Question: I want breast implants, but I am afraid of capsular contracture. Is there any way to prevent it?
Answer: Yes, there may be a way to prevent capsular contractures.
Capsular contractures are tight scar that your body forms around an implant – any implant – that it finds irritating. After a breast implant, you have a 1% risk each year of developing a capsular contracture.
The effect of a capsular contracture varies – your breast may feel just a little firm or it may become hard, painful and misshapen. The usual treatment is re-operation to remove the thick scar and place the implant in a new position (e.g. over the muscle if the contracture occurred under the muscle). However, once a capsular contracture forms, a new one may form even after surgery.
The good news is that a recent study from Brazil reports that the risk of capsular contractures can be reduced by taking montelukast (Singulair) before a capsule develops.
Montelukast is a leukotriene antagonist – it stops the release of chemicals that cause our bodies to be hypersensitive. It does have side-effects – headaches, fatigue and a stuffy nose are mild and common. Rare effects such as depression, tremors and severe skin reactions of course require the medication to be stopped.
But for women who have surgery for a first capsular contracture, who are anxious and want to reduce the chance that they ever get one or who develop early signs of a contracture and don’t want it to progress – Montelukast gives you an option that you didn’t have before.
Watch in this video as Dr. Morgan explains capsular contractures, why they occur, and what can be done:
https://vimeo.com/106929413