Finally, it’s official Despite being used since the mid-90s and having approval for use in Europe, gummy bear implants have finally been approved by the FDA for use in the United States. Gummy bear implants are pre-formed breast implants that have specially cross-linked silicone to help them hold their shape and resist deformation and rupture. In other words, the silicone is more of a thick gel rather than a liquid. The two principal makers of gummy bear implants, Allergan and Mentor, received approval for use in breast augmentation and reconstruction in adults. Patient satisfaction with gummy bear implants is remarkably high and the complication rate is even a bit better than with other breast implants—specifically the capsular contracture rate is lower. Not everything about this breast technology is better, however. One issue with gummy bear implants is that they feel more solid than traditional silicone implants and certainly more so than saline. They are also more expensive. The biggest drawback to gummy bear implants, though, is that they cannot be inserted through small incisions, which means the surgical scar will be longer after gummy bear implants than with saline inflatable breast implants. But where are your scars? Aside from trying to create the most natural looking and feeling breast implant, plastic surgeons are always trying to find ways to minimize or hide surgical scars. Traditionally this has been done by inserting an implant through the areola. Newer breast surgery techniques, however, may hide the scars almost completely. In transumbilical breast augmentation, or TUBA, the breast implant is inserted through the navel (belly button). The surgical scar is hidden in...
Wearing a brassiere is very important for a woman. It holds up the breasts so that they are supported, leaving the woman free to move about with ease. Though this may be true, most women, at some point, find wearing bras bothersome. Face it, wearing an elastic strap around the chest all day does not really spell comfort at all. Bras can feel too tight and too constricting so that there is a tendency to feel like the woman is having a hard time breathing. They can make a person feel irritated as they sometimes feel too hot to wear as the day goes on. Aside from this, picking a wrong bra can spell wardrobe malfunction. Many women end up choosing a bra that does not fit the contour of their breasts perfectly, so they end up with their bust line looking too big or too flat. There are a lot more issues that women face when it comes to wearing their brassieres. But one thing is certain—a woman just cannot do without her bra. She needs her bra in order to support her bust line. The bra also hones the shape of the breasts so that they look firm. Ultimately, women wear bras in order to delay what is inherent with age; drooping and sagging. Cosmetic surgeons have developed the breast lift as a solution to this problem. But still, breast lifts will not keep one’s breasts supported. Furthermore, with or without breast lift, the patient’s breasts will eventually sag. So, cosmetic doctors have come up with a new technology called the breform. The breform is simply an...
Breast deformity is a common side effect of losing too much weight, pregnancy or aging. Almost every women complain of dissatisfaction with her breasts’ size or position. Fortunately, there are different cosmetic surgery procedures that can help remedy this situation. However, they come with different threats and side effects that could lead the way to more complex medical problems. Breast augmentation that uses implants and gels used to be the most effective way to improve the breasts’ appearance. Thousands of breast augmentation surgeries are performed in the United States every year. However, there are some reports that have exposed different dangers that silicone gel and other implants could cause. Patients who have undergone implant surgeries consistently face risks of rupturing, hematoma, and capsular contracture. Over the years, doctors have managed to develop a breast augmentation technique that does not use synthetic fillers to give the breasts a better lift and shape. Spiral flap breast surgery completely removes unnecessary risks that patients bear when they go through other implant-assisted augmentation treatments. Spiral Flap Breast Lift Technique The spiral flap breast surgery is developed by Dr. Dennis Hurwitz, a clinical professor of who teaches under the University of Pittsburg’s plastic surgery program. He has developed a way to help women who have lost great amount of weight to get a more favorable image of their body. In a nutshell, a spiral flap procedure is breast augmentation without implants. Instead of using synthetic silicone implants, fat and skin grafted from another part of the body is shaped and used as an alternative filler. Using your own skin instead of an unnatural material...
