What is the difference between saline and silicone implants?
Saline implants are filled with a sterile saline (saltwater) solution; silicone breast implants are filled with a form of silicone gel. Silicone is derived from the combination of a naturally-occurring element known as “silicon” (the second most plentiful element on earth) with oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. Both saline and silicone breast implants can be either smooth or textured, round or contoured, and high profile or standard profile. Other differences between saline and silicone include the way the implants react after a rupture or leak, as well as the reaction of the breast and scar tissue surrounding them. In the case of saline, a rupture produces a noticeable deflation of the implant. Silicone breast implants tend to have a silent rupture, which means the leak is not readily apparent. Also, silicone implants have a somewhat greater risk of causing capsular contracture (the uncomfortable distortion of the breast implant due to hardened scar tissue). Please contact Umansky Medical
Jane: Hi. I just have one quick question. I just heard on the news the other day there’s a new procedure for breast implants and what they do is take your body fat from your stomach or thighs and implant it in your breast, and this way you’re not allergic to any silicone or saline or anything. It’s your own body. So how do you fee about this and don’t you think that will be something new and pretty well-used in the future, people will start using that as an option? Dr. Michael Salzhauer: I think that’s a great question. I think that that will become a more common procedure.
The implant, itself, is a silicone shell filled with either silicone gel or saline (a salt-water) solution. Due to concerns about the safety of silicone gel-filled implants, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that only women in approved studies can opt for silicone implants. Saline-filled implants are available to breast augmentation patients on an unrestricted basis. Capsular contracture is much less common and less severe with saline implants than with silicone.
