Now more than ever, women have more options to choose from when it comes to breast augmentation.  These choices can be somewhat overwhelming.  There are a variety of styles, shapes and materials from three different manufacturers on the market today.  Ultimately, however, the first and often most difficult choice is between silicone and saline implants.  To help you with this choice, I have listed below the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Saline Implants

There are four big advantages to saline implants:

1. Cost – They tend to be in the neighborhood of $800 cheaper than the silicone.
2. Safety – In the event off an implant rupture, these implants are filled with nothing more than salt water.  As a result, the body absorbs the fluid and just pees it out.
3. Smaller Incision – Because the saline implants are deflated when they are placed they can be placed through a smaller incision.
4. Correction of Size Discrepancy – Saline implants can be filled to a variety of sizes in the operating room, making correction of small size discrepancies between the breasts a bit easier.

There drawbacks to saline are as follows:

• Feel – Saline implants are plain and simply not as soft as silicone implants.
• Potential for Rippling – Saline implants have a slightly increased tendency to ripple or have palpable edges after implantation.  Truthfully, both implants may do this, but saline implants have a slightly higher tendency towards doing this.

Silicone Implants

There are 3 big advantages to silicone.

1. Feel – Silicone implants tend to be softer and give the patient a much more natural feel to the breasts after an augmentation than do saline implants.  For women who have very little breast tissue to start with, this is especially important as the feel after the surgery will be essentially that feel of the implant.  If the feel of your breasts after the surgery is of utmost importance, hands down silicone is the way to go.
2. Safety – Many of us remember the silicone breast implant scare of the 1980s.  Because of it, silicone breast implants are perhaps the most studied medical device on the planet to date.  After almost two decades of national database research, the FDA, the National academy of Sciences, and the Institutes of Medicine have found no relationship between silicone implants and any systemic health risk.  As a result, I confidently offer silicone implants to my patients without worry about health risks.
3. Durability – I currently use cohesive gel silicone implants.  These implants are very different from those used in the 80s.  The silicone molecules themselves are cross linked, allowing the implant to literally be cut in half while still holding it’s shape and not allowing for spread of silicone into the body.

The primary drawback to silicone implants is price. Cohesive gel silicone implants tend to run approximately $800 more than saline implants.

Ultimately, after explaining to patients all of the above risks and benefits, I allow them to hold both implants in their hands and squeeze them.  Typically, once you do this, the choice will be clear to you.  Best of luck in making the decision ladies!