questions about breast implants, please call Dr. Yates at (801) 693-4221.