Ep. 31 - Breast Implant Removal and the Flat Chest Decision: What Explant Surgery Really Looks Like

Dr. Tim Sayed opens with a published personal account from a 56-year-old runner and author who had saline implants placed in the early 2000s and chose, two decades later, to have them removed and stay flat. The story moves through familiar territory for explant patients — the original decision made from insecurity, the body changes that followed breastfeeding, the capsular contracture that eventually developed, and the years it took to arrive at a choice that felt genuinely her own. Sayed doesn't frame the original augmentation as a mistake, but he is candid about how often external pressure — cultural, familial, sometimes from a partner — shapes these decisions in ways patients don't fully recognize at the time. He reflects on why pre-surgical counseling matters, and why the question of motivation deserves more attention than it typically gets in a cosmetic surgery context.The conversation also touches on a newly launched device, the Explant Express from Applied Medical Technology, a suction retrieval system designed to help surgeons manage ruptured implants during removal more cleanly. Sayed explains the real surgical challenge it's meant to address — silicone containment when the capsule tears — and notes he hasn't used it yet, but sees a plausible role for it in known rupture cases.What runs underneath both segments is the same honest question: what does it actually mean to accept your body as it is, and how long does that usually take.Contact Dr. Tim Sayed:Phone: (858) 247-2933Email: [email protected]: timsayedmd.comInstagram: @timsayedmdYouTube: @TimsayedmdFacebook: Tim Sayed MD