Abstract
Over 400,000 women in the United States alone will have breast implant surgery each
year. Although capsular contracture represents the most common complication of breast
implant surgery, surgeons continue to debate the precise etiology. General agreement
exists concerning the inflammatory origin of capsular fibrosis, but the inciting events
triggering the inflammatory cascade appear to be multifactorial, making it difficult
to predict why one patient may develop capsular contracture while another will not.
Accordingly, researchers have explored many different surgical, biomaterial, and medical
therapies to address these multiple factors in an attempt to prevent and treat capsular
contracture. In the current paper, we aim to inform the reader on the most up-to-date
understanding of the pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of capsular contracture.
Keywords
capsular contracture - breast implant - foreign body reaction - inflammation
