Bloating after Silicone Breast Implants

Abstract

Background and Aim: Empirical data suggest that women submitted to silicone breast implant surgery report bloating after intervention. We aimed to look to this phenomenon in a retrospective study.

Methods: An online ad-hoc survey was created. It included 22 items aiming to collect essential biographical data and occurrence of gastrointestinal symptoms after esthetic surgery. Subjects invited to fill the questionnaire were people from a data base of a busy esthetic clinic. Respondents were included in two groups: one group with breast implant surgery and a control group with other interventions without silicone implantation. Participants filling criteria for disorders for gut brain interaction including functional bloating were excluded from the analysis.

Results: The group with silicone implants included 32, the control group included 34 women. Both groups had no baseline differences. The group with silicone breast implants presented significantly higher odds [6.3 (95% CI 2.0 – 22.9, p=0.003)] of bloating than the control group, after adjustment for confounders (age, previous disorders of gut-brain interactions). Symptoms occurred in the first postoperative days and lasted 1-3 weeks.

Conclusions: This is a retrospective study based on an online survey confirming the onset of bloating after silicone breast surgery in the absence of functional bloating. This study brings evidence to endorse empirical reports. Potential mechanisms of this association are discussed.