Cancer Risk And Screening Not Affected by Breast Implants

Cancer risk and screening process is not negatively, or positively, affected by having breast implants. Watch on this week’s Plastic Surgery News.

Research at the University of Texas shows that having breast implants doesn’t raise a woman’s risk for breast cancer or interfere with detecting a tumor.

Dr. Therese Bevers, medical director at the university’s cancer prevention center, said many women wonder to what degree having breast implants may affect their risk of cancer, or of screening for it.

She said that while implants may not decrease the cancer risk, they don’t raise it. And, once a woman has adjusted to having implants, she should be able to detect any unusual mass in that part of her body, such as a tumor.

Mammograms may take longer, but implants themselves don’t prevent doctors from detecting anything unusual. Bevers did add, though, that breast screening may be more difficult for women with implants that are very large.

She advised implant candidates to pick a breast size that fits the rest of you. Video plays below.