Can My Saline Breast Implants Be Overfilled To 1600ccs?

Q: Dr. Eppley, You did my breast implant surgery two years ago. I had wanted the silicone implants removed and a silicone implant put in at a total of 1600 ml. Due to my physical limitations you were only able to bring my liquid up to 1050. Since it has been almost 2 years is it possible for you to add saline to bring me up to 1600, or some larger amount than I presently have, without removing the present implants? Can you do this in your office? I don’t know much about the required procedure. Thanks.

A: Good to hear from you. One can always add more saline volume after the tissues have been relaxed a bit from prior expansion. To add more volume to a saline implant (breast implant overfill) a small areolar incision is used to access the filler port of the implant from directly above it. Then volume is added until the tissues feel tight again. There is no question that more volume can be added, the only question is how much. I suspect it would be at at least 300cc and may be possible up to 500ccs. That would just depend on what the tissues fill like when doing it. While this would be a virtually painless after surgery with no real recovery, it is challenge to access the filler port on the implant without rupturing it. Thus it is not an office procedure but could be done under IV sedation in the operating room.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana