After Breast Surgery or Injection: Warning Signs That Need Urgent Attention

If in doubt, call your surgical team or seek emergency care. A prompt call is better than waiting to see if a symptom passes.

Seek emergency care now if you have

• Chest pain, difficulty breathing or coughing blood, which can signal a blood clot in the lungs
• Fainting, extreme dizziness or confusion
• Rapid, painful swelling of one breast, which may mean bleeding
• Signs of severe allergic reaction, such as swelling of the face or throat

Contact your surgeon or a doctor urgently if you notice

• Fever or chills
• Spreading redness, warmth or pus from a wound
• Increasing pain that is not controlled with prescribed medicine
• A wound opening
• Swelling, pain or redness in one calf, which can signal a clot
• Skin turning dark, pale, blue or blistered
• An implant that seems to have moved, or a sudden change in shape or size

After injections into the breast

• Severe pain or skin colour change soon after the injection
• Hard, tender or growing lumps
• Redness, heat or discharge

Tell clinicians exactly what was injected, if you know.

Late problems

Symptoms can also appear months or years later, such as new swelling of one breast, a firm breast, a lump or pain. See our pages on capsular contracture and BIA-ALCL.

Be prepared

• Save your surgeon’s and the facility’s emergency number
• Know the nearest hospital with emergency services
• Keep your implant card and a list of your medicines
• Ask before surgery who you should contact after hours