Richard V. Dowden, M.D., C.M., F.A.C.S.

Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery

Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery, Inc.
6770 Mayfield Road, Suite 410
(Mayfield Heights) Cleveland, Ohio 44124
(440) 449-7470

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about
breast enlargement:

Do saline implants have to be changed every ten years?

No, saline implants do not have to be changed every ten years.

One hears this said, but no one seems to know where that misconception got started. Because about 95% of saline implants manufactured since 1984 (that's when they discovered a new way to make them stronger) can be expected to remain intact after 10 years in the body, and because the manufacturer warranty runs for ten years, replacing non-leaking implants before ten years would be throwing away the benefits of the warranty. Most women seem to feel most comfortable taking one of two approaches after the initial ten years have passed:
1. Some women prefer to just wait until a leak occurs, no matter when, and then come in and get new implants. Their schedules must be flexible enough that they could come in for replacement operation within about two weeks of when a leak occurs, which usually keeps the replacement operation more minor than the initial operation for putting them in.
2. Some women prefer to be pro-active, and as soon as their warranty runs out, they arrange to come in voluntarily at their own expense to get new implants and start a new warranty. Usually these women do so because their schedules are too tight to permit coming in for replacement surgery within two weeks of a leak. For example, most of my patients who are doctors and lawyers do that, and all of my patients who are actresses and models do so.

If one implants has leaked, most women prefer to replace both implants. The manufacturer's lifetime warranty applies only if an implant leaks.

Because of some circulated mis-information, it is worth repeating that the inserting of breast implants via the navel (TransUmbilical Breast Augmentation "TUBA") does not in any way decrease or void the warranty on the implants!


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Note that while the information given by Dr. Dowden during a consultation is completely current and up-to-date, the information of this website is only as current as the date of last update, and therefore may become out-of-date.

6770 Mayfield Road, Suite 410
(Mayfield Heights) Cleveland, Ohio 44124
(440) 449-7470

Note: To ensure privacy for our patients, all of our outgoing phone lines have their caller ID permanently blocked; if your phone does not accept blocked ID calls you will not be able to receive any calls back from our office.

Last Update: 7:27 PM on 06/12/2011
URL of Dr. Dowden's home page: http://dr-dowden.com/index.html
URL of breast enlargement page: http://dr-dowden.com/main/augment.html
URL of breast enlargement via navel page: http://dr-dowden.com/main/tuba.html

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