Before and after bilateral explantation in a 37-year-old woman. Her saline implants had been in place for nearly 20 years, and she thought she wanted them out – but wasn’t entirely sure how she would look now that she had gained some weight and had two children.
An interim deflation of the saline implants was performed first in the office. The immediate post-deflation appearance can be seen in the last image of this series. After removing the saline, done through a single needle poke in the office, she was wrapped snugly with an ACE wrap.
Within 48 hours, her breasts had begun to assume their pre-augmentation shape. We usually recommend waiting a full two months to allow patients to see – in their own body – how they would look without implants. This “puts them in the driver’s seat” and gives them ultimate control about the next step: remove the empty implant shells or consider a new implant.
This patient waited a full six months to be sure she was comfortable with the natural size and shape of her breasts before proceeding with the next step. She chose to remove the implant shells, since she was entirely happy with her breasts after the saline was removed.
She chose to have surgery done through the existing scar around the bottom of her areola. We usually recommend a new incision in the inframammary fold (or reusing that scar if it is already present), but surgery is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and different approaches can be used depending on our patients’ preferences.
Surgery was done under local anesthesia. She showered in 2 days and resumed exercise in two weeks. Follow up photos are shown 6 months after saline implant deflation and 1 month after empty implant shell removal.
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
