Breast Augmentation and Mammogram/Cancer Screening

    PHOENIX, AZ, October 28, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A mammogram is a low-dose x-ray taken of breast tissue to detect abnormalities. This method of breast cancer screening has proven particularly effective and is recommended for all women over the age of 50. If you have a family history of breast cancer or other risk factors, your doctor may recommend mammography as early as your 30s or 40s.

Other methods of detecting breast cancer include hands-on evaluations and diagnostic tools such as MRIs. The best way to detect breast cancer should be determined by your doctor.

Breast Augmentation

If you have had breast augmentation, it is important that you inform your doctor prior to breast cancer screening. Your doctor will need to know where your implants have been placed (above or below the chest muscles) and what type of breast implants you have.

Breast implants do not increase your risk for cancer, but will be a factor in how cancer is detected. When implants are placed above the muscles, breast tissue can be obscured or displaced. This can make early detection, particularly with mammograms, ineffective. In addition, the squeezing of the breast required for x-rays may do damage to implants not protected by chest muscles, making MRIs a better alternative in many cases.

If your implants have been placed below your chest muscles you will still need to inform your doctor of their presence. While this placement is less likely to interfere with mammography, your doctor may choose alternative diagnostic methods just to be sure.

Your plastic surgeon should be able to provide you with a list of doctors who specialize in breast cancer detection following breast augmentation. Breast augmentation is the among the most popular plastic surgery procedures in the United States, and many doctors have found diagnostic methods that work around implants. Working with a doctor who has experience screening for cancer in women with implants can help increase the likelihood of early detection.

If you would like to learn more about breast augmentation in or around Phoenix, Arizona, please visit the website of board-certified plastic surgeon Paul Angelchik, MD today at www.doctorangelchik.com.

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