Before and after bilateral explantation and breast lift in a 54-year-old woman with severely contracted implants that had been placed a decade and half previously. They were unsightly and felt tight, and she was done with them. She wanted to avoid general anesthesia, as she experienced severe nausea after every other surgery she had undergone in her life.
Breast implant removal is usually offered awake, under local anesthesia in our office. An oral anti-anxiety medication is prescribed, and after inhaling laughing gas, numbing medication is injected into the fold under the breast for implant removal. For this patient, local anesthesia was also injected into the skin around the nipple and areolas and in the lower poles of the breast to enable a skin-only mastopexy, as shown in the last two photos.
Skin is removed around the nipple and areola on each side, as shown in the surgical plan. A two-layered closure using dissolving stitches repairs the skin and creates a new lollipop incision to raise the position of the nipples and remove excess lower-pole baggy skin.
Follow up photos are shown 6 weeks after surgery. She has resumed exercise and is fully back at work in her physically demanding job. Her breasts look much more natural, proportional and aesthetic, and loves her results already!
*All photos are actual patient photographs and are for illustrative purposes only. Individual results may vary.
