Episode 71

What are the Reasons for Having Breast Explant Surgery?

00:00:00
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00:07:21

June 20th, 2024

7 mins 21 secs

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About this Episode

Breast augmentation or breast implant surgery has become a more popular surgical procedure throughout the years for various reasons. While it has many benefits, it also comes with potential risks such as capsular contracture, infection, breast implant illness, and more.

These risks are some of the reasons why many women opt to undergo breast explant surgery. That’s why it’s important to have a qualified plastic surgeon when considering surgery and to carefully assess both the risks and benefits of having breast implant surgery and other procedures.

What Are the Reasons for Having Breast Explant Surgery?

My main take from the thousands of operations I’ve done is that we don't want to leave biofilm of any quantity in somebody. So what we do is remove all of what’s intact, if possible.

Women seek breast explant surgery for many reasons. There are those who want to lessen the pain from symptoms associated with breast implant illness like brain fog, sound and light sensitivity, shortness of breath, heart palpitations or chest tightness, neurologic symptoms in the arms, nerve pain, muscle pain, and joint pain, while some even experience gastrointestinal symptoms.

Whereas some are just tired and unhappy with their implants, some undergo breast explant surgery for breast reconstruction because they have issues with the appearance of their breasts. Maybe they’re uncomfortable with the size or maybe there are gaps or capsular contracture.

It’s important to carefully consider having breast explant surgery and to have a qualified plastic surgeon whom you can trust. It also helps to have a great support system around you throughout the process.

In our Holistic Accelerated Recovery Program, we have staff in place to provide more emotional support. I have several staff members who've had explant surgery, including our patient advocate and leader of our heart program. If they want to discuss this, we have discovery sessions you can participate in as well.

The Best Way to Find Out if Your Implant is Inflamed

In our previous episodes, we’ve talked about how inflammation worsens the illness. That’s why we have to figure out whether or not there’s inflammation in the breast implants. So what we do is we work up all the factors that contribute to inflammation by testing through our Holistic Accelerated Recovery Program (HARP) to really prepare the patients and optimize them for surgery.
If you want to learn more about HARP, you can secure your seat through this link: https://harp.health/

Links and Resurces

Dr. Robert Whitfield’s Website

For any inquiries or concerns, feel free to connect with us on Instagram (@breastimplantillnessexpert).
https://www.instagram.com/drrobertwhitfield/

For more information on Virtual and In Person Consultations, we always answer our messenger personally:
https://www.drrobertwhitfield.com/contact/

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About Dr. Rob

Dr. Robert Whitfield (https://www.drrobertwhitfield.com/dr-whitfield-2/)
In 2012, Dr. Whitfield came to Austin and became renowned for his breast surgery expertise. He set up his own practice in 2017. Here, he offers the men and women of Austin a full range of cosmetic procedures, both surgical and non-surgical, addressing the full array of breast, body and face.

Born and bred in Las Vegas, Austin plastic surgeon Dr. Whitfield received his medical degree from the University of Las Vegas School of Medicine. This was followed by six years of surgical training, as well as his plastic surgery residency at Indiana University Medical Center. He returned to Nevada for a one year microsurgery fellowship before settling down to practice and teach at the Medical College of Wisconsin for seven years.

Board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Dr. Whitfield’s approach to medicine has really been shaped by both his upbringing and his education. As a child of the “wild west,” he was born with an adventurous spirit. One of the reasons that he was drawn to plastic surgery is the constant innovation. In the field of plastic surgery, with innovative techniques and technologies developed each year, there are simply issues for which a solution has yet to be invented. Dr. Whitfield tempers his intrepid attitude with Midwestern pragmatism. It makes for a pretty winning combination.