Patient - Breast Augmentation

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Before

It is not often that I get a 22 year follow up on a patient in whom I have placed implants. In 1998, I placed a pair of Mentor smooth, round saline implants above the muscle in this patient. Final fill volume was 360 cc. She had almost no breasts of her own so her result was basically all implant. I do not recall why I chose to go above the muscle, as this is not my usual practice. Her record was destroyed just last year. I try to keep records on all my implant patients but, after thirty years in practice, the volume in storage became overwhelming, so we destroyed all but the past 12 years. Now 54 years old, she came in because she was concerned that her breasts no longer looked appropriate for someone of her "advanced" age. She also thought she might need to exchange these because of their age. She had been totally pleased with her implants over the years and was in perfect health. For some reason, I did not think to ask her bra size but would guess it to be a full C, possibly a small D (or a DD/DDD at Victoria's Secret!). She was clearly an A, if that, before surgery. Her breasts look perfectly natural and have remained soft. They look wonderful when she sits up or lays down. Her scars are, for all intents and purposes, nearly invisible.

After

Contrary to popular belief, there is no expiration date on saline implants. They do not need to replaced on some regular schedule of, say, 10 or 15 years. My advice to patients is that, so long as they look nice, feel good, and are not having any problems, they leave their implants undisturbed. Implants are not lifetime devices but they can last a good, long while. When saline implants fail, it is harmless, usually painless, and always obvious. For the life of the implant, the manufacturer will give patients a new implant at no charge to replace a failed device. I told this patient how exceptionally nice she looks and that there was nothing she needed to do. I recommended she return to see me in a couple of years for a check up. I never charge for these visits in my patients with implants. 

Here she is 22 years later. Not bad for a pair of 22 year old implants.