Breast fillers were a popular alternative to breast implants several years ago.
However, the high incidence of complication rates has resulted in most of these products being withdrawn from the market. If a patient does have residual filler materiel causing complications such as nodules, inflammation or deformity, the filler would need to be removed.
If the material used was hyaluronic acid (an absorbable filler), this can be removed by injecting an enzyme, hyaluronidase, into the areas with remaining filler. This will rapidly dissolve the filler.
However, if the filler is a permanent, non absorbable type of material (e.g. polyacrylamide hydrogel), then surgical removal would be required. This involves making an incision (usually in the fold beneath the breast) and removing as much of the filler as possible.
In some cases significant deformity or scarring has occured, and this might require removal of the affected breast tissue. Some form of breast reconstruction might then be required.
