Breast Implants
Dr. Garazo uses the latest generation of silicone breast implants because they have a proven track record for performance and safety. This page outlines the different factors to consider when choosing your breast implants.
What Are Breast Implants?
First, to define what a breast implant is: A breast implant is a sphere (an implant shell) made of silicone, a rubber-like substance. It is filled with either silicone gel or saline. The sphere is surgically implanted under your chest tissue, sometimes beneath your chest muscle.
Breast implants come in a variety of sizes and shapes to accommodate various body types. The range of sizes of silicone breast implants and saline breast implants include High Profile, Moderate Plus Profile, and Moderate Profile—each offering a different level of projection (the profile) for an individual woman’s preference and body type.
Dr. Garazo’s Preferred Breast Implants
Silicone Breast Implants
Silicone breast implants are FDA-approved for breast augmentation in the US. In use for over 50 years, millions of women all over the world have them. Silicone gel implants feel more like natural breast tissue than saline implants. After decades of research with surgeons and patients, the latest generation of silicone gel breast implants have performed at a very high level. Silicone gel implants feature a cohesive, gelatin-like substance that acts as a solid rather than a liquid. It holds together uniformly while still retaining the natural give of breast tissue.
Silicone breast implants are available in a variety of profiles, which refers to the amount of forward projection off the chest wall in relation to the base width of the implant. This allows Dr. Garazo to achieve a better match between your desired breast projection and your individual body frame. Ask Maryland plastic surgeon Dr. Garazo for greater detail on selecting the right breast implant for you.
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New Gummy Bear Breast Implants
A new type of implant is rapidly gaining in popularity: highly cohesive silicone gel implants, often referred to as “gummy bear implants” for their firm but pliable consistency. These implants are available only through board certified plastic surgeons and are some of the most natural-looking and feeling implants available. Benefits include:
- The implant is comprised of form-stable silicone, which holds its shape throughout the lifetime of the implant.
- Because of the shape of the implant, final results are often seen more quickly.
- While these implants are firmer than other styles, this firmness is complemented by a suppleness and flexibility that mimics natural breast tissue.
- Gummy bear implants have a reduced rate of complication.
Gummy bear breast implants are comprised of a firm silicone outer shell that is pre-filled with high-strength, highly cohesive silicone gel. They are available in several round options as well as a variety of profiles, and, just like traditional silicone gel implants, their size, base shape, and projection can be all be customized to achieve your preferred look.
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Breast Implant Styles
If you decide to have breast augmentation in Maryland, you will need to decide what style of breast implant will help you best achieve your goals. Silicone breast implants are available in a variety of styles and profiles. Prior to your breast enlargement surgery, you will discuss with Dr. Garazo the implant shape and size that are most appropriate for you.
- Key Benefits
- Glossary
- Predictable Volume Increase: Breast implants provide a precise and predictable increase in breast size, allowing for more control over the final outcome compared to fat transfer, which may have variable absorption rates.
- Customizable Shapes and Sizes: Implants come in a variety of shapes and sizes, offering customized options to achieve the desired breast contour and projection that might not be achievable through fat transfer alone.
- Structural Support: For patients with very little natural breast tissue or those seeking significant enhancement, implants provide the necessary volume and structural support to achieve a dramatic difference in breast size and shape.
- Proven Track Record: Breast implants have a long history of use with extensive studies and data supporting their safety and effectiveness, offering reassurance to patients considering breast augmentation.
- Anesthesia: Medication used to prevent pain during surgery; breast augmentation usually requires general anesthesia.
- Breast Augmentation: A cosmetic surgical procedure to increase the size, shape, or fullness of the breasts using implants or, less commonly, fat transfer.
- Breast Implants: Medical devices placed in the breast to enhance size and shape. They can be filled with saline solution or silicone gel.
- Breast Lift (Mastopexy): A surgical procedure to raise and reshape sagging breasts. It can be performed in conjunction with breast augmentation with implants to improve breast position and shape.
- Capsular Contracture: A complication where the scar tissue around the implant tightens, potentially causing discomfort and altering the breast’s appearance; it may require surgery to correct.
