How To Fix Breast Implant Displacement -

Breast implant displacement is common among women with implants. It’s a condition that causes your breast to appear lopsided, with the implant sagging or becoming skewed. Breast implant displacement symptoms include pain and lopsidedness.

In this guide, we review How To Fix Breast Implant Displacement, breast implant displacement symptoms, does breast implant displacement cause pain, and how to fix rotated breast implant.

How To Fix Breast Implant Displacement

Breast implant displacement occurs when the implant migrates away from its initial placement. It can occur in women who have recently had breast implants placed, or it can happen years after surgery. When the implant moves out of place, it may become difficult to tell where your natural breast tissue ends and where the implant begins. This is called a “double bubble” or “pocket displacement” because there appears to be two separate pockets of breast tissue instead of one.

Breast implant displacement occurs when the implant migrates away from its initial placement.

Breast implant displacement is not uncommon. It can occur in any breast implant surgery and is often caused by an improperly performed surgery, infection or other medical condition.

Breast implant displacement can cause pain and other complications.

Incision placement, size of the breast implant, and the type of implant can affect breast implant displacement.

The type of incision that is used, the size of the breast implant, and whether you have saline or silicone are all factors that can affect your risk for breast implant displacement.

If you have an incision around your nipple:

The more scar tissue a surgeon uses to place the implant in your breasts and the deeper he/she places it (in relation to your chest muscle and tissue), there’s a chance you’ll experience displacement. This is because scarring can cause your skin to tighten around an implant and pull it out of place over time.
Large-breasted women will also be at increased risk for this type of displacement because their breasts are naturally heavier than smaller-breasted individuals’ breasts—and therefore require more support from implants during surgery.

If you have an incision behind each breast:

The larger the size difference between top and bottom breasts when undergoing breast augmentation; the greater likelihood there is that one side will look different than another after surgery due to differences in anatomy between individuals’ bodies–even if surgeons try their best not let this happen!

There are several options for correcting breast implant displacement including fat transfer, surgical revision, changing the breast implant position and monitoring.

If your doctor recommends fat transfer as a treatment option, you will be given liposuction to remove some of your own fat cells from another part of your body. The fat is then removed and transferred to the area where it is needed most.

However, this procedure may not be suitable if:

You have severe weight loss or weight gain since the time when you got breast implants inserted into your skin;
Your breasts have become smaller than before; or
You want to keep them in one place on both sides of your chest wall.

Fat grafting is a straightforward procedure for generating new fat cells by injecting fat into the area where it has been lost.

Fat grafting is a straightforward procedure for generating new fat cells by injecting fat into the area where it has been lost. The procedure uses your own natural body tissue, which makes it more effective than other methods of breast augmentation. Fat grafting is safe and effective at restoring shape to sagging breasts caused by aging, pregnancy or weight loss.

This simple surgical technique involves removing excess skin from areas where there’s plenty of tissue available—such as the abdomen, hips or back—then injecting that harvested fat into the breast area to increase its volume and fill out sagging skin folds caused by breast reduction surgery or pregnancy.

You will need a doctor who is skilled in both procedures to treat breast implant displacement with fat grafting.

You will need a doctor who is skilled in both procedures to treat breast implant displacement with fat grafting. If you have been considering breast augmentation, but chose not to go through with it because of your concerns about implant issues like this one, now might be the time to reconsider. A skilled plastic surgeon can help you achieve beautiful results while also alleviating any anxiety or fear that may be holding you back from taking the next step forward.

With so many different options at your disposal, there’s no reason why this procedure should prevent anyone from achieving their aesthetic goals!

Fat grafting can help fix breast implant displacement while also improving other areas of your body.

Fat grafting can be performed in a clinic or hospital, and under local anaesthetic. The fat graft is injected into the breast pocket to fill it out and create a more natural shape. This is a relatively simple procedure – but if you’re considering having it done, speak to your doctor or surgeon first.

You might also want to consider having fat grafting performed on other parts of your body that have lost volume due to weight loss or ageing. You can have this treatment performed on any area where you would like more skin elasticity and fullness: for example, around your face, neck and backside (also known as Brazilian Butt Lift) or abdomen (abdominoplasty).

breast implant displacement symptoms

When women get breast augmentation, they expect to have the silhouette they have always wanted. Though complications from breast implants are not common, they do happen on occasion. This is why it is important for patients to recognize the signs of problems early before they become more serious in the future. One complication some people experience is referred to as bottoming out. But what is bottoming out with breast implants?

If you have had breast surgery and believe your implants are bottoming out, dual board-certified aesthetic plastic surgeon Dr. Nana Mizuguchi can assess whether a revision procedure is needed. Because Mizuguchi Plastic Surgery places the safety of patients as our highest priority, we take the time to provide education and resources about potential problems. Learn about breast implant bottoming out symptoms by scheduling a private consultation in Louisville, KY.

