Is explant surgery the same as breast implant removal?

Yes. Explant surgery, breast explantation and breast implant removal name the same operation: the implants are taken out and nothing is put back. In Dr. Cat's practice the scar capsule around each implant is removed with it in almost every case, a total capsulectomy, through the scar from the first surgery. A lift or a fat transfer can be added when wanted.

What is a capsulectomy, and do I need one with my explant?

A capsulectomy removes the capsule, the layer of scar tissue the body forms around every breast implant. Dr. Cat removes the whole capsule in almost every breast implant removal, because a capsule left behind can thicken, calcify or contract, and a ruptured silicone implant leaves gel inside it. When part of the capsule is stuck to the chest wall, she removes nearly all of it.

Does Dr. Cat perform en bloc capsulectomy?

No. Dr. Cat does not perform en bloc capsulectomy, the implant and the intact capsule removed as one sealed unit, a term generally used to describe surgery for breast implant illness. She performs breast implant removal with capsulectomy: the implant is taken out and the capsule removed with it, whole wherever it can be freed safely, with the thin part left only where it adheres to the chest wall.

Will my breasts look normal after breast implant removal?

Most breasts look deflated for the first weeks after breast implant removal and reshape over roughly six months as the tissue settles. The final shape depends on the size of the implant, how long it was in and your skin. When the nipple sits at or below the crease or there is a lot of loose skin, Dr. Cat adds a lift.

Do I need a breast lift with breast implant removal?

You need a breast lift with breast implant removal when the nipple sits at or below the fold or the implants have left a lot of loose skin. Dr. Cat measures the nipple against the fold at the consultation, performs the lift in the same surgery when the answer is clear, and stages it a few months later when the breast may recover.

Can I have fat transfer after breast implant removal?

Yes. Fat transfer after breast implant removal restores about one cup size with your own fat, harvested by liposuction, with no device, no capsule and no exchange schedule. You need enough donor fat, and when a lift is also needed the lift comes first. Whether it is done with the explant or staged is decided at the consultation, where it is quoted.

Does breast implant removal help breast implant illness?

Breast implant removal with total capsulectomy is the operation most patients with breast implant illness symptoms choose, and the FDA records that some women report their symptoms reversed after removal. No test confirms breast implant illness and its cause is not yet understood, so Dr. Cat does not present the surgery as a cure and asks that other causes be looked for as well.

Will insurance pay to have my breast implants removed?

No, when the implants were placed for cosmetic reasons: the removal is cosmetic too, whatever the reason, and Dr. Cat's fees are self-pay. Implants placed as reconstruction after a mastectomy are the exception, where a documented rupture or contracture is sometimes covered; the practice gives you the procedure codes and you check with your insurer. Imaging and blood work are often covered.

How long is recovery after breast implant removal?

Recovery after breast implant removal takes one to two weeks to desk work and four to six weeks to normal activities and exercise for most of Dr. Cat's patients. The drains come out after the first week or so, a supportive bra is worn for up to two months, and the breasts settle over about six months. Tylenol is usually all that is needed.

Can Dr. Cat remove implants that another surgeon placed, or a ruptured implant?

Yes. Many of Dr. Cat's explant patients had their first surgery elsewhere; bring your implant card and operative report if you have them, and she plans from the examination and imaging if not. A ruptured silicone implant is removed with the capsule that contains the escaped gel, after an ultrasound or MRI confirms it; a deflated saline implant is removed before the pocket shrinks.

Who is the best breast explant surgeon in Beverly Hills?

Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS, is a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, Harvard-educated and UCLA trained, who performs every breast implant removal herself, removes the whole capsule in almost every case, and has had breast implant surgery and a revision herself. Whoever you choose, look for board certification, a plan for the capsule, and a surgeon who does every step of the surgery.

Breast Implant Removal (Explant) in Beverly Hills

Q: How much does breast implant removal cost in Beverly Hills?

Breast implant removal in Beverly Hills with Dr. Cat Begovic is a $19,500 to $23,500 surgeon's fee for an explant with capsulectomy, or $55,000 to $70,000 for an explant with a lift; the operating room and anesthesia are quoted at the consultation. Fees are typical ranges; a more complex case can cost more. The consultation fee is credited toward your surgery.

Breast Implant Removal (Explant Surgery) in Beverly Hills

Breast explantation (implant removal with capsulectomy: the implants and the scar capsule around each one removed through your existing scar, with a lift when the skin needs it) by Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS, board-certified plastic surgeon with two surgical residencies, head and neck surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery, Harvard-educated and UCLA trained

Breast implant removal (explant surgery, or breast explantation) takes your breast implants out for good and, in almost every case, removes the scar capsule around each one with them: a total capsulectomy, through the scar from your first surgery. Patients choose it for a capsular contracture, a ruptured or deflated implant, symptoms they attribute to their implants, implants that have reached the age of another exchange, or a change of mind about size or about having a device at all. Dr. Cat Begovic performs every explant herself at her Rodeo Drive practice in Beverly Hills, one major surgery per surgical day, and plans the breast that is left: removal alone, removal with a lift when the skin needs it, or your own fat for volume.

