Single PIP rupture and Mastopexy Surgery

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  and for Breast Uplift procedures click here

Our expert Plastic Surgeon Adrian Richards is the Medical Director for The Private Clinic. Clinics are located in Birmingham, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Glasgow, London Harley Street, Leeds, Manchester and Northampton.

Here we have a surgery video involving implant removal and replacement, being combined with a mastopexy, which is also known as a breast uplift. The video begins with Mr Richards introducing the patient. She had 350cc PIP implants inserted back in 2006 and they were placed under the muscle. The implants are sitting rather high, so there are a couple of options available with this surgery. She could have her new implants lowered, or her nipples raised. The patient has decided that she would prefer her nipples to be raised, in an uplift procedure. She has asked for a similar size of implant to be inserted, but would rather go bigger than smaller.

The surgery begins, and we see our patient on the table, fully marked up and Mr Richards is ready to begin. We see the markings of the new nipple position, along with the areas of skin that will be removed in order to tighten the breast and lift the nipples. Mr Richards squeezes his markings together to simulate how the breast will appear post surgery. We skin on in the video to Mr Richards holding the right implant. He checks the size, and it is a 305cc, not a 350cc as we originally thought. It is always important to check the sizes of implants that are removed, as it is very easy for a patient to get it slightly wrong. Had Mr Richards taken our patient’s word for it that they were 350cc, when he went “slightly bigger” upon her request, he would have gone to 360cc or 370 cc, which would have been a lot bigger, and potentially a result the patient would not have been happy with. Despite this, Mr Richards always uses an inflatable sizer to gauge what size will best fit, but it always helps to know where you are at, and what you are roughly working towards. He talks about the implant, whilst showing it to the camera. He says inside the breast, it was quite folded and crinkled, and as he removed it, he noticed it was very flat and a low profile implant. It also showed the standard characteristics of an intact PIP implant with deflation and gel bleed present.

Next we see the new implant has been inserted, and the top layer of skin within the markings is being removed. The breast is finished off camera and he moves over to the other side. We are expecting another implant pretty much the same as the first one. However, as the cavity is opened, creamy fluid emerges from it, which we only ever see around ruptured PIP implants. Mr Richards removes the implant and we see that there is a huge tear in the shell. It is so severe that bits of silicone are falling out of the implant as Mr Richards shows it to the camera.

We briefly see the end results, with the tape already applied. The lifted nipples are sitting symmetrically, along with an improved size and shape to her cleavage. The implants are then compared, and we immediately concentrate on the ruptured PIP. It is the customary shade of yellow along with a huge tear along the rim. Despite PIPs being unpredictable with their ruptures and rates of rupture, we have found that many of the ruptures occur around the base-plate. However on this implant the rupture seemed to originate along the rim, which just goes to show that PIPs are substandard in nearly every way possible.