Textured vs. Smooth Breast Implants
Many patients today do their due diligence prior to a breast augmentation consultation. The Internet can be great for providing vast amounts of information regarding all of the aspects surrounding breast implants and breast augmentation. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always clarify the “how” and “why.” Textured vs. smooth breast implants is an example of this.
When any device, such as a breast implant or cardiac defibrillator, is placed into the body, a fibrous capsule is created around it to wall it off from the rest of the body. When breast augmentation began in the 1960’s it was noticed that many implants or more precisely many breast implant capsules became hard often to the point of significant breast distortion.
Why this “capsular contracture” occurred was unclear but what was clear was that it was more common in smooth implants and polyurethane implants vastly resisted it. Unfortunately, polyurethane implants were removed from the market in the early 1990’s due to health concerns.
Because of the health concerns surrounding polyurethane implants other manufacturers worked on different methods to prevent capsular contracture. Most of this centered around texturing the surface of the implant because the polyurethane implant’s surface was highly irregular.
The two companies that make implants today, Mentor and Allergan, each have textured implants. Each company makes their surface by different means and both behave somewhat differently in the body. But the need for textured implants has drastically wained in recent years. This is because studies have found that subpectoral or submuscular placement of an implant equals the capsular contracture rate between smooth and textured implants.
So unless the patient has a history of capsular contracture from previous implants or specific indications in breast reconstruction, textured implants are usually not necessary. To read more about this click here and see the last article.
Please contact our office at 703.752.6608 if you live in Fairfax, Manassas, Gainesville, Reston, Loudoun or anywhere in northern Virginia for a complementary breast augmentation consultation.