Will silicone gel-filled breast implants affect my mammograms?

Yes: The presence of implants make mammograms more challenging to interpret and can potentially obscure a small cancer. It is best to have the implants placed behind the chest wall muscle to decrease this visualization problem. Furthermore, when having a mammogram it is important to go to a facility with experience performing mammograms on augmented breasts.

Yes, but: If additional views do not allow for adequate visualization, there are more studies that can be done, such as mri. In reality, for women with or without implants if there is a suspicious or uncertain lesion they will be referred for mri.

Yes: The presence of any implant, saline or silicone, will affect how the mammograms are performed. If the test is completed in a standard fashion there may be up to 15% of the breast tissue that still will require additional imaging.

Somewhat: Based on where your implant is placed, under the breast or under the muscle, the size of your native breast and the implant, some of the breast tissue may not be visualized with the mammogram.