What is capsular contracture?
Capsular contracture is the term given to scar tissue that can form around a breast implant. Your body normally tries to wall off or deposit scar tissue around a foreign body such as a breast implant. Some scar tissue is normal and we depend on it to heal your incisions and prevent the implant from sagging down. An abnormal amount of scar tissue around a breast implant may lead to the implant feeling firm. In severe cases it can make the implant very round, displaced or even painful.
What Causes Capsular Contracture?
The cause of capsular contracture is not entirely known. Most people who get it have a perfectly normal implant on the other side. We know by clinical observation that bleeding around the implant at the time of surgery leads to a higher rate of contracture. However, many people who get capsular contracture have had no bleeding around the implant. Another theory that has been proposed is that of low-grade infection although this has never been proven. Silicone breast implants have a higher rate of capsular contracture than saline implants. Breast implants above the muscle tend to have more problems with contracture than ones below the muscle.
What can be done to minimize the chance of getting capsular contracture?
Textured implants were thought to develop softer scar tissue around them than smooth surface implants and they were promoted as a way to minimize capsular contracture. We now know that implant massage is an important component in reducing the risk of capsular contracture. This appears to be true for implants on top of the muscle, but when the implants are put under the muscle, smooth implants are just as good as textured and have less chance of rippling.
One of the biggest advances Dr. Squires has implemented has been prevention of bacterial contamination of the implant. We give intravenous antibiotics during surgery and irrigate the surgical pocket and soak the implants in a mixture of 4 antibiotics before we put them in. We also use an insertion sleeve (kind of like a pastry bag) to insert the implants so they never touch your skin or breast tissue. This has markedly reduced the risk of capsular contracture to less than 5% in Dr. Squires practice.
How does implant massage work?
By moving the implant around, the body is prevented from making scar tissue around it. It’s important to start the massage within the first few days after surgery to get the implants moving before scar tissue begins to form. Textured breast implants are designed for tissue in growth and are not to be massaged. Experience has shown that sub muscular placement of smooth saline implants with early massage gives the lowest rate of capsular contracture (less than 5% in my practice).
If you are interested in breast enlargement in the Denver, Colorado area, contact us or call 303-321-3210 to schedule a consultation.