What is bottoming out with breast implants?

Many of our patients ask before getting augmentation surgery – what is bottoming out with breast implants? This condition occurs when the skin and underlying tissue are unable to hold the breast implant in place. If there is no adequate support, the implant falls down below the crease. Bottoming out usually happens to women with little natural tissue and skin coverage. Implant placement is also known to play a role.

Choosing the right implant is a significant part of your original breast augmentation surgery. Large implants are heavier and carry a greater risk for bottoming out. Other times, the skin loses laxity due to aging, hormonal changes, breastfeeding, or weight loss. In these circumstances, the implant may be too heavy for the tissue to support it. This often leads to the breast implant bottoming out.

Breast implant bottoming out signs and symptoms

If you believe that there is a problem with one or both of your breast implants, call Dr. Mizuguchi for an evaluation of your situation. Even if we were not the clinic that performed your original breast augmentation, we are happy to help patients in Louisville, KY. Learn the most common breast implant bottoming out signs and symptoms by reading the following:

Loss of volume in the upper breast. Because the implant has shifted downward, the upper part of the breast may have less volume than before. Patients may also notice an increase in volume and increased pressure in the lower breast.

Upward pointing nipples. When the breast implant shifts downward, the nipples turn upward as a result. The nipple-areolar complex may also seem higher on the breast than before.

Double bubble deformity. A double bubble occurs when women notice two distinct mounds on the breast. One mound is the natural breast tissue, while the other is the displaced breast implant.

Rising inframammary scar. For patients who had a breast augmentation with an inframammary incision, bottoming out causes the scar to rise upward on the breast. This may even create new folds lower on the chest.

Pain or discomfort. Breast implant bottoming out signs include discomfort in the lower breast, especially if it is accompanied by an increase in pressure on the lower chest.

How breast revision surgery works

The professionals at Mizuguchi Plastic Surgery can properly diagnose breast implant bottoming out symptoms and create a plan of action moving forward. One suggestion we might make is a procedure called breast revision surgery. Revision surgery can either replace or remove your breast implants to correct the bottoming out and make your silhouette seem balanced once again. Breast lift surgery may also be necessary to correct any loose or hanging skin if you choose to remove your implants. During your consultation with Dr. Mizuguchi, we can review your options together in-office.

does breast implant displacement cause pain

Breast reconstruction techniques have come a long way. Women tend to have fewer complications and enjoy better cosmetic results. However, problems like pain and discomfort are not unheard of after surgery. Here are several possible reasons why your reconstructed breast or breasts hurt — and how corrective breast reconstruction can help.

Capsular Contracture

It’s normal for your body to form a fibrous capsule of scar tissue around your breast implant. This protective capsule is typically soft, unnoticeable, and useful for keeping the implant in place. However, some women develop an irregularly hard or dense tissue pocket that squeezes the implant.

This condition is known as capsular contracture. It can result in chronic pain and a restricted range of motion. It can also change the position and shape of your breasts. If you have received radiation therapy in the past, especially after breast reconstruction, your chance of developing this condition is higher than average.

To resolve your symptoms, you may decide to have a capsulectomy to remove and replace your implants. Switching to an autologous reconstruction procedure such as DIEP flap may also be a good fit.

Skin Tightness Due to Radiation

Radiation therapy can cause more than implant problems like capsular contracture. It can also lead to skin and tissue imperfections. Radiation can make your skin tighter, thinner, and less flexible.

In some cases, fat grafting can be used to improve the layer of tissue between your breast implants and skin for a softer result. However, many women opt for DIEP flap combined with fat grafting to achieve the best possible outcome

how to fix rotated breast implant

After 25 years in practice, it is not often that something comes up that is totally new and surprising. But it happened this year when my breast augmentation patients started reporting they were having their breast implants FLIP!

What in the World? What Does a Flipped Implant Look Like?

The story was similar each time. They would say they noticed a strange contour to their breast, with a flatter contour on top with a square-like ridge often also noticeable. Many of the patients also reported feeling a strange sensation as they were bending over. Many related that they were bending over and felt a swoosh. All of these patients had implant inversion or a flipped breast implant. In other words, their implant was upside down, with the smaller rounded top contour of the implant on the chest wall side, and the flatter, bigger bottom side of the implant facing up.

Things Are Upside Down!

Now when the first patient called, she did not know what was going on. And at first, I suspected it, but kept it to myself, just advising the nurse to have the patient come in to see me. When she arrived and I could clearly see the inversion, I could hardly believe my eyes. With a few firm manipulations, I was able to flip the implant back to its proper orientation but began to wonder what to do to prevent this.

