Implant Removal and Replacement of 25 year old Breast Implants

Aurora is now part of The Private Clinic, a nationwide group of clinics with over 35 years of experience specialising in Cosmetic Surgery and Skin and a Trust Pilot 5 star rating. For comprehensive information, before and after photos and costs on Implant removal and replacement procedures click here

Our expert Plastic Surgeon Adrian Richards is the Medical Director for The Private Clinic. Clinics are located in BirminghamBristolBuckinghamshireGlasgowLondon Harley StreetLeedsManchester and Northampton.

This is a surgery video of implant removal and replacement, for breast implants that were inserted 25 years ago. She isn’t sure on the size, brand or the integrity of her implants. Mr Richards begins by talking about her old scar, which has healed quite well, but as usual he will remove it during the procedure.
As the first implant is removed, we see it is in a reasonable condition, still being in tact. Unfortunately there is no size or brand on the implant so we are still in the dark on those counts. We do know it is a low profile smooth implant, and we can find out the size using a technique called “the Water Displacement Technique”. This is a technique where the implant is submerged in water, and the volume of the implant is the amount of millilitres it increases by. In the video they use 200ml of water and submerge the implant which brings the level up to 450ml. From this we can conclude that the implant is 250cc in volume. The team double check, and decide on a 270cc breast implant as it will give the patient a better appearance than previously.
The second implant is removed, which is very deflated, more so than the first, with the top of the implant having no filler in at all. It looks as though it has been empty for some time, possibly years, and as Mr Richards squeezes the implant to manipulate the filler, his notion is correct as he can’t physically manipulate the implant to fill the top as it should be. They check the volume using the water displacement technique, which reveals it is also 250cc in volume. The implants used for the patient are textured, which Mr Richards states help to prevent capsules forming around the implant.
The implants are compared at the end of the video, and we can really see how under-filled they are. Mr Richards states this was the style of implants over 20 years ago, and were very common, but they look incredibly dated compared to the implants we see nowadays.