As a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, I am used to being on call for the emergencies of my cosmetic surgery patients. It is infrequent that I receive emergency calls after hours, but it certainly does occur.

The other night at 10:30 pm, I received a page stating that a patient thought her breast implant was leaking. As distressing as this might be, it is certainly nothing you would address in the middle of the night. There is no health risk, and the logical thing to do would be to leave a non emergency message with the service, or call in the morning when the office opens to come in and be evaluated.

I understand that she might have been frightened and panicked, not thinking through the next step well. What happened next was the part that amazed me.

It turns out that the patient noticed a size difference in a top, and did not even bother to take her bra off and look in the mirror. What had actually happened was that the gel insert in her bra had leaked, and the implants were fine. Sadly this is the SECOND time this has happened in the last year.

I love my patients, and make myself available always, but watch out for those “miracle” bras. Call me if you need me.