Breast Augmentation

When someone says “breast implant,” they are describing a silicone shell that is filled with either silicone gel or saline solution. Breast augmentation and reconstruction surgeons insert these implants under breast tissue or under the chest muscle to create a fuller looking and feeling bust line.

Silicone is derived from silicon, a semi-metallic or metal-like element that in nature combines with oxygen to form silicon dioxide, or silica. Beach sand, crystals and quartz are silica. Silica is the most common substance on earth. Heating silica with carbon at a high temperature can produce silicon. Further processing can convert the silicon into silicone, which can be a liquid, a gel or a rubbery substance. Various silicone are used in lubricants and oils, as well as in silicone elastomers. Silicone can be found in many common consumer items, such as chewing gum, nail polishes, suntan and hand lotions, antiperspirants, bath soaps and processed foods.

After decades of research and testing, MemoryGel® Breast Implants and MemoryShape® Breast Implants are FDA approved for augmentation and reconstruction. Mentor has conducted rigorous safety evaluations of their gel-filled breast implants, including two 10-year Core studies to provide even more information to patients and surgeons.

Each Core study is a prospective, 10-year, multi-center clinical study conducted to examine the safety and effectiveness of MENTOR® Silicone Gel Breast Implants. As they have for many years, Mentor will remain committed to providing objective information about breast implant safety.

MemoryGel® Breast Implants are Mentor’s most popular line of breast implants. They are pre-filled with Mentor’s proprietary cohesive silicone gel. MemoryGel® Breast Implants hold safely and uniformly together to deliver a natural feel that closely resembles natural breast tissue.

Your peace of mind is important to us. All MENTOR® Products come with the Mentor Lifetime Product Replacement Policy which provides for the free lifetime product replacement of their gel-filled and saline-filled breast implants, worldwide. When implant replacement is required, and the Mentor Product Replacement Policy applies, Mentor will provide, throughout the patient’s lifetime, the same or similar MENTOR® Breast Implant at no cost. If a more expensive product is requested, Mentor will invoice Dr. Bowen for the price difference.

MemoryShape® Implants, are teardrop-shaped and made of a more highly cohesive silicone gel, designed to impart a natural silhouette and give you a youthful feel. In comparison MemoryGel® Implants are round and made of a slightly less cohesive silicone gel which resembles the natural give of breast tissue.

They are shaped to match the silhouette of a natural breast with more fullness at the bottom than at the top. Also, a teardrop-shaped implant is thinner at the top, therefore it gradually blends into the upper chest.

Saline Filled Breast Implants are silicone shells filled with saline (a saltwater solution) that is very similar to the bodies natural fluid which makes up most of the human body. Saline implants are inserted into the body without fluid and then filled with the saline fluid through a fill tube during the surgery to adjust and achieve optimal volume. Certain MENTOR® Saline Filled Breast Implants also allow for adjustments after surgery.

With breast implants, routine mammography screening may be more difficult. The implant may interfere with finding breast cancer during mammography and generally requires additional x-rays and more potential exposure to radiation. If you are of the proper age for mammography screening, you should continue to undergo routine mammography screenings as recommended by your primary care surgeon. When you do, be sure to inform the mammography technician that you have implants.

It’s important to know that breast implants don’t last a lifetime. While implant duration varies from woman to woman, implants need to be replaced at some time. Replacement is often prompted by choice, such as a desired size change, or implant style change. Some women undergo breast implant replacement because of a complication, such as saline deflation or gel rupture.

The goal is to create soft and natural moving breasts. Achieving this depends upon multiple factors. For some women, implants are firmer and more fixed in their position than their natural breasts.

Patients with breast implants have not been found to be at a greater risk of developing breast cancer than those without breast implants.

There can be an increase or decrease in nipple sensation after your breast implant surgery. A small number of women experience intense sensitivity and others, no feeling. These effects can be temporary or permanent.

Every woman has different results with breast implants before or after a pregnancy. If you become pregnant after receiving breast implants, your breasts will grow and go through all the usual changes associated with pregnancy. The amount of enlargement will vary from woman to woman, and the size of your implants will be a factor.

Many women with breast implants successfully breast-feed their babies. Some breast-feeding difficulties have been reported following breast surgery particularly if we have to use a periareolar (around the nipple) incision. It is important that you let Dr. Bowen know if you are planning or considering getting pregnant post-surgery.

Because recovery periods vary from woman to woman, Dr. Bowen will determine how much recovery time you may need and when to resume normal activities. As a rule of thumb, the first few days are the most uncomfortable. Most women return fully to their regular lives after four to six weeks. Be careful about resuming strenuous activities that could raise your pulse and blood pressure, or require strenuous use of your arms and chest through the entire recovery process. Be sure to check with your surgeon before returning to your workouts.

Dr. Bowen prefers that you wait three months before wearing underwire bras after breast implant surgery because the body continues to form scar tissue around the implant for that time.

Once fully recovered, you can feel free to scuba dive and fly in airplanes with some minor considerations since there may be slight expansion and contraction of the shell with changes in pressure. With saline-filled implants, this may result in a minimal amount of air bubbles in the implant, and you may feel or hear fluid sounds (gurgling). This should correct itself within 24 to 48 hours.