If you’re looking for a breast augmentation, there is certainly no shortage of options. With the help and guidance of a highly qualified surgeon, you get to determine the final size, texture, and material. And it’s the material of the implant that can have wide-ranging effects on your final results.
So let’s take an in-depth look at some of the unique strengths and drawbacks of various breast implant types. It should be noted that each type of implant has unique properties, so any decisions about which type to proceed with should be made in conjunction with your surgeon.
To put it simply: there are three basic types of breast implant available on the market today. Deciding which is the best fit for you will depend largely on your personal goals and your unique physiology.
The Most Popular: Silicone Breast Implants
Most plastic surgeons tend to favor silicone breast implants over any other type. That just one of the reasons why silicone breast implants are the most popular implant type—but it’s not the only one. Silicone implants offer several important benefits:
- They are incredibly resilient (you could experience a rupture and never have any ill effects, for example)
- They are long lasting
- They offer results that look and feel quite natural
- They are available in a wide variety of sizes
- Silicone implants have an excellent track record for safety and effectiveness
Sometimes called “gummy bear” implants because of their candy-like consistency, silicone implants are incredibly flexible and offer patients excellent results. After all, the shape, size, and “feel” of an implant is also important—and many patients love just how natural silicone implants seem in all of those categories.
Because they’re the most popular option among both surgeons and patients, silicone implants are often seen as the “default.” But they aren’t the only option.
For Special Occasions: Saline Implants
Despite their popularity, silicone implants won’t always be the best possible choice. Some patients and surgeons will instead opt for saline breast implants. This implant type was actually quite popular during the 1990s, when silicone implants were briefly removed from the market due to a (later disproved) cancer scare.
Saline implants are composed, essentially, of salt water. This makes the implant quite safe in the case of a rupture, as the saline is easily absorbed back into the body. The use of saline also makes these implants particularly suited for minimally-invasive techniques because they can actually be inflated after they are inserted.
But there are some drawbacks to saline implants. If there is a rupture (which is relatively rare), they will deflate. Additionally, they do not look quite as natural as silicone implants. (That said, patients who do opt for saline implants are usually quite satisfied with the results.)
The Trending Choice: Fat Graft
Saline and silicone implants are not the only choices available to patients. In fact, one of the trendiest breast augmentation choices on the market today is a version called the fat graft breast augmentation. In this procedure, your unwanted fat is actually used as the breast implant material.
The fat is removed via a liposuction procedure, then purified and injected into the breasts. In this way, a fat graft breast augmentation is minimally invasive, but it still requires a decent investment in your recovery. These fat graft implants have the following characteristics:
- The end results look incredibly natural (as fat is a natural part of your body, this should maybe not be shocking)
- It’s very important that patients follow their recovery instructions carefully. The fat injected into the breasts requires some time to “take” to its new home and graft successfully. Trauma to the breasts could diminish your final results
- This is a great way to get a “two-for-one” by removing fat from somewhere that you don’t want it (usually the belly) and putting it somewhere more useful
Fat graft breast augmentation might be “minimally invasive,” but it’s still important that you seek out a highly qualified plastic surgeon to help you achieve the best results possible.
The Best Depends on You
Only you can judge which procedure will be the “best” for you and which procedure will generate the results you’re after. Contact your plastic surgeon today to begin those consultations and find out what’s the best implant for breast augmentation for you!
