“Uniboob” is extremely rare.

Today on Good Morning America, there was a story about a woman that had her breast implants removed and replaced with new implants.  After the second surgery, she had a symmastia, otherwise known as “uniboob”. 

Symmastia after breast augmentation is an undesirable result which occurs when implants come to close to the midline of the chest.  This results in a lifting of the skin from the chest wall and creates the dreaded “uniboob” appearance. This usually happens as a result of the overly-aggressive release of the chest muscle during breast augmentation surgery, extending the release to the mid-chest or can be from a patient’s muscles and tissue being too weak to support the implant.

Correction of this condition via breast revision surgery usually involves removing the implants and closing the space in the middle of the chest with internal sutures.

It is impossible to tell from the story on GMA if the symmastia resulted from a surgeon’s error or her own body’s tissue being weak, but the good news is that the symmastia was corrected by another surgeon and she has normal looking breasts now.

As the reporter recommended, it is important to research your surgeon prior to deciding to have surgery.  I always recommend utilizing the American Society of Plastic Surgeons as a resource for finding a qualified surgeon.

Dr. Joseph W. Aguiar is an excellent surgeon who has performed hundreds of breast augmentations and has never had a patient with a Uniboob. 

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/plastic-surgery-disaster-leads-uniboob-14825080