Additional surgery is the largest risk associated with silicone breast implants. No breast implant is a life-time device. Silicone breast implants age and increase your risk for follow-up surgery. It is estimated that women getting breast implants for reconstructive purposes can expect a 1 in 3 chance of needing a second surgery in 5 years, women having breast implants for augmentation can expect a 1 in 8 chance of needing a second surgery in 5 years.
The actual incidence of silicone device bleed or rupture is not known because recent reports only describe rupture rates in selected populations of patients who have had implants removed. The true incidence remains unknown because the cohort without explantation is not included. However, a number of reports document an incidence of implant rupture that correlates directly with the length of implantation.
For example, Duffy and Woods followed patients for a median of 49 months. There were 104 implant failures in 65 patients. With longer periods of follow-up, the incidence of implant rupture increases, with some reports of frequencies of more than 55% after ten to fifteen years after implantation. …
