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What Is the Best Breast Implant?

3 Minute Read: 

Breast implants have come a long way, and women who want to increase their breast size have many options. Today’s implants can deliver subtle or dramatic results that appear natural and resist side effects common with earlier breast implants.

Earlier breast implants were made of a silicone shell and filled with a thinner, less-cohesive silicone gel. Unfortunately, they produced unnatural-looking results, felt hard, and often led to capsular contracture (a hardening and tightening of tissues surrounding the breast implant).

A woman sits holding a saline breast implant and a silicone breast implant.

Now, the best breast implants on the market come in various materials, sizes, shapes, and textures, designed to be safer and provide a more natural-appearing and feeling breast enhancement. 

However, the best breast implant for you depends on several variables. The key is to find the breast implant option that works with your body type and can deliver the results you wish to achieve. 

Choosing the Best Breast Implant for Your Custom Breast Augmentation

The fact is that women considering breast augmentation have differing goals and natural breast anatomies. Your procedure will be customized according to the amount of existing breast tissue you have, your frame, your lifestyle, and your desired results.

Keep in mind that the placement and size of your breast implants will significantly impact your final outcome as you review the following breast implant options.

Breast Implant Material

Your breast implant material options are as follows:

  • Silicone shells filled with silicone gel – The difference between silicone implants of the past, and those used today, is that now the gel used in silicone implants is much more cohesive, meaning they hold their shape. Even if a rupture occurs, these implants are far less likely to leak out of the breast pocket.
  • Silicone shells filled with saline (sterile salt water) – While this option has been around since the 1960s, it didn’t become popular until 1992, when the United States declared a moratorium on silicone breast implants due to potential health concerns. By 1996, saline implants became a breast implant standard.

However, in 1998, the international medical research community concluded that silicone breast implants pose no significant threat to systemic health, but it took until 2006 for the FDA to grant its approval to newer versions of silicone implants. 

Pros and Cons of Silicone and Saline Breast Implants

Silicone Breast Implants
  • Pros – Since the mid-2000s, silicone implants have been preferred to saline by most plastic surgeons and their patients for their more natural feel and look. Also silicone breast implants typically last longer.
  • Cons – Silicone breast implants are more expensive than saline implants.
Saline Breast Implants
  • Pros – Saline breast implants cost less than silicone, and, as they are filled during placement rather than pre-filled like silicone breast implants. 
  • Cons – Saline breast implants are only available in a round shape and often don’t look and feel as natural as their silicone counterparts. They are also more prone to rippling (when the implant’s edges are visible under the skin). They are also more prone to leaking or deflation.

Get Help Determining the Best Breast Implant for Your Needs

To learn about your best implant options, schedule a consultation with a reputable surgeon who will ask questions about your lifestyle, cosmetic concerns, and personal aesthetic goals. 

After evaluating your breasts, they can make recommendations for the best breast implant options that will meet your needs. 

You may be surprised at how your lifestyle and natural breast size will be crucial in determining your best breast implant options. 

For instance, certain athletes require different placement techniques, and most will be advised to make subtle changes to avoid interference with their performance.

Women with very small breasts may not have enough breast tissue to accommodate large implants, and placement options will matter a great deal in these cases as well.

Older women and those who have experienced one or more pregnancies (especially after breastfeeding) may benefit from including a breast lift with their breast implant surgery.

Schedule Your In-Depth Southern California Breast Augmentation Consultation

Dr. Ronald Moser is a highly regarded, board-certified cosmetic surgeon offering expert breast augmentation in Southern California.

Call (949) 722-6603 (Newport Beach), (949) 661-1700 (San Juan Capistrano), (951) 737-3236 (Corona), (800) 662-1055 (Encinitas) to schedule your breast augmentation consultation.

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