Secondary Augmentation Mammaplasties and Periprosthetic Infection: A Three-Year Retrospective Review

BACKGROUND: Secondary or revision surgery following primary augmentation mammaplasty is common. There are several published studies on the incidence and prevention of infection after primary augmentation mammaplasty, but there is a paucity of information on the incidence of periprosthetic infection after secondary or revision augmentation mammaplasty procedures. OBJECTIVES: The author evaluates the incidence of periprosthetic infection in a series of revision and secondary mammaplasty patients from his practice. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed of the charts for 92 consecutive patients who underwent bilateral secondary mammaplasty with the author between July 2008 and April 2011. Each breast was taken as a single unit, for a total of 184 breasts. The data were compiled and compared with previous studies related to periprosthetic infection following primary augmentation mammaplasty. RESULTS: The average age of the patients was 35.8±7.9 years (range, 19-54 years). One patient developed unilateral periprosthetic infection in her left breast. This incidence of 0.54% was comparable to infection incidence of 0.5% for primary augmentation mammaplasty previously reported by the author. CONCLUSIONS: In this series, there was no higher incidence of infection seen in secondary augmentation mammaplasty than was seen in previous studies on primary mammaplasty. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.