Do Breast Implants Affect My Overall Breast's Health?

Whether you’ve always wanted breast implants but have hesitated to act on your desires or whether you already have augmented breasts, you may wonder how inserts of silicone and other materials react with your body. Do breast implants increase your risk of breast cancer? Do they affect breast health in other ways?

Feeling good about your body is essential, as is taking care of it and minimizing risks to keep it healthy long-term. If you have questions about implants, you deserve the answers.

Breast experts Joseph Calandra, MD, Karen Mass, MD, and our team at Mass Medical Imaging want you to make the right choices for your life and your breasts. We offer a variety of breast scans and mammograms at our office in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Do breast implants risk your breast health? Below is a brief guide.

Implants go behind the breast tissue

Your implants won’t rest on top of your breast tissue. You and your doctor either choose a subglandular placement or a submuscular placement.

In a subglandular placement, your plastic surgeon places your breast implant behind the breast tissue and in front of the pectoralis chest muscles. In a submuscular placement, they put the implant behind the muscle. 

Generally, we recommend that women place the implant behind the muscle. Submuscular placement seems to reduce the chance that scar tissue associated with the implant contracts. Contracture of the tissue can make it hard to visualize breast tissue on mammography.

Breast implants don’t raise most cancer risks

Your main concern about getting (or having) a breast implant is whether or not inserting a silicone disc or balloon increases your risk for breast cancer. Overall, breast implants aren’t associated with an increased risk for breast cancer.

However, there’s one exception. If you opt for a breast implant that has a textured surface, it does raise your risk for a rare type of immune-system cancer (i.e., lymphoma) called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). When caused by a breast implant, the cancer is termed breast-implant-associated ACL (BIA-ACL).

A BIA-ACL develops within the scar tissue that surrounds a textured breast implant. To treat a BIA-ACL, your doctor removes the implants and the cancerous tumors. You may also need chemotherapy and radiation. However, most cases of BIA-ACL — if caught early — are cured.

However, some women have also developed lymphomas other than BIA-ACL. Reports include incidents of squamous cell carcinoma, mesenchymal tumors, and sarcomas of the breast.

You need special mammograms

Even though breast implants don’t significantly raise your risk for most types of cancers, your technician needs to take extra images of your breasts if you have implants. The implants can obscure areas of your breast that may be hiding a cancer.

You should continue your regular breast screening schedule, even if you have implants. Before your mammogram, tell your technician that you have implants so they can make any necessary adjustments.

In addition to the four standard pictures taken during a mammogram (two on each breast), if you have implants, you need four more (two for each breast). In these unique views, your technician pushes your implants against the chest wall. They then pull your breast tissue forward to allow clearer images.

Other risks to breast health

In addition to a slightly increased risk for BIA-ACL, breast implants may also cause other problems for your breast health. Complications of breast implants include:

• Breast pain
• Change in nipple or breast sensation
• Capsular contracture caused by scar tissue
• Rupture or deflation of the implant
• Connective tissue disease

If you don’t have implants yet but still want to improve the look of your breasts, you might consider a breast lift instead. While breast lifts don’t add volume to your breasts, a more youthful, lifted position can boost your confidence and make you feel like your breasts look fuller.

To take care of your breasts — with implants or not — be sure to book your next yearly mammogram on schedule at our Lake Forest, Illinois, office. Simply call our friendly team or use our online appointment form today.