Re-op - how do you know when it's time?

Hi ladies,

Obviously I'm nowhere near needing a re-op yet, but I have been wondering how you're supposed to know when your boobies are coming to the end of their lives and need to be replaced?

Some people say 10 years, some 15 years, my surgeon said 20 years and maybe never... So how do you know?

Do your boobies go hard?

Good question SunshineLady!

I have no idea so I'll be interested to also know the answer.

Unless I get cc again or a rupture my surgeon says hopefully because of my age I wont need another re do! But I think after about 10 or 15 yrs gravity will have set in and you may have droopy boobies it happens to all of us I am afraid ladies. So you may want them done again to re perk them I think a visit to a p s in 10 yrs or so may be the way to go and it could be discussed whether you do need it doing again. xx

Hmmm.... Now I'm more confused, so youd know because they may not look as good because they've sagged, so doesn't that mean you'd need an uplift rather than a re-op?

SunshineLady wrote:I have been wondering how you're supposed to know when your boobies are coming to the end of their lives and need to be replaced?

[snip]my surgeon said 20 years and maybe never...

I'm sorry lovely, but your surgeon was wrong to tell you that. FDA studies have shown that most of us will have a re-op within 10 years of having implants. It's possible you might have your implants for longer, but the likelyhood of 20 years and beyond would be very slim considering the odds.

I'm going to pay to have an MRI scan just before my aftercare runs out at the end of November to ensure I have no ruptures then. For 50th birthday (6 years away), my treat to me will be to have another uplift and to reduce breast size, after that, I'll be getting scanned every five years till I'm too old to care lol.

In the case of sagging or not maybe not looking as you'd first loved them, any consecutive surgery you would be having after the first would be considered a re-op babe, even if it's not to correct a complication.

Alot of complications such as CC will present symptoms such as hardening of the breast, the breast looking higher on the chest, pain or distortion, but there is something called a silent rupture, this is a ruptured implant that presents no symptoms, so there could well be many women out there with a ruptured implant or 2 and they wouldn't even know about it!!!

To ensure you know your implants are intact is to have a scan, an ultrasound is OK, but they have been known to miss ruptures, so the best would be to have an MRI and it would be at your cost and whichever time frame you wished to have them done, if you wanted to have one at all .xx

Ok thanks Cookie, that makes things a little clearer... It's quite a grey area though isn't it! xx

Any idea how much an MRI costs Cookie?x

It is a grey area. The FDA has given the most conservative advice, it has to, it has to cover all precautions and possibilities. However, so long as they haven't ruptured, have major CC, and you still like their appearance, then I wouldn't mess with a good thing. I have friends who've had the same implants for years now, between 14 and 18 years are the exact ones that spring to mind atm. One of them plans on removing them in the next five years, though she's not had any problems so far, she just wants smaller boobs again. Another one plans on waiting until having her children, she's had CC from the beginning (18 years ago) on one side, but not enough for her to justify a reop (there are different grades of CC), she can feel the difference, but not really see it unless you really look for it. It's gotten a little worse over the years, which is 'normal', still not enough to bother her enough for the reop until she's had children (I've seen them recently, they're still gorgeous xxx

Also, adding on to my last post, I have another friend who had a reop shortly after her first, but it was because she wanted to downsize, she was young and had gone too big, her first ones looked too unnatural on her frame, she realised it wasn't what she wanted. I also knew a girl who'd had hers for 25 years, old style silicone (she had them done before the silicone ban days in in Can & US), no problems, still really soft, I'd say she was really lucky though xxx

Wishful wrote:Any idea how much an MRI costs Cookie?x

It would cost about £350 lovely. But very worth it to ensure your implants are still intact. xx

:thumbs: thanks 4 that price xx

Ace thanks Cookie x

No problem lovely :thumbs: xx

Just to add to this, I noticed an interesting fact on Transforms after care policy yesterday that they have reduced the warranty for Allergan Natrelles, which used to have a lifetime warranty, meaning for as long as it was implanted, they've now changed this to note that 'lifetime' means '10 years'

Transform wrote:Natrelle Lifetime* warranty (replacement implant + £700 towards replacement surgery). *NB: lifetime of implant (10 years), not patient.

I've just checked Natrelles own warranty and it was interesting to find that they will replace the implant free of charge (no surgery costs, just implant replacement) no matter the age of the implant if there is a problem with it, but the £700 financial assistance is only available up to 10 years post-op. So from everything the FDA is saying and the actual implant warranty is offering and the change in clinic policies, it's becoming more and more apparent that 10 years is generally what we should expect and if you get beyond that, you're lucky. xx

I've always expected them to need replacing every 10 years. That is if I don't suffer from any complications, which let's face it they can occur at any time.

I plan to have scans to check they're ok and I intend to hang on 10 years if I can. I would like to go bigger with my next ones though, so depending on the future I may re-op sooner.

I think if you have scans, the implant is intact and you're happy with the appearance then you have absolutely no need to mess with them until you're ready.x

This had made me think about the re-ops.
what i planned was to save up for a boobie fund in 3 years(when my cover stops so i can afford a re-op at any time)and then if everything was fine, to have an MRI scan after 10 years and every few years after to make sure they are okay. If everything is okay with the implant (my boobs might be saggy) but if everything is okay other than that... could i if i wanted to keep them in for life?
What happens when we are like 80 years old... what do we do then? keep them in or take them out
xxx

EmmaArden wrote:If everything is okay with the implant (my boobs might be saggy) but if everything is okay other than that... could i if i wanted to keep them in for life?

Yup. If you're happy and the implants are intact, theres absolutely no reason to change them lovely.

What happens when we are like 80 years old... what do we do then? keep them in or take them out
xxx

LOL. It's up to you babe and how you feel at that age , there's no reason whatsover that you should have your implants removed if they're intact and you're happy, no matter your age sweetheart. xx

Well that could be a potential saving of £1000's haha!
and it was just with the perception of changing them every 10 years. when you start getting older, its not a good thing to be having surgery like this is it?
xxx