Women with silicone gel breast implants who undergo mastectomy and breast reconstruction may develop burns over the reconstructed tissue after exposure to supraphysiologic temperatures.

Such burns are chiefly precipitated by suboptimal blood perfusion and heat transfer.

A review of 59 case studies of breast burns after mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction with autologous tissue, implants, or tissue expanders reported that the most common causes of burns were heat conduction [37/59 (63%)], solar radiation [19/59 (32%)], or heat convection [3/59 (5%)].

The review suggested that delineating the thermodynamic mechanism underlying implants’ heat-induced injury may advance understanding of the causes of burns in reconstructed breasts.