Breast Implant Safety

When considering a breast augmentation, one of the first questions women ask is: Do breast implants cause cancer? The short answer is no.

When it comes to breast cancer, breast implants show no indication of increasing your risk of breast cancer. While certain types and sizes of implants can complicate mammography and routine screening for breast cancer, if your health provider knows about your implants they can still screen you for breast cancer like normal.

One type of cancer is known as Breast Implant-Associated Lymphoma. This cancer is often found in scar tissue and fluid around a breast implant. This type of cancer is extremely rare and mostly seen in textured implants. In fact, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons documented only 779 cases of this rare type of cancer worldwide in 2019. The FDA has recalled implants believed to pose risks, but are not calling for their removal in asymptomatic individuals.

Your risk of Breast Implant-Associated Lymphoma is less than that of other breast implant complications such as capsular contracture. There is little evidence that breast implants directly cause cancer in healthy individuals. While this type of lymphoma is often associated with breast implants, it is seen with other types of implanted devices as well and remains a risk for any type of implant.

Breast implants themselves do not cause cancer. In a consultation, Dr. Sajan will screen you for increased cancer risks and address your concerns.