Correspondence

Boyle's Law and Breast Implants

N Engl J Med 1994; 331:483-484August 18, 1994

Article

To the Editor:

A 51-year-old woman who had recently come from sea level presented with cough and congestion at our emergency room in Frisco, Colorado (altitude, 9300 ft [3200 m]). She described a “swishing sound” in her breasts. She had had saline breast implants for 20 years and had noted this unusual sound on previous travel to high altitudes. She said that the sound in her breasts would disappear on her return to sea level or resolve slowly during a prolonged stay at high altitude. A chest film revealed crescent-shaped air-fluid levels in both implants (Figure 1Figure 1Chest Film of a 51-Year-Old Woman with Breast Implants Who Had Recently Traveled to High Altitude.).

Trapped air in breast implants expands at high altitude in accordance with Boyle's law, which states that the volume of a confined gas varies inversely with pressure.1 Those of us who live at high altitude know this phenomenon well. When we return home from lower altitudes, our toothpaste tubes and potato-chip bags expand. And so do breast implants.

James J. Bachman, M.D.
P.O. Box 545, Frisco, CO 80443

1 References

1. 1

   Lovich SF, Meland NB. Breast implants and air flight. Plast Reconstr Surg 1990;86:172-172
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