Silicone breast swallowed during pilates

Silicone breast swallowed during pilates

Silicone Breast Implant "Swallowed" During Pilates Slid Into the Space in between the Lungs, A woman has revealed a freak occurrence in which her breast implant was swallowed by her body during a Pilates exercise and slid into the space in between the lungs.

A 59-year-old woman, whose breasts were removed after a double mastectomy to treat her breast cancer, had received breast implants after her surgery. Oddly, the woman was exercising recently when one of her implants was swallowed by her body after slipping through her rib cage.

The cancer survivor was performing a Pilates stretching exercise known as a Valsalva maneuver when she claims her "body swallowed one of the implants," according to the account published in the New England Journal of Medicine.


Cosmetic surgeon Dr. Anthony Youn, who did not treat the woman, explained to MSNBC how the "freak occurrence" most likely happened.

What likely happened in this instance is that the breast implant was placed under the chest muscle and on top of the ribs, an extremely common practice in breast reconstruction," Youn said.

"When the patient Valsalva'd, the pectoralis [chest] muscle likely contracted and pushed the implant through the space between her ribs. The weakened scar tissue (from a previous heart surgery) was easily torn, and the strength of the pectoralis muscle pushed the implant deep into her chest."

Freaky, indeed.

The woman was treated at Baltimore's John Hopkins hospital and did not report any pain. Surgeons successfully retrieved the implant and returned to its rightful place.

Here is an animated video representation of what occurred during the emergency incident. "The weakened scar tissue was easily torn, and the strength of the pectoralis muscle pushed the implant deep into her chest," Youn explains.

The woman was treated at Johns Hopkins, where surgeons retrieved the implant from within her chest and put it back where it belonged.