Greg:
Hey, this is Greg from Big Bay Mornings on 99.7 NOW, and I’m here with a board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Bae. What’s up, Dr. Bae.
Dr. Bae:
I’m good. I’m good. All is well, all is well.
The big news on textured breast implants
Greg:
Well, I’m happy to hear that. I’ve been seeing a little bit in the news lately, these textured silicone breast implants that I think were done, you can correct me if I’m wrong, done years ago. I don’t know that they do them anymore. Maybe they do, but there is some concern about them and a lot of people who have those are wondering, do I need to go and get those replaced? Or, what do I do, because everybody wants to stay as healthy as they possibly can.
Dr. Bae:
Right. Well, I’m glad you asked me about that, because I just happened to have some breasts implants with me right here.
Greg:
Oh, wow. Look at that, props.
Why textured breast implants are textured
Dr. Bae:
What are the chances? So I guess the first thing we should talk about is just kind of some baseline knowledge, fundamental knowledge that there’s the difference between round implants, which are kind of the typical round silicone implants you always think of, versus these teardrop or shaped implants. You can see it’s fuller at the bottom. And so, when you have a round implant, if it spins in the breast tissue, like in the breast pocket, inside the patient’s breast, if it spins, no problem. It’s still a round implant. But if this spins, then you’ve got sort of a sideways boob. So what they do is, they now texture-
Greg:
Nobody wants a sideways boob, Dr. Bae.
Dr. Bae:
I think a lot of people gave that up for their New Year’s resolution, right? So the thing is, the reason they texture these implants, as opposed to being smooth like the other implant I showed you, they texture these-
Greg:
So they don’t move.
Dr. Bae:
So they don’t move, exactly. So, what the … you’re pretty smart. Producer, check out the big brain on Greg.
Greg:
Maybe I’ll go to medical school.
Dr. Bae:
Maybe so, and I’ll go back to being … I’ll be a radio host.
Greg:
We better keep what we’re doing.
Dr. Bae:
So, the thing is, that texturing has become an issue over the last couple years, that people have noticed an issue with it. And what it is, is that there’s something called anaplastic large cell lymphoma, which is kind of like cancer, but not really. And what it is, is that after a few years, two years to 28 years they found, after getting textured implants, what they found is that the scar tissue that naturally forms around breast implants, whether they’re saline, silicone, round, shaped, your body naturally formed scar tissue. But in some cases, specifically with a certain type of textured implant, that scar tissue could get really thick and starts secreting some fluid. And the patients would have this huge seroma or fluid collection that would form around their breast implant. Like I said, two years or 28 years after.
Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL)
Dr. Bae:
And that was caused by this lymphoma, or this thickened scar tissue. So the way to treat it is you go in, you take out the breast implant, you take out the scar tissue and typically a hundred percent of the time people would be cured if you found that early enough. So that’s anaplastic large cell lymphoma, ALCL, that’s associated with textured implants. But not just any textured implant, specifically one that was made by Allergan, and that one’s been taken off the market. So statistically speaking, is a very low risk for people to get this problem if they have textured implants. If you have smooth implants, there’s really been no evidence that smooth implants cause that problem. And the reason it’s been in the news lately, and also which, I should say, the reason I’ve been thinking about this lately because it’s been in the news, I’ve had patients reach out to me saying, “Hey, I’ve got this brand of a MENTOR silicone textured implant. Does that mean I need to come back in?”
Dr. Bae:
And the FDA says, just like I told this patient, that because they took the main offender off the market and because the risk is so low, that if you have textured implants and it’s not that Allergan product, if it’s MENTOR or Sientra and you’re not having any problems, your breast isn’t blowing up with a bunch of fluid, if you’re not having problems, you don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to go in and get them changed out. So just FYI, the more you know, public service announcement, that if you’re happy with your breast implants, you don’t need to do anything with them. You don’t have to get them taken out every 10 years like some people mistakenly think. So again, just keep going, get your mammograms, get your checkups from your doctor. And as long as you’re happy with your breast implants, you don’t have to do anything else about them.
Greg:
But, if somebody has a question, if somebody has a question about their implants, or if they just want you to examine their breasts and check out where they are, they can reach out to you on social media.
Dr. Bae:
Absolutely. They can reach out to us. Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat @realdrbae. R-E-A-L-D-R-B-A-E, not B-A-Y. And check us out on our website, realdrbae.com, where they can check pricing, all that good stuff. But yeah, people message us all the time. All my surgical patients, they always have my email address and my phone number. So they’re able to reach out to me afterwards if they’re worried. So, there’s no excuse. You can absolutely get in touch with this doctor.
Greg:
And if you’re not a previous patient of Dr. Bae’s, and you’ve never even spoken to him before, if you Instagram him with a question, DM, he will answer you. Right, Dr. Bae?
Dr. Bae:
That’s absolutely true. Yeah. As long as you’re not saying anything mean, I will respond to you.
Greg:
That’s my policy on social media, too. All right. Well, thanks Dr. Bae. Appreciate it.
Dr. Bae:
My pleasure. My pleasure.
