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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Can The Grafting Material In An Expander, Placed After Breast Removal, Cause Recurrent Inflammation?

HI, I had my left breast removed 9/16/13, and acquired a bad staph infection. On October 7, I was went to the emergency room where I was admitted and put on a vancomycin IV. It was not MRSA, but it was staph. I was sent home and did iV s of vancomycin for 1 month. It cleared, but the redness and inflammation keeps coming back and I am on and off Keflex for treatment. I have a breast expander in that operated breast and my question is Could the grafting material be causesing my inflammation? My doctor takes serum samples from the breast and they come back that nothing grows. If nothing grows, can I assume I have no infection and it is the grafting material. My doctor wants to remove the expander, let things settle, then put a new expander in. I feel that we should find out what is causes the inflammation, as we could put the new expander back in and have the same inflammation problem. I have an implant in my right breast due to breast cancer in that breast in 2011. I have never had a problem with that breast. I had the latisimus muscle put in that breast with a silicone implant. What should I do? I feel I would like to see an infectious disease doctor to see if he could run tests on the grafting material to see if I am allergic to any of that. This would eliminate that and we could proceed and take the expander out if the grafting material proves that I am not allergic to it. Thanks you, Eileen S.
Tue, 4 Feb 2014
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OBGYN 's  Response
Hi Eileen,

You are going through a lot.
It seems from your question that the inflammation is recurring in the breast with the expander while the other breast with the latissimus and silicon is doing well.

I will agree with your doctor that if the inflammation is recurring than it is most likely the implant and allergic reactions to it. It is not an infection but a reaction of the body to this material.
No test can be done on the material, but an allergy immunology specialist could run a few test on you provided you have the details of the material the implant is made of. Even than it is not possible to test absolutely every ingredient.

Also since it is breast cancer, are you on any chemo or radiotherapy as they can cause similar reactions, so please check on that.

I suggest you see an allergy immunology specialist and get yourself checked. If the inflammation persists, than maybe the implant needs to be removed.

Hope I was able to help. Thanks for using HCM
Dr Madhuri Bagde
Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist
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Can The Grafting Material In An Expander, Placed After Breast Removal, Cause Recurrent Inflammation?

Hi Eileen, You are going through a lot. It seems from your question that the inflammation is recurring in the breast with the expander while the other breast with the latissimus and silicon is doing well. I will agree with your doctor that if the inflammation is recurring than it is most likely the implant and allergic reactions to it. It is not an infection but a reaction of the body to this material. No test can be done on the material, but an allergy immunology specialist could run a few test on you provided you have the details of the material the implant is made of. Even than it is not possible to test absolutely every ingredient. Also since it is breast cancer, are you on any chemo or radiotherapy as they can cause similar reactions, so please check on that. I suggest you see an allergy immunology specialist and get yourself checked. If the inflammation persists, than maybe the implant needs to be removed. Hope I was able to help. Thanks for using HCM Dr Madhuri Bagde Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist