Breast Implant Displacement

Sometimes after breast implant reconstruction, implants can shift or become displaced over time so that they’re not in the correct position in the breast. It can happen to one or both implants because of many different factors, such as an error in the initial placement of the implants, implants that are too large, gravity, and problems with the breast skin.

Here are some examples of the ways breast implants can shift out of position:

Sometimes a displaced implant drops too low, slipping beneath the bottom fold of the breast. It can happen if surgeons create too large a pocket in the chest to hold the implant, or if larger implants are causing the breast tissue to become stretched out over time because of their weight.

Lateral displacement of breast implants means the breast implants have settled too far apart from each other, away from the middle of the chest. It can happen if surgeons create implant pockets that are too large or if the pockets stretch out over time. If you have laterally displaced breast implants and lie on your back, your reconstructed breasts may shift too far to the sides.

In rare cases, the skin and muscle between the breasts detaches, allowing the implants to merge and creating the appearance of a uniboob. It’s a condition called symmastia and it can occur if surgeons remove too much tissue near the breastbone during a mastectomy.

If your implant has shifted a lot, your plastic surgeon can make adjustments to the capsule of scar tissue that normally forms around the implant or the pocket of tissue surrounding the capsule with permanent stitches so that the implant sits in a better location and doesn’t move around as much.

The plastic surgeon can tighten or loosen some areas of the pocket and reinforce the capsule using a piece of dermal matrix material (a skin substitute made mostly of collagen) to help keep the implant in the correct position. The plastic surgeon replaces your existing breast implant, possibly with one that has a different amount of projection, has a different level of firmness, or is a different size, which can help change how it sits in the chest.

 

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