Breast Implants & Lymphoma

There has been a lot of discussion in the news lately about the association of a rare form of lymphoma with textured breast implants, and we have been getting a lot of great questions from our patients about this.  Here are a few important pieces of information that may help allay concerns, along with a link to an article with more information that is extremely helpful.

• Breast implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is a rare, highly-treatable type of lymphoma that can develop around breast implants
• Lifetime risk of BIA-ALCL is estimated to be between 1 in 3,817 to 1 in 30,000 women, so it is very uncommon.
• BIA-ALCL is only associated with textured implants.  There are no confirmed cases associated with smooth implants.
• I have only implanted smooth implants during my 14 years in practice, so our patients have nothing to be worried about.  Also, as long as smooth tissue expanders have been available for breast reconstruction, that is what we have used, so we do not use or place any textured implants.
• If you have textured implants, there is NO evidence that removing them reduces or eliminates your risk, so any worry about the rare possibility of BIA-ALCL is NOT a reason to remove textured implants.
• Symptoms of the disease include breast enlargement, pain, asymmetry, breast mass, skin rash, hardening of the breast, or large fluid collection.
• BIA-ALCL is very treatable and simply requires complete capsulectomy with removal of the implant.
• If you have any residual concerns about your breast implants, feel free to make an appointment to come in and discuss them.  There is no charge for a consultation for cosmetic concerns.

For addition information, click here.