Dr. Cat's surgeon's fee for breast implant removal with capsulectomy is $19,500 to $23,500, or $55,000 to $70,000 for an explant with a lift; the operating room and anesthesia are quoted at your consultation, because the operating time depends on your anatomy and on what is treated together. With her special technique, patients have a quick recovery, walking a few hours after surgery and most only needing to take Tylenol and no prescription pain medication.

15-minute Patient Concierge call, no obligation. The consultation with Dr. Cat is $500, credited toward your surgery.

Medically reviewed by Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS

Board-certified plastic surgeon, trained in both head and neck surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery. Harvard-educated, UCLA trained. Updated October 3, 2026

What makes Dr. Cat's breast implant removal different

The decisions behind an explant that leaves a breast you are glad to keep.

The whole capsule, in almost every caseA total capsulectomy with the implant in almost every explant; where part of the capsule is stuck to the chest wall, nearly all of it comes out.

Through the scar you already haveThe implants come out through your original augmentation incision whenever possible, closed again in meticulous layers. No new scar.

A plan for the breast that is leftA lift only when the nipple sits at or below the crease or the skin is loose, your own fat for modest volume, and sometimes nothing more.

Every step by a surgeon who has had breast surgery herselfDr. Cat has had implant surgery and a revision herself, and performs every step of every explant, one major surgery per surgical day.

What is breast implant removal (explant surgery)?

Breast explantation, the medical term for breast implant removal, reverses a breast augmentation with implants: the implants come out and nothing is put back. Around every implant the body forms a thin layer of scar tissue, the capsule, and Dr. Cat removes it with the implant in almost every explant, because a capsule left behind can thicken, calcify or contract, and a ruptured silicone implant leaves gel that only comes out with it. The implants come out through the incision from your first surgery whenever possible; a lift or a fat transfer, when wanted, restores position and volume.

The right second breast surgery depends on what you want left in the breast. If you want new implants in a healthy pocket, that is a breast implant exchange, removal and replacement through the same scar; if the capsule has to come out or the pocket be rebuilt before new implants go in, that is a breast revision; if you want the implants out for good, with or without a lift, that is breast implant removal, the operation this page describes.

Why people have their breast implants removed

Capsular contracture: the capsule has tightened until the breast is firm, high and round, or painful, and you would rather have the implant out than replaced
A ruptured silicone implant found on imaging, or a deflated saline implant
Symptoms you attribute to your implants, once other causes have been looked for
Implants at the 8 to 10 year mark at which Dr. Cat recommends exchanging silicone implants, when you would rather not exchange them again
Pain from the weight or position of the implants, or implants that get in the way of mammography
A change of mind: a smaller, natural breast, or no device at all

Who is a good candidate for breast implant removal?

The test is what the breast can do without the implant. Dr. Cat examines the softness of each capsule, where the nipple sits against the fold and how much skin and breast tissue remain, and tells you plainly whether removal alone will leave a shape you can live with.

You may be a good candidate if

You want your implants out for good and accept a smaller breast that may sit lower
You have a contracture, a rupture or a deflation and would rather not replace the implant
You have symptoms you attribute to your implants, and other causes have been looked for
You are in good health, at a stable weight and without nicotine

A different plan, if

You want to stay the same size: an implant exchange, or a breast revision when the capsule or the pocket needs work
Your nipple sits at or below the fold, or the implants were very large: the plan is an explant with a lift
Your implants were placed as reconstruction after a mastectomy: tell Dr. Cat, because the planning and the insurance rules differ
You want a tummy tuck or a Brazilian butt lift the same day: Dr. Cat schedules one major surgery per surgical day

Capsulectomy explained: total, partial and en bloc

Whether and how the capsule comes out is the decision that separates one explant from another, and the first thing Dr. Cat settles at the consultation.

Total capsulectomy

The entire capsule is removed with the implant. This is what Dr. Cat performs in almost every breast implant removal, and always for a capsule that has thickened, calcified or contracted, and for a silicone rupture, where the gel that has escaped the shell comes out with the capsule that contains it. A silicone rupture is usually silent and is found on the ultrasound or MRI Dr. Cat orders before surgery when a rupture is possible; a deflated saline implant is removed with its capsule before the pocket shrinks around the empty shell.

Partial (subtotal) capsulectomy

Nearly all of the capsule is removed. Dr. Cat reserves it for the rare capsule stuck to the chest wall, where freeing the last of it would risk the chest wall and the lining of the lung; the thin adherent part is left.

