There are some women who after having breast implants placed for breast enhancement no longer desire them and request the breast implants to be removed. The reasons for breast implant removal after augmentation may be related to the woman's natural breast growth, pregnancy related breast growth, excessive weight gain which contributed to larger breast size, or simply just not wanting to have breast augmentation implants any more.

Removing breast implants after augmentation is usually a relatively straight forward process and does not cause a great deal of discomfort. Complexity of breast implant removal is increased when a woman's natural breast tissues are heavy or have sagged. In this situation, after the breast implant removal the breast may require a breast lift plastic surgery. The final breast scars that are left on the breast after breast implant removal depends on what is required to reshape the breast mound.

Some breasts look fine after the breast implant is removed. In this case, the breast implant removal requires only a small incision. If the breast is heavy and needs to be lifted then there will be more scars remaining on the breasts.

The breast implant capsule does not have to be removed. In general, it poses no health risk. If the woman is requesting breast implant removal because of disfiguration or capsular contracture, she will usually require to the breast scar tissue capsule to also be removed. When the breast capsule is required to be removed, there is usually a bit more bleeding and resultant bruising. A drain may be required to placed in the space where the scar tissue and breast implant were. This drain will allow any oozing and drainage to be removed from the woman and allows for a faster recovery. Breast implants placed above the muscle are more likely to have thicker scar tissue capsules and more difficulties after breast implant removals. As with anything, it really depends on the individual woman's case and what her requests are.