Silicone breast implants, long the standard in breast augmentation, were removed from the market by the FDA in 1992 because the silicone gel used was found to cause certain health problems in some of the women who had undergone augmentation. After many years of study and testing, the FDA approved the next generation of silicone breast implants in 2006 and so women can now actively pursue this type of breast augmentation again. Silicone breast implants are similar in some ways to saline breast implants, but come with their own unique set of pros and cons.
There are advantages and disadvantages associated with silicone breast implants. Some advantages of silicone implants include the strength of the gel when the pouch breaks. Silicone breast implant problems include that the incision must be bigger since the gel is pre-formed.
Advantages of Silicone ImplantsSilicone breast implants are preferred by many patients and surgeons because of their durability and the natural look and feel they enable. Because silicone gel allows for silicone breast implants to be much more firm than the liquid allows in saline implants, the appearance is much smoother and far less prone to rippling than saline implants. The durability of silicone breast implants and the fact that several outside layers surround the inside gel means that silicone breast implants are less likely to develop spontaneous leaks or degrade over time.
After silicone breast implants were banned by the FDA in 1992, their usage underwent extremely extensive study. An advantage to the many tests that were run on silicone breast implants in the fourteen years between 1992 and 2006 is that patients can truly rest assured that the product currently available is absolutely safe for insertion during breast augmentation surgery.
Silicone Breast Implant ProblemsBecause silicone breast implants come pre-filled with silicone gel, they require a larger incision than is needed by the saline implants that can be filled after placement. A larger incisions means that the patient’s recovery time would last longer and perhaps have an added element of discomfort or pain.
Another disadvantage caused by the fact that silicone breast implants come pre-filled is that a patient needs to be very sure of the size they want to achieve before surgery commences, because the size of the implants cannot be adjusted after the fact.
Finally, silicone breast implants continue to be disadvantage by the bad name they gained due to health problems that occurred from their use in the 1990s and before. Although the current generation of silicone breast implants are thoroughly safe to use, it may take years of convincing for them to become as popular with consumers as they once were.