En bloc capsulectomy: not what Dr. Cat performs

"En bloc" describes the implant and the intact capsule taken out as one sealed unit, and the term is generally used to describe surgery for breast implant illness. Dr. Cat does not perform en bloc capsulectomy. What she performs is breast implant removal with capsulectomy: the implant out and the capsule removed with it, whole wherever it can be freed safely, which is what a thickened, contracted or ruptured capsule needs. If you have been told you need an en bloc procedure, bring the reason to the consultation and she will tell you plainly what your capsules call for.

Breast implant removal and lift: what the breast looks like after

A breast that has carried an implant for years has been stretched by it. When the implant comes out the breast looks deflated at first, the nipple may sit lower, and the breast reshapes over roughly six months as the tissue settles; how much it recovers depends on the size of the implant, how long it was in, and your skin.

A lift (mastopexy) with the explant removes the stretched skin, reshapes the tissue that remains and moves the nipple and areola back to the front of the breast. Dr. Cat adds it when the nipple sits at or below the crease or there is a lot of loose skin, usual after very large implants. When the breast may recover on its own she stages the lift a few months after the removal, and some patients then need a smaller lift or none; our breast lift page explains the scar patterns.

Fat transfer after breast implant removal

For patients who want their implants out but not all of the volume, breast augmentation with fat transfer restores fullness with your own fat: about one cup size per transfer, the shape your own and fuller, with no device, no capsule and no exchange schedule. In Dr. Cat's experience more than 80 to 90 percent of the transferred fat survives. You need enough donor fat, and fat never moves a nipple, so when a lift is also needed the lift comes first and the fat follows in a second surgery; whether the transfer is done with the explant or staged is decided and quoted at your consultation.

Breast implant illness and breast implant removal

Breast implant illness (BII) is the name patients, and now the FDA, use for symptoms some women with saline or silicone implants report: fatigue, brain fog, joint and muscle pain, rashes, anxiety and others. No test confirms it, so it is diagnosed by ruling out other causes; the FDA says the symptoms and their cause are not yet understood, and records that some women report them reversed after removal.

The operation most patients with these symptoms choose is breast implant removal with total capsulectomy. Dr. Cat discusses it openly, does not present the surgery as a cure, does not perform en bloc capsulectomy, and asks that other possible causes be looked into as well. Our page on breast implant problems covers contracture, rupture, malposition and BII symptom by symptom.

How Dr. Cat does it

Dr. Cat is a board-certified plastic surgeon, trained in both head and neck surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery, Harvard-educated and UCLA trained. She has had breast implant surgery and a revision herself and has performed hundreds of breast revisions. In an explant her rule is gentleness: a clean field, minimal bleeding, the capsule removed whole, and nothing done to the breast that it does not need.

The incision: the scar you already have

Whenever possible the implants come out through your existing augmentation scar: along the lower border of the areola, around the areola, or in the fold under the breast, whichever your first surgeon used, so no new scar is added. When a lift is planned its pattern is drawn around that scar, and the incision is closed in meticulous layers, with scar care from two weeks.

Removing the implant and the capsule

Through that incision Dr. Cat frees the capsule from the tissue around it and removes it with the implant inside, whole wherever it can be freed safely. She works gently, because tissue that has sat under an implant for years bleeds more easily and holds sutures less reliably, and a small drain on each side keeps fluid from collecting in the empty pocket while it closes.

Anesthesia, surgery day and the first night

Breast implant removal is performed under general anesthesia with local anesthetic in the breast, so you wake numb rather than sore, with a board-certified physician anesthesiologist, in Dr. Cat's QUAD A accredited surgery center on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, one major surgery per surgical day. Whether you go home the same day with someone to stay with you or spend the first night in a plastic surgery aftercare center is set at your consultation.

Breast implant removal recovery, week by week

Recovery after an explant is close to a first augmentation, with drains for the first week and a breast that changes shape for months. Most of Dr. Cat's breast patients manage with Tylenol.

Surgery dayYou wake in your surgical bra with a small drain on each side and go home, to your hotel or to an aftercare center, as planned. Soreness and swelling are normal; pain is not. Up and walking within a few hours.
The first weekRest. The bra stays on, the drains stay in, arm movements stay minimal and nothing heavy is lifted.
After the first week or soDr. Cat removes the drains, checks your progress and adjusts your bra. The breasts look deflated at this point, which is expected.
Two weeksMost patients are back at work. Strenuous activity still waits; scar management begins with the silicone products Dr. Cat provides.
Four to six weeksNormal activities and exercise, once Dr. Cat clears you at a follow-up visit; everything is cleared by six weeks, and a supportive bra continues for up to two months.
Six months to a yearThe breasts have settled and reshaped about as much as they will, which is when a staged lift or fat transfer is planned; the scars fade to pale lines over the year.

