Fat Grafted Breast Infection

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am seeking information about the management of a fat grafted breast infection. I came across a question that someone sent to you and your answer to it in regards to infection during fat grafting to breast. Here is the link to it: http://eppleyplasticsurgery.com//why-did-one-of-my-breasts-after-fat-injections-become-infected/. I was wondering if by chance you know what happened to that person and how their issue was solved because I seem to be in an exactly the same situation and wondering what the best and fastest way to fix it. Please let me know if you know how that patient’s case got resolved or if you had a similar one or know of a similar one and what it took to fix it: number of injections to correct, amount of cc-s injected each time and the timing – how long it took between procedures. I really appreciate your help. Thank you.

A: When it comes to treatment of an infection that has occurred in an injected fat graft site, the treatments are oral antibiotics (possibly IV as the breast is a big site with a probably big fat load) and possible needle or small incisional drainage. Having no knowledge of your fat grafted breast infection specifics (what does it look like, how long after the surgery did it occur, how much fat as injected) I could not provide specific recommendations as to your case. But as a general statement such infections should be treated aggressively combining antibiotics and some form of drainage. It is important to realize there is a large amount of dead tissue in there (injected fat with little to no blood supply) so all that can be done should be done right up front. If it is not too ‘severe’ oral antibiotics and needle aspiration may be fine. If it is more ‘severe’, IV antibiotics and incisional drainage may be needed.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana