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Silicone vs. Saline Implants

Chicago, Illinois

In undergoing breast enlargement surgery, one of the most important decisions you have to make is about your breast implants.  Dr. Placik offers implants in a variety of sizes and shapes, but more importantly they come with two different filling materials:  saline solution and silicone gel. 

Saline Breast Implants

Saline breast implants are filled with salt water.  They come from the manufacturer unfilled and will be filled during the augmentation procedure, which makes them more flexible during surgery, and in fact there are some incision types that can only be done with saline breast implants. Also, because they come unfilled, they can be adjusted to meet your individual aesthetic goals, and even to adjust for asymmetrical amounts of natural breast tissue.  The advantages of Saline breast implants are:

• Fill level adjustability
• Surgical flexibility
• Ruptures noticed quickly because saline is absorbed by body
• Slightly safer

Silicone Breast Implants

The FDA has determined that the lawsuits surrounding silicone breast implants were largely a product of fear and had little basis in medical evidence, and therefore re-approved them for use in November 2006.  Silicone breast implants are considered aesthetically superior, both visually and tactilely, to saline implants.  They are unlikely to show rippling, and silicone gel is far more like natural breast tissue than saline solution.  Because the implants come pre-filled to an optimum level, the implants never have fill-related aesthetic defects. The advantages of silicone breast implants are:

• Aesthetic superiority
• Factory-determine optimum fill level

There are some disadvantages of silicone implants, however.  Because silicone is not readily absorbed by the body, the implants do not deflate visually after rupture, since the silicone stays in the breast implant capsule.  This means that women with silicone breast implants should have regular MRIs to make sure that the implant is intact.  Research has shown that the MRIs are successful at detecting ruptures whether the implant is placed subglandularly or submuscularly. 

To learn more about your breast implant options, consult our FAQs or call or email us today to set up your initial consultation. 

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Associated Plastic Surgeons, S.C.
Otto J. Placik, M.D., F.A.C.S.
(847) 398-1660 or (312) 787-5313
Arlington Heights and Chicago, Illinois

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