Types of Breast Implants

The size and the form of a breast after mammaplasty depend on the choice of breast implants. According to their quality properties the endoprostheses are classified into gel, saline, single-chamber, dual-chamber, round-shaped, anatomic, textured, smooth, high-profile and low-profile implants.

For a new person it is easy to get lost among these characteristics, that is why we will try to give a simple and comprehensive classification of implants that are now used in breast augmentation.

So, all the endoprostheses of the mammary gland (breast implants) present hermetic sacks made of thin cover filled with a special composition that by feeling shall resemble a natural woman’s breast.
All these sacks (implants) have a silicone cover. That is so-called silicone rubber, a thin silicone elastoplastic that has been recognized for today as the optimal material for all breast endoprostheses.
The silicone cover brings to naught all the commercial tricks offering to place absolutely natural or bio-implants into your breast. Whatever filling is used for the implant the material will still be covered in silicone. There are no alternatives so far.
Depending on the character of surface of the silicone cover, breast implants are divided into smooth and textured (rough).

The surface covered with micro-foam-polyurethane sponge is called textured.
This surface was specifically created to minimize the risk of capsular contracture formation, a firm connective tissue that deforms the breast. Small villuses of the sponge grow into breast tissues and create a buffer area that doesn’t allow for formation of rough scarring tissues. Besides, textured cover is able to cause growth of formed (not rough) connective tissue. That solves the problem of deficiency in autologous mammary gland’s tissues to cover the prosthesis.
By the form all implants are divided into round-shaped and anatomic. The round-shaped ones have the form of a sphere, and anatomic ones are shaped as a drop. That is they imitate the form of anatomically regular woman’s breast.

Drop-shaped implants were introduced for production comparatively recently – in the 90s. Appearance of this endoprosthesis in the market should have provided for more natural, esthetically native result of the surgery, especially if the breasts were completely flat and boyish, or the skin too thin, and the prosthesis was placed under the gland. In a number of cases round-shapes implants can provide for satisfactory natural form of the breasts. That is why the decision about whether to choose round or anatomic shape should be made together with a specialist.

By the composition of the filling all the implants are divided into silicone and saline ones. The so-called saline implants have physiological salt solution, 9% solution of salt in water. That is the most natural from all the possible fillings that is absolutely not foreign for a human because our body is salt water by two thirds.

Silicone implants are filled with silicone gel – viscous, adhesive, clear substance. At the dawn of implant industry this substance by its consistence resembled olive oil, and when damaged or torn the prosthesis would let the substance out to freely drift in the breasts tissues.

Later there was cohesive silicone gel developed, which by its consistence resembled jelly. That gel “remembers” the implant’s form, it is steady and stays put in case of the cover’s damaging. Nowadays the market offers prosthesis filled with highly cohesive gel, of more solid substance with better “form memory”. Anatomic implants are filled with this exactly gel. One of the latest inventions in the line cohesive implants are implants with Soft Touch filling – they have relatively reduced unnatural density of highly cohesive gel with form preserving memory.

Debates on advantages and disadvantages of silicone and physical solution implants have been held for a long time. Physical solution has one main advantage – it is not foreign for human body, because a human is two thirds salt water. If the cover of such an implant is damaged, the physical solution flows out and will be harmlessly consumed by the body. Though the breast will in this case become flat and the patient will need another surgery to place a new implant.
Such problems are out of the question with silicone implants, especially with silicone cohesive implants that are filled with a substance that resembles solid jelly by its substance. If there occurs a small hole in such implant’s cover, the gel will preserve its form and sit tight.
From sensations view point saline implants give rise to infavourable comments. As physical solution is water, it can create flows, gurgles and folds inside the implant. Silicone is more like natural brest tissue, so highly-cohesive gel can seem quite hard by touch.

There is one more very important difference of physical solution implants from silicone ones: physical solution prostheses are as a rule stuffed right on the surgical table through a valve, while silicone implants have no valves and are shipped from the factory absolutely hermetical. That provides for their complete sterility which is extremely important: slightest infection that came through a small valve of the saline implant can cause big trouble.
In Russia most number of breast augmentation surgeries is performed with the use of gel, but not saline implants.

Endoprosthesis filled with hydrogel are worth specific mentioning. That is an invention of a French company called Arion. Specialists from that companpecialists from that company attempted to thicken physical solution to reach the consistence of gel, so that natural salty water acquires advantageous qualities of silicone.

Unfortunate experience showed that after a few years the hydrogel dissolves into components. 5% of polymer deposit within the capsule as a solid plastic crust, and 95% of water still flow out of the implant. The tumbled demand caused Arion to stop producing these implants.
Another attempt to integrate the properties of silicone into physical solution was the invention of so-called double-lumen or double-chamber implants. There is silicone inside of them, and outside is a bag with physical solution. Thк market share of these type of implants is extremely small.

Besides the size, filling, texture and form of the implant, both doctor and patient are to make a choice of a manufacturer. Today many companies work in this sphere, the most famous being McGhan, Mentor, Silimed, Eurosilicone and Arion.

The leader in quality, diversity of the family of products and prices height is MacGhan. The same popularity is characteristic of Mentor. Less hyped-up and much less expensive Silimed, as plastic surgeons admit, produces the softest, and consequently most natural by touch silicone implants.
The size of the implants is measured in cubic centimeters. The smallest are 90 cc, the biggest are 740 cc. Most popular implants are 200 cc, 250 cc and 300 cc.