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Dr. Linder's Blog

Removal Of Polyurethane Implants

Posted On: October 22, 2012 Author: The Office of Dr. Stuart Linder Posted In: Breast Implants, Breast Revision, Home

Recently, I removed polyurethane implants on a patient that were placed over 20 years ago in Romania.  These implants have been shown to cause sarcoma and cancer in rats.  They are no longer FDA-approved in the United States of America.  Upon removal of the implants, they were found to be textured coated; however, they were saline-filled.  The implants were removed with smooth silicone cohesive gel Allergan style 20 implants placed.  She now has a three-week postoperative photo as can be seen.  Notice the excellent symmetry and the inframammary fold incision is healing well.  Polyurethane implants have been taken off the market in the United States for many years.  They do have breakdown to Toluene Thiamine which has been shown to be linked with cancer in lab animals.  Should you have polyurethane implants you should consider having these removed even if there is a remote but small chance of carcinoma.