Old implants are removed or replaced surgically.
The Biometrics Of Secondary Breast Surgery
A breast implant revision, in the specialized discipline of body architecture and reconstructive enhancement, is basically a primary augmentation with a different set of circumstances. The first time you are operating on virgin, undissected tissue. In a revision, one surgical landscape has been permanently altered by the presence of a medical device. In a strict biometric perspective, the surgeon has to deal with stretched skin envelopes, altered muscle fascia, and the native scar tissue matrix that your body naturally formed around the original implants.
We at LIN Europe Clinic consider that a revision is definitely not a simple “swap” of devices. It is a highly complex, secondary reconstruction to restore structural harmony. Whether you are fixing a medical problem like capsular contracture, taking out a ruptured device, or just upgrading your size to match your changing lifestyle, the operation needs a very careful, multi-step approach. Through managing the internal architecture carefully, your newly shaped silhouette will have a very clean, youthful biological balance.
Access And The En Bloc Capsulectomy
Getting to surgical brilliance at a revision starts with very accurate access. Your surgeon will always try to reuse the very same line of incision as the first operation (usually in the fold under the breast) so as not to put any new scars on the skin matrix. The very next thing to do after getting into the breast pocket is to deal with the capsule, which is the layer of fibrous scar tissue that your body’s immune system built around the old implant.
It is quite clear that if the old implant is ruptured or if the capsule has become hard and contracted (capsular contracture), it is clinically unacceptable to leave this diseased tissue inside the body. The surgeon will be using a highly advanced technique, which is a total or en bloc capsulectomy. The procedure involves carefully separating the thick scar tissue from your ribs, lungs, and breast muscle, and together with the implant, removing the whole capsule as one sealed unit. Giving the body the compromised tissue matrix is the main source of localized inflammation, and by getting rid of it, healing and long-term protection of the body are ensured.
Pocket Reconstruction and Internal Reinforcement
After the implant and capsule have been removed, the surgical site needs to be assessed to determine its state. Due to the fact of carrying the silicone device all these years, the internal ligaments and muscle boundaries may have overstretched. Should a new implant be placed in the over-stretched pocket, the implant would bottom out or drift into the armpit almost immediately.
To achieve permanent structural harmony, pocket reconstruction has to be planned really well.
- Capsulorrhaphy (Internal Suturing): The surgeon applies very strong, permanent medical sutures to physically close the stretched boundaries of the pocket, forming a tightly contoured space that fits the new implant.
- Site Change (Plane Modification): In case the original implants were placed on top of the muscle and the resulting thinning out of the skin layer, the doctor could prepare a completely new pocket under the chest muscle to support the device with a thicker tissue layer.
- Biological Mesh (Acellular Dermal Matrix): For severe tissue weaknesses, a sterile line of mesh can be attached to the lower fold of the breast for reinforcement purposes. This internal bra gives support to the tissue and keeps the implant in a higher and more youthful position.
Clinical Comparison: Primary Augmentation vs. Revision Surgery
To completely understand the surgical process, it is very important that you perceive the differences between a revision and first-time augmentation without the use of generalizations. The biometric differences are very remarkable:
- Tissue Integrity: Using the first-hand augmentation concept, you will be operating on tight, perfectly healthy tissues. Revision, on the other hand, deals with over-stretched skin, reduced breast fat, and scar tissue bands.
- Surgical Complexity: Initially, the focus was on making space for the implant and then adding volume. Now, a revision involves the removal of old implants, scar tissue excision (capsulectomy), and rebuilding of the internal muscle walls before the introduction of new implants.
- Operating Time: Because the removal of scar tissue from the chest wall needs very careful and thorough dissection, revision surgery will take significantly longer under anaesthesia than a standard, first-time augmentation.
- Aesthetic Objective: The initial operation lays down your basic shape. Revision surgery offers an opportunity to fine-tune, adjust, and enhance the shape so as to get rid of any unnatural characteristics and, instead, reveal a real and deeply soft anatomical profile.
Breast Implants in Turkey
Choosing LIN Europe Clinic means entering a global medical haven where highly complex secondary surgeries are carried out with extreme clinical mastery. Having a revision, generally speaking, requires a great deal of trust in your surgeon, and fixing what went wrong previously needs a highly evidence-based, mature, and very refined approach. Our high-end hospital can be found in Turkey and is known worldwide as a center of excellence in advanced breast reconstruction; it means that your second time here will be far better, safer, and more pleasant.
By entrusting your very important time and efforts to our operating unit at LIN Europe Clinic, you have entered the realm of a medical system that boasts of uncompromising professional care. We diligently plan your internal reconstruction with the help of high-definition imaging and world-renowned cohesive silicone gels that help to achieve your final aesthetic goals. You can experience the exceptional service of LIN Europe Clinic and get a beautifully balanced and structurally reinforced profile showing the absolute peak of biological success, all very safely brought about right in the heart of Turkey.
FAQ:
In most cases, surgeons intentionally reopen exactly the same incision line made during the primary operation. This clever method allows them to carry out the revision without adding any new visible scars on the breast tissue.
Simply put, an en bloc capsulectomy is a very skilled and careful operation during which the surgeon takes out the old implant along with the complete capsule of scar tissue surrounding it in one single piece without breaking or separating anything. This avoids any possibility of old fluid, germs, or leaking silicone coming into contact with your healthy chest tissues.
Certainly, the time needed for a revision is usually a lot longer than that of an initial breast augmentation surgery. The reason is the surgeon will have to carefully work through the existing scar tissue, remove the original implants in a way that poses no risk to the patient, and reconstruct the internal pocket in which the muscle sits, all of these being very time-consuming tasks.
Definitely. It is a very frequent practice that an implant exchange will be combined with a mastopexy (breast lift). If your skin has become loose over time or after pregnancy, your surgeon will cut away the excess skin and lift the nipple to a new, more youth-ful position as they replace the implants.
You may find this surprising, but quite a few patients say that recovering from a revision surgery was less painful for them than the very first operation. Since years ago the muscle and skin have already been stretched, the body undergoes significantly less trauma when accommodating the new implant. Still, you have to make sure that you rest properly to aid the healing of internal sutures.
Pochat, V. D., et al. (2017). Breast implant revision surgery: incidence, indications, and surgical strategies. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 41(4), 817-824.
Handel, N., Cordray, T., Gutierrez, J., & Jensen, J. A. (2006). A long-term study of outcomes, complications, and patient satisfaction with breast implants. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 117(3), 757-767.
Maxwell, G. P., & Gabriel, A. (2014). The evolution of breast implants. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 134(1 Suppl), 12S-17S.
Stevens, W. G., Nahabedian, M. Y., Calobrace, M. B., et al. (2013). Risk factor analysis for capsular contracture: a 5-year Sientra study analysis using round, smooth, and textured implants for breast augmentation. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 132(5), 1115-1123.
