swaping implants no charge?

[Priyah77]

I have CC in my right breast and am pretty sure I will have to schedulle a capsulectomy. My PS does not charge for his time but I will have to pay hosptial fees.. not sure how much yet. Since I am going to have to pay to go under I was thinking I would like to switch to silicone because I have rippling with my salines. My question is: I know the allergan warranty will not cover complications due to cc but is there any chance my PS could get my implants covered by fibbing and implying there was a "leak", etc???

Thanks so much for your responses

[Dr. Pelletiere]

Switching to silicone should decrease the rippling, but it does not mean that it will get rid of them entirely. Silicone implants cna ripple just like saline implants, but usually not to the same degree. Rippling happens when your tissues are too thin and cannot mask the inherent flaws of the implants. If your implants are subglandular, the best thing to do would be to switch them to partial sumbuscular. In terms of the implants, it would be hard to claim a leak on a silicone implant without there being one. The manufacturers really scrutinize the leaking implants under a microscope, and can tell if they have had a stress flaw or someone has cut them to induce a leak. Saline implants are easier because alot of them will lose fluid but you can never find where it came from when the implant comes out of the body.

[Priyah77]

Thanks so much for your response. I do have my saliene implants under the muscle and am showing some ripping on the outside of my left breast.

1.) In terms of getting implants replaced under warranty, does the complany wait until the PS performs the explant, reimplants the new ones and then returns them to process the claim? (Allergan gives $2300 towards the price of a surgery and replaces the implant) When will I receive the refund and/or replacement implants?

2.) If my PS won't say there was a leak to Allergan so that I can receive new implants, could he remove my old implants ,overfill them a little then re-insert them (to help the rippling) IS THAT POSSIBLE? Or once the value is closed, it is closed forever?

Thanks so much!!

[Dr. Pelletiere]

The implant manufactureres usually do not send any money until they have had a chance to examine the implants. This may take 30-90 days sometimes. They will send a plastic surgeon replacement implants as soon as they report a rupture - they don't wait to see the old implants since they assume the new implants are for replacement at that time.

You can always add more to the implants if there is room. The valve can be accessed again with a sterile fill tube. Filling the implants can help if they are not filled enough, but will not completely get rid of rippling. To do this, the implant would have to be as hard as it possible could be.