- Gummy Bear Implants: A nickname for form-stable, highly cohesive silicone gel breast implants that maintain their shape even when the implant shell is broken, similar to the consistency of gummy bear candies.
- Incision: The surgical cut made to insert the breast implant. Common incision sites include under the breast fold (inframammary), around the nipple (periareolar), or in the armpit (transaxillary).
- Mammogram: A specialized X-ray used to detect breast cancer. Women with breast implants may require modified mammogram techniques.
- Mastectomy: The surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely, often due to cancer. Breast augmentation can be part of reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy.
- Mommy Makeover: A combination of cosmetic procedures designed to restore or improve post-pregnancy bodies, typically including breast augmentation, a tummy tuck, and possibly liposuction.
- Recovery Time: The period required for healing after surgery. For breast augmentation, patients typically return to work within a week but may need several weeks for full recovery and to resume strenuous activities.
- Rippling: Visible or palpable wrinkling of breast implants, more common with saline implants and in patients with thin breast tissue, which can affect the breast’s appearance, especially under certain conditions or movements.
- Saline Implants: Breast implants filled with sterile salt water. If the implant shell leaks, the saline is absorbed and naturally expelled by the body.
- Silicone Implants: Breast implants filled with silicone gel, which feels more like natural breast tissue. If the implant leaks, the gel may remain within the implant shell or escape into the breast implant pocket.
- Subglandular Placement: Placement of breast implants above the chest muscles but beneath the breast tissue, often used to achieve a more natural movement for women with adequate natural breast tissue.
- Submuscular Placement: Placement of breast implants beneath the pectoral muscle, which can provide a more natural contour and reduce the risk of certain complications.
- Textured Implants: Breast implants with a rough surface designed to minimize movement within the breast. Recent concerns about associations with a rare form of cancer (BIA-ALCL) have led to decreased use and regulatory scrutiny.
Breast Implant Sizes
For many women, deciding what breast size they want can be the most difficult part about choosing breast augmentation. Generally, the larger you want your cup size to be, the larger the breast implant you will need. Dr. Garazo will evaluate your existing breast tissue to determine if you have enough tissue to accommodate the desired size of breast implant.
If you want a breast implant that is too large for your tissue, you may have unexpected complications. For example, you may be able to see the implant’s edges through your skin after your operation or you may be able to feel the implant more easily. You may also increase the risk of having complications during the surgery. Furthermore, excessively large breast implants may increase the effects of gravity on your body, which may cause your breasts to prematurely droop or sag.
Shaped Breast Implants
Breast implants come in two shapes: teardrop-shaped and round. The teardrop implants feature a contoured shape that re-creates the teardrop outline of a mature breast. This style is often preferred by women who are looking for a gently sloping breast silhouette. Also available are contoured implants that provide the elliptical shape of the mature breast with moderate or high projection. This breast implant shape is wider at the base to accommodate women with wider chest walls.
Round breast implants are currently the most popular choice for breast augmentation procedures, as they are available in a wide array of shapes and sizes to accommodate various body types. Talk to Dr. Garazo about which implant type, shape and size is right for you.
Dr. Garazo is a board-certified plastic surgeon with over 20 years of experience offering aesthetic procedures in the greater Hagerstown, MD area. Known for his thorough, expert, and friendly care, Dr. Garazo is a 5x winner of “Best Plastic Surgeon” in the Herald-Mail Tri-State’s Best! Community Choice Awards. He prides himself on offering comprehensive, informative consultations and ensures every patient always meets personally with him.
Dr. Henry Garazo is a plastic surgeon in Frederick and is an experienced breast augmentation surgeon. He invites you to explore your options through a patient consultation. To schedule a consultation at Plastic Surgery Services, contact us online or call (301) 791-1800.
References »
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Shen Z, Chen X, Sun J, Chiu C, Yu Y, Lin X, Zhang Z, Xu J. A comparative assessment of three planes of implant placement in breast augmentation: A Bayesian analysis. J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2019 Dec;72(12):1986-1995. doi: 10.1016/j.bjps.2019.09.010. Epub 2019 Sep 24. PMID: 31653596.