Issues with breast implants don’t happen often but they can and we want all of our Orange County plastic surgery clients to know what to look for, what to expect and to always contact us with any concerns.

Breast implants can show signs of “wear and tear.” You may be aware that some implant manufacturers or plastic surgeons say that you should plan on “changing” your implants every 10 years. This is not a hard and fast rule and many surgeons may just be saying that to protect themselves from lawsuits, you can’t blame them. However, it is rare that an implant absolutely needs to be replaced due to wear and tear.  Most plastic surgeons see less than five ruptures of breast implants per year. And they are almost exclusively in the textured saline wall implants. It’s kind of like getting a flat tire when a saline implant ruptures. Saline is simply salt water so it’s not harmful to the body but it does mean that the breast implant needs to be surgically replaced.

On the other hand, when a silicone breast implant ruptures, one may not even notice. The vast majority of silicone implant ruptures are diagnosed when the client gets an MRI or other evaluation for some other purpose.  The cohesive nature of the silicone allows the implant to stay together despite. Since they really don’t “leak” they actually don’t need to be removed if there is a tear in a silicone implant. Thankfully the Federal Drug Administration has determined that silicone does not pose medical risks or cause diseases.

When it comes to scarring, breast augmentation with saline implants cause much less scarring than the implantation of silicone implants.  This is because silicone implants are inserted into the breast in their full gel form but saline implants are inserted empty and then filled with saline after they are placed into your breast cavity. Therefore a smaller incision can be made for a saline implant compared to a silicone implant of the same size. The saline implant is often rolled up empty to a tight cylinder and inserted into the breast pocket through a very small incision. For women with very small breasts small incisions are especially useful because there likely won’t be enough tissue to underneath the breast fold to effectively cover the entire scar.

So if you in the market for some breast implants and live in the Orange County area, contact our office today. We’ll be happy to sit down and find the right breast implant for you.