A lot of women are now open to getting breast augmentation. They have recognized the benefits that comes with such a procedure. It makes the body look more proportioned and more appealing as it adds to a woman’s curves. However, breast augmentation procedures are usually achieved by inserting synthetic breast implants into the patient’s chest. This detail may not cross over well with some people as the use of breast implants to enhance the body is not natural. In addition, there has been a considerable amount of controversy regarding the use of breast implants circulating these past years. Implant rupture and leakage may pose risks to the patient’s health. In view of this, cosmetic surgeons have come up with an alternative procedure that involves the use of microlipo injections. Transferring fat This breast augmentation procedure actually recycles the excess fat extracted from the patient’s body via liposuction. Excess fat tends to accumulate in the following areas; the abdominal area, the thighs, and the buttocks. Fat from these areas are extracted in liposuction, and can be re-injected into the patient’s body as breast tissue. Transferring fat from one body part to augment another is not a new idea. Augmentation of other parts of the body like the biceps, triceps, the buttocks, and the lips, can be done using this same method. Fat transfer breast augmentation can be more preferable than other methods of increasing breast size because it makes use of the patient’s own body tissue. Using the patient’s own body tissue is definitely safer and more organic than using saline or silicone-gel implants. During the operation, antiseptic is applied...
Saline and silicone fillers are still the most widely-used implants for breast augmentation. Women who are not satisfied with the size or the shape of their breasts may undergo different cosmetic procedures to improve that appearance of their chest area. Different advances in technology have provided ways to create almost invisible incisions for these procedures. Techniques include using smaller incisions than the usual or placing them in strategic places like below the breasts or at the edge of the areolas. Breast augmentation is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic surgery procedures in the country. There are usually four incisions used for breast surgery procedures. The placement and the size of these incisions depend on the effect that the patients want to achieve. Being one of the most aesthetically conscious countries, patients have been asking for a type of procedure that causes minimal, almost invisible, scarring. For this reason, doctors have started to dabble with different surgical techniques and have found a way to achieve the effects of a normal breast augmentation surgery minus the unsightly scars that usually come with them. A trans umbilical breast augmentation procedure uses a c-shaped incision inside your navel to position the breast implants inside your body. Instead of making cuts below the breasts or around the areola, the empty saline implant is guided from your belly button to your chest using an endoscope. When it has reached its designated place, it is filled with sterile saline, depending on the size and shape that you desire. The TUBA procedure uses a scarless breast augmentation technique that hides the possibly visible scar inside your...
A woman’s breasts have become a symbol for her sexuality, and it is considered by most as the part of the body that needs to be kept in the best shape. Women enhance their physical beauty to fulfill their need to radiate their youthfulness and womanhood. Willing to go as far as cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance, one of the female testimonies to artificial beauty is breast augmentation. There are a variety of ways to augment one’s breast. Saline and silicone implants have been the most popular methods. Recently, however, a new silicone method made its debut after getting FDA Approval in 2006. Commonly called gummy bear breast implants, the cohesive gel breast implants have by far, been the biggest buzz in breast augmentation. Gummy Bear Feel vs. its Predecessors Gummy bear breast implants are implants that come in the form of implant products that use a firmer and solidified silicone gel as its base. The reason why it has been given the gummy bear pseudonym is because of how it reacts when you cut it. When you slice into it,, you will feel a sensation not unlike how gummy bear candies feel like: a soft solid that does not spill when its outer shell is ruptured. Before the gummy bear breast implants were introduced, the most popular methods were the saline and the silicon implants. Saline implants are silicone rubber shells filled with saline solution, and formed to the desired shape of the patient. Silicone implants, on the other hand, are implants pre-filled with a fat-like silicone substance. It is fluid and sticky. For a long time,...
Overview The breasts are a major part of feminine life, because of both aesthetic and practical reasons. Unfortunately, there will be circumstances that will negatively impact the breasts, which will require women to then have surgery. Breast cancer, physical trauma, diseases, and congenital problems are just some of the examples why breast altering surgery is required. In these cases, the look of the breasts can be improved afterward through breast reconstructive surgery, which has both physical and psychological benefits to the patient. But one key element to completing this process is nipple reconstruction, which is critical in restoring the look of the breasts. What is nipple reconstruction? Nipple reconstruction is the process which restores damaged, altered, underdeveloped, or absent nipples, to provide a more natural look to the breasts. There are many ways that this can be achieved, giving patients more options depending on their preferences. First, the graft technique, which uses skin from a part of the body far from the breasts. Skin is harvested from either the earlobe, labia, or remaining nipple for nipple reconstruction, and inner thigh or buttock crease for areola reconstruction. The skin is then attached to the site of the nipple and areola. The flap approach uses a flap of skin which is harvested right beside the site of the reconstructed nipple. This has the added benefit of keeping blood circulation and minimizing the scarring by confining it to the area of the nipple. Micropigmentation, also known as tattooing, can then be employed to further enhance the reconstruction process, by providing the proper color and shading to the areola area. Surgeons will mix...
