Cosmetic Surgery Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Cosmetic Surgery, including details on microsurgery, reconstruction, techniques, risks.

Mycobacterium cheloneae infection after breast augmentation.

Brickman M, Parsa AA, Parsa FD

Department of Surgery, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA.

Augmentation mammaplasty is one of the most commonly performed plastic surgery procedures. Infection, still one of the most feared complications of the procedure, usually is caused by skin commensal organisms. A wide variety of other organisms also may be responsible for these postoperative infections, including atypical mycobacteria. A case of a prosthetic breast implant infected with Mycobacterium cheloneae is presented, and the presenting signs and symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options of such an infection are discussed. The importance of promptly isolating the pathogen for potential salvage of the prosthesis also is stressed, as well as the operative intervention necessary when conservative therapy fails.

Published 6 July 2005 in Aesthetic Plast Surg, 29(2): 116-8.
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