What Is Involved In Buttock Implant Removal?

Q: Dr. Eppley, Would you give me more information on what the surgery for buttock implant removal would consist of. I would like to get them removed sometime next year since I spent so much on them already I need to save some money once again. I don’t know if it could damage the muscle that the implant is in since it has been split open. Would it heal together well enough to go back to normal activities? Will it leave my buttocks saggy to a point where exercise won’t help? Last what would you charge me for a procedure like this even though you didn’t place them?

A: Buttock implant removal has many similarities to placing them, minus the severe pain and swelling. It is a matter of reopening the incision and removing the implants from their location. Since the muscular pocket is already dissected and the implants are smooth silicone, they will slide right on out. Whether any fat grafting should be done at the same time to still end up with some augmentation effect depends on how much fat one has to give. Once healed (a few weeks) you may return to all normal activities. The interesting question is whether you would develop any buttock sagging afterwards. That is usually not the case since the implants are in the upper 1/2 of the buttocks and have not distended the buttock tissue on the lower half where sagging is more likely to occur. Suffice it to say that the cost to remove buttock implants is usually far less than what it was to put them in.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana