Breast Implants: Silicone vs Saline Implants

The Institute of Medicine unequivocally ruled out the association between silicone gel implants and systemic diseases. However, local problems within the breasts can occur when silicone leaks or hardens. These are, of course, not life-threatening problems, but they can make future implant exchange a more difficult undertaking. On the other hand, saline implants can and do deflate (<1% yearly) but the salt water used to fill them is harmless to the body and gets completely reabsorbed, making them in some ways "safer" than silicone implants.

All would agree that silicone implants "feel more natural." Some very thin patients that had exchanged their silicone implants to saline implants in the 1990's have described that the saline implant has an unequivocally "less natural feel". Furthermore, the silicone implants weigh slightly less and may have a small decreased risk of "rippling". On the other hand, the replacement of a deflated saline implant takes only fifteen minutes with no downtime while replacing a ruptured silicone implant often requires two or more hours of surgery in order to remove all of the tissue that has been embedded with gel. When a saline implant deflates, the patient immediately notices a change in size and can seek medical attention, while the ruptured silicone implant can go undetected for years.

• Breast Implants
• Breast Implants: Breast Implant Procedure
• Breast Implants: Silicone vs Saline Implants
• Breast Implants: The Shape
• Breast Implants: Smooth vs Textured Surface
• Breast Implants: Behind or In Front of the Muscle
• Breast Implants: Incision Placement
• Breast Implants: Implant Manufacturers
• Breast Implants: Implant Size