I had a patient who came in today. I did her first breast augmentation 10 years ago. She is very happy with her implants. They are soft, lovely, in a good position. I was happy to see her. It is good for me to see patients in long term follow up and see how the girls are doing.
So why did she come in?
She came in because that 10 year number stuck in her mind. “Don’t I have to redo these every 10 years?”
Nope.
Ten years sticks in people’s minds because the implant warranty against deflation is good for 10 years. As we all know from multitudes of electronic gadgets and cars, warranties tend to be well researched things. Things don’t tend to break down until AFTER the warranty expires. For breast implants, I see women who have had breast implants for 20 – 30 years with no issues with their implants.
It is true the shell of the breast implant degrades over time. It would be easier to “switch them out” when there is no leakage from the implant. But surgery is not without risk. Every time you do a surgery, you run the risk of infection, capsular contracture, malposition, bleeding, anesthesia complications, more scar, etc. This does not factor in the issues of cost and recovery. I did a surgery today where the patient had over 20 year old gel implants which were pristine. Had she done a revision at every 10 year mark, she would have had 2 unnecessary surgeries.
So my advice?
Wait until you have an issue. What kind of issue? Capsular contracture, implant malposition, you look different after kids, you want gels but you have saline, wrinkling, you want to be bigger/smaller/something… Have another goal. I don’t think implants last forever. You will need to redo them.
So my advice to this patient? She is 28 now and going to graduate school. She wants kids in the future. I told her to wait. She has no issues now, so there is no advantage to doing a surgery. Have fun, enjoy them. Have her kids. Breasts change significantly after pregnancy and breast feeding. When she is done with all that, 5-10 years from now, then tinker with them.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.