A ^Retired Plastic Surgeon's Notebook

Surgical techniques are constantly evolving and breast implant technique is no exception.  In the past couple of years recommendations to minimize implant and implant pocket contamination have been developed.  This is in response to overwhelming evidence that bacterial contamination is the main cause of capsular contracture and may also be the cause of breast implantContinue reading…

Liposuction-augmentation mammaplasty has been on my radar since I stumbled across an Instagram video a few months ago of a surgeon sucking the fat out of a perfectly full breast and then inserting an implant to make up for the lost volume.  I started humming Ozzy Osborn’s Crazy Train!  The rational for this procedure isContinue reading…

My last blog discussed the difficult and frustrating problem of capsular contracture of breast implants.  As with just about every problem known to mankind, prevention is the best approach. But despite doing everything correctly pre-operatively, intra-operatively and post-operatively, a small number of patients will experience capsular contracture. First a little history:  Way back when theContinue reading…

Capsular Contracture 101 Anyone who knows my practice well knows that I am not a big fan of breast implants.  I much prefer fat transfer and/or breast lift to get a breast looking nicer.  But sometimes only a breast implant will get the patient the size and shape of breasts they desire.  Implants have manyContinue reading…

I see many, many women for implant removal after years of being unhappy with their breast implants.  Many of these ladies consulted a plastic surgeon for sagging of the breasts and instead of ending up with a breast lift, ended up with breast implants.  Often the explanation for this is that the patient did notContinue reading…

If you have not read my initial post on Breast Implant Illness, I recommend you do so now.  In fact, I implore you to read it.  Here’s the link.  https://www.sowdermd.com/blog/breast-implant-illness/. I belong to a few physician only message boards and breast implant illness has been a hot topic in the past few months.  It isContinue reading…

Portion control is very important for maintaining a healthy weight and it becomes more and more difficult as restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, keep increasing the size of the offerings.  There is a Mexican place in Seattle that  has a poster of one of its burritos next to a new born baby.  They are theContinue reading…

I think the anatomic implants vs. round implants smack down may finally be over.  As those who read my blog know, I am not a huge fan of anatomic implants although I have tried really, really hard to learn to love them over many, many years.  Anatomic implants are presented as the best thing sinceContinue reading…

MRI is the best test for detecting implant rupture (other than surgery) with a very high accuracy rate, much higher and mammogram, ultra sound or physical exam.  I think it is prudent for patients with gel implants, say 10 years old or older to get an MRI to make sure there is not a silentContinue reading…

In a perfect world, women would wait until they were done childbearing and breast feeding prior to having breast implants, mostly because pregnancy and breast feeding can really change the breast.  In the real world, many young women opt for breast enhancement long before having children. I am often asked what effect childbearing will haveContinue reading…