Saline or Silicone Breast Implants?
Which one is right for you, saline or silicone breast implants?
Recently, the FDA righted an egregious wrong, and allowed silicone breast implants back onto the market for cosmetic breast augmentation. The FDA undertook a rigorous ten year, multicentered, placebo controlled clinical trial that definitively demonstrated the safety and efficacy of silicone implants in breast augmentation. I have used these implants personally for over six years now, and the majority of breast augmentations that I undertake use silicone implants.
The benefits of silicone over saline are profound. The look is undoubtedly more natural, as the implant will contour to the breast tissue better than the saline. Silicone offers a much more natural feel to both the patient and to their significant others. There is a marked decrease in the “rippling” phenomena with silicone as compared to saline.
I use the 4th generation, cohesive gel silicone implants. These are also called the “gummy bear” implants. The reason for this name is quite interesting. Older generation implants used liquid silicone, such that when the implant shell was ruptured, liquid silicone was free to migrate into the tissue. The “gummy bears”, on the other hand, are silicone in a solid state. If the shell is violated, the implant material remains within the implant. This is the critical safety feature present in the newer silicone implants, and it is one of the many reasons why it continues to both outperform and replace saline implants in my practice, and across the United States.
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