It Is Time to Resolve the Dilemma and Move Away From Using Drains in Primary Breast Augmentation

Breast augmentation is one of the most commonly performed aesthetic surgical procedures, yet there has been no consensus on the use of drains. While some surgeons believe in using them due to fear of complications or because they were taught in a conventional manner, the authors present their experience of performing breast surgery without the use of drains.

To study whether performing breast augmentation without the use of drains is safe.

Anthropometric details and complications of all the consecutive primary breast augmentation patients performed by a single surgeon from 2009 to 2022 were collected and analyzed. In none of these patients, drains were used.

A total of 429 (21%) patients were lost to follow-up and only those 1617 patients with a minimum follow-up of 6 months were included in this study. The mean age of the study group was 29.8 years with a mean BMI of 24.68. Mean follow-up was 16.24 months. Hematoma occurred in 15 patients (0.92%), seroma in 12 (0.74%), explantation due to infection in 3 patients (0.18%), and capsular contracture in 44 patients (2.72%). All these complications were in the lower range of complications of breast augmentation reported in the literature.

Unwarranted use of drains in breast augmentation should be avoided as it does not seemingly prevent the complications of breast augmentation surgery. Instead, it may increase the chances of infection, pain, and discomfort, and prolong the antibiotic coverage, and hence put an additional overall financial burden on the patient.