Capsular Contracture

Capsular contracture, the scar tissue that forms around the implant which causes the breasts to harden, exists in four grades. In the occurrence of grade III or IV, the patient is generally subjected to another surgery to either remove the implant capsule tissue or to replace it, which does not necessarily prevent capsule contracture from happening again. Moreover, capsular contracture is also the complication that most frequently leads patients for additional surgeries. Based on a study funded by the Dow Corning Corporation that consisted of the follow up of cohort women with breast implants, capsular contracture has a prevalence of a.6% to 100% (http://gateway.ut.ovid.com/gw1/ovidweb.cgi )

In order to conduct this study, 754 cohort women from eight plastic surgery clinics were chosen based on their implant placement, the placement of skin incision, implant type, volume, as well as implant surface. These women were then followed up for a determined period of time. At the end of follow-up, the data obtained from each clinic was then combined. As a result from this study, 82.5% women underwent reimplantation due to capsular contracture. Almost 31.2% of those implants were double lumen textured, 27.8% were single lumen textured implant, 0.8% was double lumen with smooth surface, and the rest of the implants had incomplete information. To this end one may infer that capsular contracture occurs regardless of the type and placement of the implant.