Cosmetic Plastic Surgeon San Francisco Blog

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Friday, April 11, 2008

Breast Implants and Mammograms

Monitoring the health of your breasts is essential to your health and well-being. If you have breast implants, they were either placed underneath the soft tissues of your breast or beneath your chest muscles.

Breast implants will affect how your annual mammogram is performed. You will have to visit a radiology center where the technicians are trained to perform mammograms on patients who have breast implants.

When scheduling your appointment, you should:

Ask for a comprehensive or diagnostic mammogram instead of a regular screening.
Make sure your X-ray technician is experienced with breast implants.
Inform the technician of your implant type—saline or silicone
Inform the technician of where they are located—behind or in front of your chest muscle.

The process of taking a mammogram, which includes squeezing the breast, may increase the chance of rupture. On the flip side, limiting the compression may compromise the quality of the picture. Therefore, even with an experienced technician, there is the possibility of rupture.

Additional X-rays should be taken from various angles to ensure an accurate reading. If the breast implant is placed under the muscle, about 90% of the breast tissue will be visible. If the implant was placed over the muscle, only 75% of the breast tissue will be visible.

Breast implants may also delay the detection of breast cancer by either hiding suspicious tumors or injuries. You should be aware of this before deciding to move forward with implant surgery.

To learn more about plastic surgery and which procedures and treatments are available to you today, please contact Dr. Weil today to schedule your initial consultation.

posted by Patti at 1:39 PM