Is an M.R.I. needed to check on breast implants?
For Silicone implants, yes. For Saline implants no. When saline implants fail, they rapidly get smaller, and the woman herself is aware that they have failed. When silicone implants leak, there is no way to tell externally. That is why the FDA recommends that women with silicone implants get an MRI at year 3, 5, 7, 9 etc every 2 years to check whether they have failed. The FDA specified MRI, rather than mammograms, because the mammograms are not sensitive enough and do not find leaks as well as the MRI can. Some women prefer saline implants because they will announce a failure by deflating. Other women prefer silicone gel implants because they will not announce a failure by deflating – even when they fail there is no externally visible change of size, and they do not want to risk others being able to tell.
