Breast reconstruction is an important option for women undergoing mastectomy, and a two-stage approach using implants is by far the most common reconstruction technique. Thousands of women undergo this procedure every year – despite the conventional wisdom among many surgeons that the results of implant-based breast reconstruction don’t hold up over the long term.

Now a new study goes against that prevailing “surgical dogma,” showing that the aesthetic and other outcomes of implant-based breast reconstruction remain stable at up to 12 years’ follow-up.