Over the next few weeks to months, it happened again with another patient. And then again and again. In the beginning, they were all breast augmentation revision cases. I suspected the pocket was larger and this was a likely reason it occurred. But then I had some of my primary breast augmentation patients experience this as well. So now, a full 6 months after first seeing this in my practice, I have come to realize, that implant inversion is a real phenomenon, and prevention diagnosis and management are crucial factors to understand.

Head Over Heels: Implant Malposition

At first, I was perplexed— how and why does this happen? When it was only my revision breast augmentations that experienced this strange situation, I believed since their pocket was larger, or if some of the capsule was still intact and well-formed, this slippery inside layer would make it more likely for this to occur. But is it more than just the pocket? After all, the capsule is always quite a bit larger than the implant.

Are High-Profile Cohesive Gel Implants the Common Denominator?

So the cause of implant flipping must be more related to the product—the implant—than the patient’s capsule. And it has to do with the new cohesive gel implants that are higher profile. The base of these implants is wider than the top and heavier. So when the patient bends over in the shower to grab the shampoo, the implant just flips “head over heels,” so to speak. When the implants were less cohesive, lighter, and lower, more rounded profiles, there wasn’t an issue with this. The implants had a back and front, but if it flipped, it was not as noticeable.

Nothing Is Ever New in Plastic Surgery

Some of us plastic surgeons who have been around for 20 or so years will remember the first generation of shaped implants with a teardrop or anatomical contour. These implants had more projection in the lower pole than the upper pole, thus the term “anatomical.” In the photo below, the anatomical implant is pictured on the right.

These implants also were always textured to keep them in the correct orientation. The lower pole with the higher projection needed to stay put in the lower pole, so the implants were textured to get them to stick on the inside. I was one of the plastic surgeons doing this style of implant in the late 1990s and liked the concept of the teardrop shape.

But I had a few patients for whom the texture did not promote sticking, and the implant behaved like a smooth implant. This led to breast implant malposition, as previously described. I switched to using only smooth round implants around the year 2000, since this surface eliminated a variable that I could not control every time. More recently, textured implants have been associated with a condition called BIA-ALCL, and have been removed from the market. So a textured surface was not offered on the new highly cohesive implants. (For more information about smooth versus round implants, take a look at my related blog post.)

Best of Both Worlds

So is there a way to get the benefits of the cohesive gel and the projection of the extra high profile without worrying about implant inversion or flipping? The answer is multifaceted. The easiest response is to say that the pocket has to be tighter. Easy to say, but that is sometimes hard to do. Again, in every patient, the capsule of pocket size is larger than the implant.

Adding to the complexity is the patients who would benefit the most from the extra high profile are often the ones who have had a few children or have lost weight so that the skin envelope is looser to begin with. In these case, we are trying to fill the skin envelope back up again, often on a patient with a very thin torso. The next option is to consider backing down the profile, understanding that this is a tradeoff with the upper pole fullness and size desired by the patient.

This category of patients is already in the most complex type of surgery, and adding another variable can often tip the scales to a point that the risk outweighs the benefit.

The cohesive gel is a game changer when it comes to peace of mind for the patient and me about the future likelihood of implant rupture. I have taken out so many ruptured implants over my career and thought how gooey and unsettling it is, that I was thrilled when the highly cohesive, gummy bear implants were introduced. At last, there was an implant that would not be a sticky gooey mess in the future. So with a cohesive implant removing the possibility of this, it has become the only one I want to use.

This gummy bear level of cohesivity is the game changer. Perhaps it is only the extra high profile implant shape on very lean patients that will have to worry about the inversion. The moderate or full profile implants may be less likely to flip, based on the physics of this shape. But now, with implant inversion as a possibility, it makes it harder to recommend the extra high profile, even when I previously would have.

A Solution?

My idea to solve this would be to add a tab to the extra high-profile implants. This could tack the implant in place and limit the breast implant flipping. So far, this implant does not exist though. In a world turned upside down, my best solution is to hold off on the extra high-profile implants until the tabs are added to the product. Honestly, the difference in profile is measured in millimeters, so for now, I feel that this is an adequate solution.

In summary, this blog explained the phenomenon of implant flipping or inversion and the causes and likely solutions. The best course of action is to seek advice from a board-certified plastic surgeon who has the experience and expertise to guide you in your breast augmentation journey. The entire team at Aesthetica is looking forward to helping you reach for your star. You can schedule a consultation with me by calling my Columbus plastic surgery practice at (614) 569-2649 or by using our online form to request a consultation.

How To Fix Breast Implant Displacement