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Types of Breast Implants: Explore Your Options

Breast augmentation can improve your self-confidence by enhancing the look of a chest that’s too small or uneven. At Lansdowne Aesthetic Center in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Yaqub Baraki consults with you to make sure getting implants is the right way for you to achieve your aesthetic goals. If you decide to go ahead with surgery, you then have to consider which type of implant is right for you.

Saline implants

Saline implants are silicone shells inflated with sterile salt water (known as saline). Saline implants are generally filled only after the shell is placed into your body.

Saline implants are safe and filled with a natural solution, which may make you feel comfortable with placing this option inside your body. If the implants should rupture or leak, your body easily absorbs the saline without any adverse effects.

Saline implants also have a bit more flexibility in terms of their size. Dr. Baraki can tweak the size of the implants after he places the shell. Yes, you predetermine a size prior to surgery, but he can make micro adjustments to create the best look and balance with your body. You can also decide months or years later to slightly reduce or increase the size of saline implants in a simple in-office procedure using a syringe.

Saline implants also require smaller incisions and may be placed under the breast, around the nipple, or through the armpit or belly button. This means less scarring and usually a quicker recovery.

Some women do find that saline implants look less like natural breasts than silicone options, however. You must be 18 or older to receive silicone implants. This ensures your breast tissue has finished growing.

Silicone implants

Silicone implants are filled with gel made from plastic. They have a feel and look that seems much more like natural breasts as compared to saline. After surgery, your breasts feel soft and similar to real breast tissue.

Silicone implants also tend to be smoother and are less prone to rippling and wrinkling than their saline counterparts.

You do need more invasive incisions to place silicone implants, which means you may have scars on the breasts themselves. Silicone implants tend to cost a little more and do pose a risk if the implant were to rupture. Although saline is absorbed by the body, silicone is not. Although research doesn’t show a direct connection between silicone ruptures and disease, some women are uncomfortable with silicone leaking outside the breast and into distant lymph nodes.

If a saline implant is leaking, you’ll notice it much sooner than you will if a silicone implant is compromised. Women must be 22 years old or older to receive silicone implants.

If you’re considering breast augmentation surgery, trust Yaqub Baraki, MD and the team of experts at Lansdowne Aesthetic Center. Our goal is to help you have a compassionate, safe, and high-quality experience and, of course, to reach your aesthetic goals.

If you’re ready to transform the look of your breasts, set up a free breast augmentation consultation. Call the office, or schedule an appointment online today. 

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