The purpose of this longitudinal study is to determine if there are changes in psychological well-being after breast implant removal.
Thirty-seven women underwent breast implant removal and completed a preoperative baseline, early postoperative (4 to 9 months), and late postoperative (> 10 months) Brief Symptom Inventory, a measure of psychological distress.
After breast implant removal the mean Global Severity Scores on the Brief Symptom Inventory of women undergoing implant removal increased over the three time periods, indicating increasing psychological distress. When the group was divided into those who had breast reconstruction after implant removal (implant replacement with saline-filled implants or TRAM flaps) and those who did not have reconstruction, both groups had increasing psychological distress, but the women who had reconstruction had slightly higher scores. Women with a history of psychiatric treatment showed the greatest increase in psychological symptoms.
Breast implant removal did not have psychological benefits in this group of women. Breast reconstruction after removal did not appear to be psychologically beneficial to this cohort.