Answers

"I've had breast implants for the past 11 years.  I've lost feeling in the nipple area on one of my breasts.  Will this numbness ever go away?  If I had another surgery on the breast, would the feeling come back?"


— Answered by Daniel C. Mills, II, MD
Laguna Beach, CA

I have not had a patient who had feeling in their nipple after having surgery, which then lost feeling 11 years later.  Unfortunately, when the surgery is completed, if there is no feeling to the nipple after surgery, and it hasn’t returned in the next year, it is usually lost.  This is more frequent with the periareolar incision (5 to 15 percent).  The inframamary incision loses nipple sensation less (3 to 5 percent) and least with the armpit incision (1 to 3 percent).  Sorry, but if it is numb now, and has been for years, it probably will not come back.

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