Contact & consultation

Arranging an assessment

Outpatient appointments are booked through the hospital on the numbers below; international patients can ask for Michael Yu. Bring anything you know about your implants and your previous operations, and any imaging you have had, because the history is part of what the assessment establishes.

What a good assessment includes

An examination of the breast, the skin and the position of the implant; an assessment of the capsule and of any change in shape or firmness; and imaging where a rupture or a change is suspected. The assessment should also establish what the breast would look like without a device, which is a judgement about your skin and your own tissue rather than about the implant.

Asking about the plan

Ask what the assessment found about your own tissue, and what the breast is likely to look like after removal without replacement. Ask whether a lift would be needed with either decision, and what that operation involves. Ask what would happen if a rupture or an infection were found, and whether a replacement could be placed at the same time. Ask what surveillance would continue afterwards, and on what schedule.

Before you commit

No decision needs to be made at the first appointment. The decision about whether to replace an implant does not have to be made at the same time as the decision to remove one, and it is worth saying so if you are not sure. Take the plan away, read it against the guides on this site, and come back with questions. A finding that needs investigation first is a finding rather than a refusal.