Overview of Dr. Leonard’s Experience

• Regional en-bloc expert and referral center.
• Endorsed by The Northwest “Oregon, Washington, Idaho” breast implant illness Facebook support group.
• Successfully performed over one thousand en-bloc implant removals over the past 7 years.
• Performs en-bloc complete capsulectomy breast implant removal technique. He has not had a single case where that technique was not performed successfully.
• Greater than 90% of Dr. Leonard’s patients have significant symptom improvement and state that their lives have been dramatically enhanced by en-bloc implant removal.
• Performs muscle repair every time it is needed, with determination made in the operating room and individual patient findings. Current repair rates are approximately 90%.
• Dr. Leonard is a referral center for BIA-ALCL ”Breast Implant Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma”, associated with textured breast implants, and has local oncologic medical expert support if additional care is required

Technique of En-Bloc Removal

When your en-bloc implant removal is performed by Dr. Leonard, it is performed as an outpatient procedure. General anesthesia is required so that all of the chest wall muscles will be relaxed, which is necessary for safe en-bloc removal.

The en-bloc removal of implants will take around two and half hours, and a deep plane reconstructive mastopexy (breast lift) takes an additional hour and a half. Dr. Leonard has developed a special team as well as techniques to ensure successful en-bloc implant removal absolutely every time.

When it comes to surgery, often times patients are quite frightened by post operative pain. When your en-bloc removal is performed by Dr. Leonard, he uses a newer long-acting pain blocker called Exparel in all areas where surgery is being performed. It dramatically decreases pain levels and has been a game changer. With en-bloc removal by Dr. Leonard, you will experience dramatically less pain than surgery performed by other surgeons who do not use Exparel. It is AMAZING.

Every patient who has an en-bloc implant removal will also be explored for the need for muscle reconstruction. If this is required, Dr. Leonard will perform a component chest wall separation procedure so that the pectoralis major muscle is completely and entirely freed up and advanced into its normal, natural position. This restores your chest wall anatomy to the state it was before the implants were placed. This is very important mechanically. All sutures are absorbable.

Suction drains will be used, as they are necessary to not only remove surgical fluid, but also provide a negative suction to heal tissues to their normal anatomic state. The entire goal of en-bloc implant removal is to completely remove the implant and associated capsule completely intact so there is no leaking of any fluids that could contaminate the space.

Very often, patients will be left with a significant hollowing of the breast and excess tissue which Dr. Leonard has labeled a “soufllé deformity”. Often times this can be permanent and disheartening. Despite other claims, it’s absolutely safe to perform immediate breast reconstruction utilizing a deep plane full pattern mastopexy in almost all patients. This excises excess skin without making the breast smaller, and restores a youthful aesthetic characteristic to the breast. This procedure is dramatically helpful in restoring normal breast anatomy and self-esteem.

There is no reason to live with the soufflé deformity that often results after implant removal, which can be permanent. In Dr. Leonard’s practice, we often have been quoted saying “The breasts may be smaller, but they can still be pretty!”.