Capsular contracture symptoms usually begin with the patient noticing a distortion of their breast implant shape or the beginning of an occasional pain around the implant or the breast.
To explain the changes in the shape of the implanted breast with the development of capsular contracture it is important to understand the following:
Most breast implants while they may vary slightly depending upon profile are the shape of a disc. When the lining around the implant starts to aggressively contract symmetrically, the shape that forms is a sphere. Now the breast implant which was once a fixed volume in a defined surface area is now changed to the same volume being compressed into a smaller surface area by the capsular contracture. This change not only distorts the augmented breast, but the augmented breast also becomes firm. This firmness can cause capsular contracture symptoms such as sharp pain, dull pain, pain with movement of the breast, or with exercise. When the capsule implant complex becomes painful, the patient has developed a Baker IV capsular contracture.
Typically in these patients, my preferred method of capsular contracture treatment is total "en bloc" capsulectomy so that the entire capsule and implant contents can be removed in their entirety. Removal "en bloc" allows for an optimal plane with which to attempt implantation.
In the picture shown above, the one appreciates the spherical shape of the hard capsule lining which has compressed the discoid silicone implant. In this case the silicone implant shell was ruptured with the silicone remaining within the capsule.
I will continue to research capsular contracture treatment and prevention.
Brian Dickinson, M.D.
www.drbriandickinson.com
