As you are visiting this site, you probably have the most common complication in breast surgery with implants, fibrous capsular contracture. Dr. Edds has developed a procedure to treat capsular contracture that has a greater than 90% success rate in treating even the most severe capsular contractures. For many years the surgical treatment of capsular contracture has consisted of capsulectomy or capsulotomy. Unfortunately, the success rate has been modest at best.

For example, Dr. John Tebbetts, a Dallas surgeon and author of The Best Breast requires his patients to agree that if a capsular contracture is developed and subsequently treated with one of the old techniques and then recurs, he and the patient simply “give up” and the implants are removed without replacement. With the “Capsule Switch Procedure”, that is no longer required or necessary.

The “capsule switch procedure” is extremely effective as the initial treatment of capsular contracture, yielding a greater than 90% success rate in obtaining soft, more natural feeling and appearing breasts. Even more exciting is that we are obtaining similar success in patients who have had two, three or even more unsuccessful attempts at correction of their capsular contracture.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Capsular Contracture

What Is Capsular Contracture?

After breast surgery with implants, an unusual degree of scar may form around the breast implant, essentially consisting of a “cocoon” of scar surrounding the implant. This scar tissue contracts and tightens around the implant causing hardness and sometimes elevation with distortion of the implant.

Are Some Capsular Contractures Worse Than Others?

Absolutely!! There are four classes or grades of capsular contracture.

• Grade-I: The breast is soft and looks natural.
• Grade-II: The breast is a little firm but looks normal.
• Grade-III: The breast is firm with visible distortion.
• Grade-IV: The breast is hard, painful and looks abnormal.

Can Capsular Contracture Be Prevented?

Yes!!! — By not having breast implants. All patients electing to undergo breast surgery with implants should do so with the understanding that there is no way to totally prevent capsular contracture.

If Capsular Contracture Cannot Be Prevented, Can The Risks Be Limited?

Again yes!! Several things are known to reduce the risks of capsular contracture including:

1. The use of textured implants
2. Submuscular placement of implants
3. Meticulous control of bleeding
4. Prevention of infection
5. Massage
6. Vitamin E
7. “No touch technique” to limit foreign substances on the implant, which might stimulate excess scar formation

Most cosmetic surgeons practice one to all of these methods. The sad truth is that at least 3% of breast implant patients form a capsular contracture, no matter what efforts are made to prevent this complication.

What Non-Surgical Methods Are Available For Capsular Contracture?

Time, massage and Vitamin E are minimal risk approaches. Zafirlukast (Accolate) has shown promise in treating capsular contractures with one study showing improvement in up to 50% of patients. There are some very significant potential side effects to this family of medications to consider and this should be discussed with the surgeon.

What Are The Surgical Options For Treating Capsular Contracture?

1.  Open Capsulotomy
This is an open surgical procedure involving gaining access into the implant pocket and cutting or “scoring” the scar tissue in multiple areas to release its contracting forces. This is the least successful of the surgical approaches.

2.  Capsulectomy
This is the total or subtotal removal of the capsule. Capsulectomy was long felt to be the most successful treatment of capsular contracture. Unfortunately, even patients undergoing capsulectomies still have a very significant rate of recurrence. Recurrence of capsular contracture after capsulectomy leads many surgeons to advise no further surgery and/or removal of the breast implants.

3.  The “Capsule Switch Procedure”
There is nothing particularly magical about this procedure. It is based on some factors well known to cosmetic surgeons. For a capsule to contract, resulting in a hard and/or distorted breast, the scar must be continuously circumferential around the implant. If only half of the implant is surrounded by scar, a contracture generally does not occur.

We have all known, for example that breaking up the capsule by squeezing it very hard (closed capsulotomy) results in a softer breast — until the scar recurs and resumes its contracting forces. Next, e-PTFE (Expanded Polytetrafluroethylene) is an FDA approved material known to inhibit the formation of a contracting scar.

The “Capsule Switch Procedure” consists of a subtotal or total capsulectomy utilizing meticulous control of bleeding, with the placement of a very thin (0.35mm) implant of e-PTFE, which replaces strategic areas of the former scar and prevents circumferential scar formation and a resulting capsular contracture. E-PTFE is used in many fields of surgery for multiple surgical applications and has an outstanding safety profile. The 0.35mm thickness allows for inhibition of contracting scar formation while being essentially non-palpable.

No longer should capsulectomy alone be considered the “best” treatment of capsular contracture, because it is not. No longer should surgeons advise their patients that they should have their implants removed without replacement after unsuccessful treatment of capsular contracture.

Dr. Edds has twenty-five years experience in cosmetic breast surgery and has performed thousands of breast augmentations. He successfully treats capsular contracture, a condition most surgeons dislike because of poor outcome. Dr. Edds maintains a large cosmetic surgery practice, and the majority of his practice is devoted to breast surgery.

If you want softer, more natural feeling and appearing breasts and have developed a capsular contracture, you owe it to yourself to call Dr. Edds for consultation.

Traveling to Owensboro
Patients travel from far away to the Aesthetic Surgery Center to see Dr. Edds for treatment of capsular contracture.

Driving times to Owensboro:

Evansville, Indiana – 45 minutes
Louisville, Kentucky – 90 minutes
Nashville – 2 hours

Hotel Accommodations in Owensboro:

The newly remodeled Days Inn has a special rate for our patients and is located just 1/2 a mile away from the office.