Implants filled with silicone gel are usually more expensive.
One size fits all
Breast implants typically take three months to “settle in,” and up to nine months to achieve their final shape.
“I tell my patients they’ll start fitting in their bras and bathing suits at about eight weeks,” says Eisenberg. “So I recommend not doing any major shopping right away.”
Popular procedures
More than 10.2 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were performed in the U.S. last year, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Women account for over 90 percent of that number.
The top surgical procedures are:
1 Breast augmentation 355,671 surgeries in 2008
2 Liposuction 341,144 surgeries in 2008
3 Eyelid surgery 195,104 surgeries in 2008
4 Rhinoplasty (nose job) 152,434 surgeries in 2008
5 Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) 147,392 surgeries in 2008
Ever since silicone gel breast implants were put back on the market in 2006 after a 14-year FDA ban, the silicone vs. saline debate has raged.
Both types of implants have a silicone shell; the difference is what’s inside.
An implant filled with silicone gel is more expensive, by about $1,000, but feels more natural — or at least that’s been the reigning argument. But that’s not necessarily true, says Ted Eisenberg, D.O., a Northeast Philadelphia-based surgeon who focuses exclusively on cosmetic breast surgery.
“If a silicone salesperson puts a silicone gel implant and a saline implant in your hand, the silicone gel feels softer. But the implants aren’t made for your hand, they’re going behind your breast,” Eisenberg explains. “A fair amount of a woman’s own breast is over the implant —whichever kind of implant — so it feels natural.
“When a woman comes in and wants silicone, I don’t have any problem with that. But when I’m asked for my opinion, I say that saline is a terrific option.”
Eisenberg lists two main advantages of saline: smaller surgical incisions, because the implant goes in empty and then gets filled, and an easy way to tell if something goes wrong.
“If a saline implant ruptures, you know right away. It deflates,” says Eisenberg. “With silicone, you might not even know because the gel holds its shape. It doesn’t get absorbed by the body the way saline does.”
In order to detect ruptures, Mentor Corporation and Allergan, manufacturers of FDA-approved
implants, recommend that women who opt for silicone gel have an MRI every two years, starting three years after the initial surgery.
