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Are breast Implants safe with history of breast cancer?

Breast ImplantImplants themselves do not increase the risk of cancer.  However placing implants above the muscle can slightly decrease the accuracy of mammography.  It’s important when getting them you inform the person doing the mammogram that you have implants, as they will take an additional xray of each breast in order to be able to view almost all of the breast tissue surrounding the implant.

Breast implants should not inhibit self-exams, and if there are any questionable problems that crop up with a mammogram, there are other methods of detection that can be implemented if needed, such as an MRI which is unaffected by implants.

For patients with an increased risk of breast cancer, I’d recommend a preoperative mammogram just to be sure there isn’t anything that should be investigated before surgery.  It also may be prudent find an imaging center that is comfortable imaging around implants.  Discuss this with your surgeon as it’s likely they will have a referral they can send you to.

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