Acquired Symmastia: Classification, Causes, and Repair Strategy.

[BACKGROUND] Acquired symmastia is a rare complication after breast augmentation that is difficult to fix.

[METHODS] The medical records of 18 female patients with symmastia treated by our team were reviewed. Data collected included preoperative medical history, implant size, and breast base width. Surgical techniques were systematically reviewed and analyzed based on postoperative follow-up results.

[RESULTS] Of the 18 patients, 15 patients had undergone implanted breast augmentation and 3 had injected breast augmentation. All 18 patients underwent comprehensive repair with various surgical techniques. Three patients showed recurrence after operation. Four patients were dissatisfied with postoperative breast size and underwent 2-stage replacement surgery.

[CONCLUSIONS] Symmastia is an intractable surgical complication. Surgical classification can help assess the difficulty of surgery in advance, and the surgical strategy plan can help the surgeon to control the quality of the repair surgery.