Recently, the Food and Drug Administration recommended that patients considering breast implants — whether for reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy or cosmetic surgery — receive detailed information about potential complications and rare health risks that can occur.

If adopted, the newly proposed FDA breast implant guidelines would require that standardized patient decision checklists be shared with women to help ensure they understand the involved risks and benefits.

Surgeon Edwin Wilkins, M.D., a professor of plastic surgery at Michigan Medicine, discusses the new recommendations and talks about breast implant safety more generally.