Silicone Implants
Description of Silicone Implants:
A breast implant is a prosthesis used to enlarge the size of a woman's
breasts (known as breast augmentation, breast enlargement, mammoplasty
enlargement, augmentation mammoplasty or the common slang term boob job) for
cosmetic reasons; to reconstruct the breast (e.g. after a mastectomy; or to
correct genetic deformities), or as an aspect of male-to-female sex reassignment
surgery. Pectoral implants are a related device used in cosmetic and
reconstructive procedures of the male chest wall. According to the American
Society of Plastic Surgeons, breast augmentation is the most commonly performed
cosmetic surgical procedure in the United States. In 2007, 347,254 breast
augmentation procedures were performed in the U.S according to statistics
collected by the American Society of Plastic Surgery.
There are two primary types of breast implants: saline-filled and silicone-gel-filled
implants. Saline implants have a silicone elastomer shell filled with sterile
saline liquid. Silicone gel implants have a silicone shell filled with a viscous
silicone gel. There have been several alternative types of breast implants that
were developed, such as polypropylene string or soy oil, but these are no longer
manufactured.
Specific Silicone Implants Information
Articles, questions and answers.
