Breast autoinflation with sterile pus as a marker of implant rupture: single-stage treatment and outcome for five consecutive cases.

Augmentation mammaplasty is one of the most common aesthetic procedures performed. Early complications of the procedure are hematoma and infection, and late complications include capsular contracture and device failure or its displacement. Failure of saline implants is readily identifiable, whereas rupture of silicon gel implants can occur without symptoms due to lack of volume loss. Autoinflation of the breast caused by intracapsular and intraprosthetic collection of sterile pus has been reported. A series of five consecutive breast autoinflations with sterile pus is presented. All the patients presented with acute swelling of the breast 2-10 years after prostheses implantation. Intracapsular sterile pus with macroscopic shell tear was seen in four cases. In the remaining case, an intracapsular and intraprosthetic collection of sterile pus with a tear in an otherwise intact implant was seen under the microscope. All five cases showed no microbial growth on culture or sensitivity, and all were treated using a single-stage procedure. The follow-up periods ranged from 8 weeks to 1 year without recurrence of symptoms.