Breast Cancer Detection for Women With Implants

October is breast cancer awareness month. And there are a few extra precautions women with implants should take when screening for breast cancer. Though mammograms are one of the best ways to screen for breast cancer, breast implants can decrease a mammogram's ability to detect breast cancer. Because of this, extra steps should be taken in the breast cancer screening of women with implants.

1) Use a mammography facility experienced in cancer screening for women with breast implants.

2) Request alternate views, such as displacement views where the implant is pushed out of the image for a clearer screening view.

3) Make sure to inform your mammography facility you have breast implants in advance to allow for additional views and a more thorough screening.

For more information on early detection of breast cancer, contact The American Cancer Society. For more information on breast implants, St Louis plastic surgeon Dr. Rottler can answer your questions.

Are Micro Implants the Answer to Breast Implant Sizing Issues?

The number one reason women give for breast augmentation dissatisfaction is sizing. It's just really, really difficult to know how various implant sizes are going to look on a woman after surgery. Sure there are methods we all try, putting rice in stockings and trying them out inside our bras. There are breast implant sizing kits we can use for practice runs. But all these methods are still a long, long way from letting us know whether we are choosing an implant size that will make us happy.

Luckily, Vanderbilt neuro-surgeon Dr. William Brennan is set to begin testing on a revolutionary new type of breast implant that may take all the guesswork out of breast implant sizing. He has invented a micro breast implant to be used in breast augmentation. Micro implants are tiny, pea-size silicone implants that compress together inside the breast for a natural looking enhancement. So, instead of one grapefruit size implant, hundreds of tiny implants would be used, allowing for much smaller incisions (5mm vs. 2 or more inches), less pain, a natural look, and yes THE ABILITY TO CHANGE OUR MINDS ABOUT OUR BREAST ENHANCEMENT SIZE! After surgery, if the patient desires, micro implants can be added or removed in a simple office visit, allowing for great versatility in post-op breast sizing.

Of course, these revolutionary micro implants are not yet available, so until they are, we still have the stockings and the rice to fall back on. For more information on breast implant sizing or New Orleans breast enhancement, contact augmentation specialist Dr.Elizabeth Kinsley.