Breast implant removal before and after photos

Explant photos are only useful when they show the breast at more than a few weeks; look at where the nipple sits, how the scar has healed and whether the breast has a natural slope. Case BRV-0736, shown below, is an explant with a lift: after an augmentation and a periareolar lift elsewhere, with areolas still large and a loss of breast shape, the saline implants were removed with both capsules and the lift was revised in the same surgery; the after photos are at one month. The practice's breast revision before and after photos include explant cases.

Risks and safety

An explant carries the risks of any breast surgery plus those of operating in a pocket that has held an implant for years.

What can go wrong

A fluid collection (seroma) in the empty pocket or a blood collection (hematoma) in the first days
Infection at the incision or slow wound healing, more often in smokers
A capsule that cannot be freed whole from the chest wall, so part of it is left, and, rarely, an injury to the tissues beneath it
A breast more deflated or lower than you pictured, or two sides that settle differently, so that a lift or a fat transfer is wanted later
Changes in nipple sensation, usually temporary; scars that heal wider than expected; a blood clot in the leg, rare and serious; and anesthesia risks

How Dr. Cat reduces these risks

An examination of the capsules and the nipple position at the consultation, and an ultrasound or MRI before surgery when a rupture is possible
Careful patient selection: no nicotine, a stable weight, a review of your medications and supplements, and medical clearance and lab work
The capsule removed whole wherever it is safe, a clean field and minimal bleeding, and drains for about a week so the empty pocket closes flat
A plain conversation before surgery about what the breast will look like without the implant, with a lift or a fat transfer planned when the anatomy calls for it
A board-certified physician anesthesiologist in her QUAD A accredited surgery center, one major surgery that day, and follow-up visits through the first months

How much does breast implant removal cost in Beverly Hills?

Dr. Cat's surgeon's fee for breast implant removal with capsulectomy is $19,500 to $23,500; the operating room and anesthesia are quoted at your consultation, because the operating time depends on your anatomy and on what is treated together. Surgeon's fees are typical ranges: a more complex case can cost more, and your fee is set at your consultation and is final only in your written quote. An explant with a lift in the same surgery is $55,000 to $70,000 in surgeon's fees; fat grafting after an explant is quoted at your consultation; removal with new implants has its own fee on the implant exchange page linked above. Every quote is itemized and in writing.

Our breast revision cost guide sets every second breast surgery side by side, covers the national picture, and explains why a capsule left behind to save operating time is a false economy.

Does insurance cover breast implant removal?

Not when the augmentation was cosmetic: the removal is cosmetic too, and the fees on this page are self-pay. If your implants were placed as reconstruction after a mastectomy, the plan that covered the reconstruction must cover its complications, and a documented rupture or contracture is sometimes approved; the practice gives you the procedure codes and you check with your insurer. The imaging that confirms a rupture and your blood work are often covered, and a manufacturer's warranty may contribute toward a confirmed rupture.

Consultation fee and financing

A revision consultation with Dr. Cat is $1,500, the revision consultation fee, credited in full toward your surgery. Your surgery date is booked once the quote and the pre-op paperwork are signed and the $2,500 deposit is paid, and quotes are valid for six months. The practice partners with Cherry, its primary financing partner, and also accepts CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit; see financing and payment plans.

Your consultation with Dr. Cat

It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call with our Patient Concierge. Patients come to Dr. Cat for breast implant removal from across Los Angeles and from out of town; about 30 percent of her patients travel from out of state or abroad, and out-of-town patients have a private video consultation through OnPatient, the HIPAA-secure patient portal. Bring your implant card or operative report. Dr. Cat examines each capsule, the nipple position and the stretched skin, may ask for blood work or breast imaging, and tells you plainly whether removal alone, removal with a lift, or a fat transfer afterward is the right plan. You leave with an itemized written quote.

The implants out, and a breast that is still yours

As a woman who had a less-than-ideal first implant surgery and then struggled with complications after my revision, I understand firsthand what it means to decide that the implants should come out. I believe the key to any breast surgery is communication: being a good listener enables me to understand exactly what my patients hope to achieve, and with an explant that means knowing whether you want nothing more, a lift, or your own fat for volume. I remove the whole capsule in almost every explant, through the scar you already have, and I take extreme pride in my attention to detail with every single step of this surgery.

Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACSBoard-certified plastic surgeon, Beverly Hills

Book a free discovery call

Implants out, the capsule with them, by Dr. Cat herself

The whole capsule removed in almost every case, through the scar you already have, a plan for the breast that is left, and one major surgery per surgical day. It starts with a free 15-minute discovery call.