Overview Properly sized and proportioned breasts can definitely enhance a woman’s appearance, especially when wearing a nice dress, a sexy bikini, or sensual lingerie. But what most people don’t realize is that, no matter how perfectly formed breasts are, the look can easily be thrown off by disproportionate nipples. Having too small nipples can give an unnatural look to the breasts, but more importantly, can actually affect a person’s well-being. The nipples are the focal point of the bosom’s sexual stimuli, and having small, or inverted nipples, can greatly hinder this, which in turn, affects the person’s mind and body negatively. This is where nipple augmentation comes in. What is Nipple Augmentation? Nipple augmentation surgery is an often minimally invasive procedure that helps improve, or correct, the size of the patient’s nipples, to make them more proportional to the areola and the rest of the bosom. The surgery has both practical and aesthetic purposes, and is quickly gaining popularity in the cosmetic plastic surgery market as an enhancement to breast augmentation surgery. This procedure is highly recommended to people who feel very conscious about the appearance of their nipples, and for those who have inverted nipples, as it has both physical and psychological benefits that can greatly enhance the person’s overall well-being. Nipple Augmentation Procedure There are many ways to perform nipple augmentation, depending on the severity of the situation or the preferences of the patient. It usually requires very little surgery, and has a very short recovery time, allowing for patients to quickly return to their normal lives afterwards. One method implants the patient’s own fat and tissue...
If you are considering getting breast implants, you will need to choose the type, texture, shape and location of your implant. Because silicone breast implants got a bad reputation in decades past and were removed from the market for a period of time, saline implants were the only choice. Several years ago, silicone implants were reintroduced to the public after having been redesigned and studied extensively to be proven safe by the FDA. Saline breast implants are still more popular, and though silicone gel implants may offer some advantages over saline there may also be risk involved. Pain and Implant Removal In 2008 more than 300,000 women underwent breast augmentation surgery with breast implants. The majority of those chose saline implants based on the belief that silicone was more dangerous and caused more complications. Among breast reconstruction patients, 8% of those who received saline had them removed compared with 25% of silicone patients. In comparison, only 6% of silicone breast patients reported significant pain versus 16% of saline implant patients. Consequently it is clear that some controversy still exists. Leakage and Rupture Liquid silicone is known to cause lung problems and may contribute to the development of memory problems and autoimmune disease caused by heightened immune activity after exposure. Researchers cannot deny the possibility of silicone leakage and migration to the lungs. Danish researchers suggest that silicone implants will last an average of 10 years while saline may last only 7. The possibility of rupture of a silicone breast implant is threatening enough to prevent many women and plastic surgeons from considering their use but saline implants have been...
Gynecomastia is the medical term for the development of mammary tissue in males causing male breast enlargement. The absolute cause of gynecomastia is unknown but it is thought to be related to sex hormone imbalances. It is most often seen in adolescent boys, obese men and in the elderly. It is often a source of extreme embarrassment, particularly during adolescence. Unfortunately, in most cases once breast tissue is developed it will not go away on its own and surgery will be required to remove the tissue. Male breast reduction surgery is performed over 20 thousand times each year and can dramatically improve appearance and enhance self esteem for those who need this type of male plastic surgery. About Male Breast Surgery There are two basic types of male breast reduction surgery. In true cases of gynecomastia, mammary tissue along with lipose tissue (fat cells) has grown causing male breasts. This will need to be corrected by the removal of the mammary tissue, fat tissue and extra skin that has grown to accommodate the growing male breasts. Some boys or men have a condition known as pseudogynecomastia where mammary tissue has not developed but the appearance of “man boobs” is due to extra fat that has began to grow in the male breast area. Cases of pseudogynecomastia will often only require liposuction of the developed breast fat. This can often be done under local anesthesia with the insertion of a cannula or tube to suck out the fat with liposuction. If there is not too much male breast lipose tissue, no further incisions will be needed. The recovery time from...
