Breast Revision Turkey

By the time someone asks us about a revision, they've usually been living with a problem for a while. One breast has gone hard. An implant seems to have slipped sideways, or down. There's a ripple along the edge you can see in certain tops. Sometimes nothing is wrong exactly, and the size simply doesn't suit the person you are fifteen years on. Each of those leads to a different operation, which is why breast revision in Turkey starts with a diagnosis and only then turns to a price.

Up the page you'll find the two basic routes, a swap or taking the implants out, plus the paperwork we'll want. This part goes problem by problem, with what a surgeon usually does about each one. A second operation heals differently from the first, so recovery has a section of its own. Then come breast revision before and after photos, and the cost.

Breast implants and the ten-year rule

You'll hear that implants have to come out after ten years. Friends say it, forums say it, even some clinics do. There's some truth in it, but not much. No implant comes stamped with a date. The FDA in America puts it differently. It says implants aren't meant to last a lifetime, and that the odds of needing more surgery go up the longer you've had them. Plenty of women keep theirs for twenty years without trouble. Others need surgery within five.

So the honest rule is to replace them when there's a reason. A problem you can feel or see is one. A scan showing a rupture is another. Changing your mind about size counts too. Age alone usually doesn't.

When the breast goes hard: capsular contracture

Your body builds a thin layer of scar tissue round every implant. That's normal and usually soft. In some people the layer thickens and tightens, squeezing the implant. The medical name is capsular contracture. Of all the reasons people come back for a second operation, it's the one we see most.

Surgeons sort it into stages, mostly by feel. At first it's simply a little firmer than it should be. Then it becomes visibly rounder and higher, sitting like a tennis ball under the skin. In the worst grade it's hard, distorted and often sore.

Nobody knows the full cause. Bacteria living in a thin film on the implant surface seem to play a part. Bleeding after the first operation has been linked to it as well, and radiotherapy to the chest raises the risk considerably. Treatment means removing or releasing the tight capsule, and usually putting in a new implant. Moving the implant to a fresh pocket, for example from above the muscle to beneath it, can lower the chance of it happening again. It can't remove that chance completely, and we'll say so before you sign anything.

Rupture, and the kind you can't feel

Silicone implants can tear and give no sign at all. The gel usually stays trapped in that scar layer, so nothing changes in the mirror or under your fingers. Doctors call this a silent rupture. Only a scan will pick it up. MRI is best. Ultrasound is a reasonable alternative.

PIP implants are a special case. The French maker was shut down in 2010 when it turned out they'd been filled with industrial-grade silicone. If yours are PIP, let us know. We'll want a scan first, and plenty of women with them opt for removal.

Implants that have moved

Implants don't always stay where they were put. One may have sunk too far, leaving the nipple pointing up at the ceiling. Surgeons call that bottoming out. Another pattern, the double bubble, shows as a ridge across the lower breast where the implant has dropped below the old crease. And now and then both implants wander inwards until there's no gap left between them.

The common thread is the pocket. A surgeon can narrow it from the inside with stitches. Sometimes a brand new pocket is made in another layer instead, and sometimes it takes both. Whether you also get a different implant depends on the case.

Rippling, and thin cover

Ripples show up where there isn't much tissue between the implant and the skin. You see them along the side of the breast or at the cleavage, especially when you lean forward. They're commonest in slim women with large implants placed above the muscle.

Every fix works by thickening that cover. Usually the surgeon starts by putting the implant under the muscle, where there's more padding. A size down might go in at the same time. Some women also have a little of their own fat, taken from the tummy or thighs, injected along the edges. Going bigger rarely helps, whatever instinct says. It usually makes things worse.

Going bigger, going smaller

Changing size is a perfectly good reason for revision. You can't go any size you like, though, up or down. Your chest width and the thickness of your tissue cap how large an implant can safely be, and going past that cap tends to bring rippling and thinning later. That's the breast augmentation logic all over again.

Going smaller has its own catch. Skin that was stretched over a large implant won't shrink straight back. Swap a big implant for a modest one and the breast can look empty or droop. In those cases a breast lift is planned into the same operation, and we'll show you that before you decide.

Exchange or take them out for good?

Some people come in for a fix and leave having decided they'd rather have no implants at all. That's a fair choice. Removal is a bigger decision than it looks, since the breast underneath may be smaller, softer or lower than you remember. Our page on breast implant removal covers what that looks like and when a lift goes with it.

One thing to sort out before either route: new, one-sided swelling that appears years after surgery, or signs of infection, should be checked by a doctor where you live first. Those aren't problems to fly with.

Breast revision recovery

A revision often feels harder than the first operation. That's especially true if the capsule comes out or the pocket is rebuilt, since there's more internal work. After breast revision in Turkey, expect five nights in Istanbul, one of them on the ward. Light activity usually comes back at about a week. Chest training and heavy lifting wait for six weeks.

Swelling lasts longer the second time round, and shape can't be judged properly before around six months. If you've moved down a size, or had the implants removed, the skin will keep tightening over that period. Patience matters more than in a first augmentation, because the final results take longer to show.

Breast revision results and before and after photos

How good a revision can be depends partly on the first operation. Thin tissue limits what can be rebuilt, and so does a pocket that's been stretched by a very large implant. That's worth knowing when you look at breast revision before and after photos. The starting point in each picture matters as much as the finish.

In any before and after gallery, look for two things. Symmetry between the sides tells you the pocket work held. A photo taken six months or more after surgery shows the swelling has gone. Breast revision reviews written a year on are worth more than ones from the first month, especially from women whose problem matches yours.

Breast revision cost and price in Turkey

Our breast revision price in Turkey is €4,000 for an exchange with round implants. Removal without replacement is €4,500. Teardrop exchange isn't on our list as a single line, so that figure is quoted for your case. Where a lift is needed, it's planned and priced with the revision as one operation. The €4,000 already pays for your night in hospital and the anaesthetic. Airport transfers and an interpreter are covered too, as is a year of follow-up.

UK clinics tend to start at about £4,000 just to take implants out. Add capsule removal and it's often £5,500 or more. A straight swap usually begins somewhere near £6,500. When you compare any breast revision cost, ask whether capsule work is inside the figure. It's the line that moves most quotes.

What to send us

If you still have your implant card, or the notes from the first operation, send them. They tell us the brand, the size and where the implants were placed. A recent scan is a big help. Photos help too, taken standing, from the front and each side. And let us know what's changed, and roughly when you first noticed. Our surgeons in Istanbul will come back with their view of what's happened, the route that fits, and what a breast revision in Turkey would cost for your case.