In some cases, the incision site fails to heal normally or takes longer to heal. The additional surgery needed to correct this complication can result in unacceptable scarring or loss of breast tissue. Necrosis Necrosis is the formation of dead tissue around the implant. The pressure of the breast implant may cause the breast tissue to thin and shrink. This can occur while implants are still in place or following implant removal without replacement.
Implants increase the difficulty of both taking and reading mammograms.
Some women who undergo reconstruction will have some breast tissue remaining, and some have all of their breast tissue removed. It is important that a woman with breast tissue remaining continue to have mammography of that breast, as well as of the other breast, to detect breast cancer. In addition to special care taken by the technologist to reduce the risk of implant rupture during this compression, other techniques are used to maximize what is seen of the breast tissue during mammography. These techniques are called breast implant displacement views, Eklund displacement views, or Eklund views, after the radiologist who developed them. These special implant displacement views are done in addition to those views done during routine mammograms.