It's good to have options. That's true with nearly everything in life, and it's particularly true when it comes to breast implants. Women are all created differently, and those differences include these things;
- Breast fullness: a lot, a little, or somewhere in the middle,
- Breast shape: perky or droopy or sort of droopy
- Skin quality: loose, tight or somewhere in-between,
- Chest wall: ribcage shape and breast position on the chest wall
You probably already know there are two main categories of implants: saline and silicone gel. Let's talk more about the silicone gel implants we have today.
An advantage of silicone gel implants (or "gel" implants) is that they tend to have less wrinkling and rippling than saline implants. But that doesn't mean you'll never have wrinkling or rippling with gel implants. If you have very thin breast tissue coverage over the implant, you could still have some wrinkling and rippling.
Another advantage of gel implants over saline is that the gel implants tend to give more fullness in the upper pole of the breast. But this isn't always true, and some people want more fullnes than others. Many women want a "natural" slope to their breast, while some women want a very full, round upper breast pole.
So, as a plastic surgeon, I have this challenge: women with all types of breasts who have different breast-shape goals. Clearly, it will take a number of implant options to meet this challenge. And that's where all these options come into play.
COHESIVITY AND BREAST SHAPE:
Allergan Natrelle implants come in three different cohesivities, or densities. Cohesivity is what determines how well an implant keeps its overall shape. An implant with a more highly cohesive gel will hold its shape more than an implant with a less cohesive gel.
Here's what different levels of cohesivity look like:
You can see how much more "structure" a highly cohesive implant has when compared with an implant with lower cohesivity. More cohesivity means more "structure", more "density", and more consistent shape. A more consistent shape means the implant should give more breast projection and more upper pole fullness.
The Cohesivity Level 3 implant shown here (Natrelle Inspira Cohesive) is also called a "gummy bear" implant by some people.
Here's what the different Natrelle implants look like in my office.
The Inspira Responsive Gel has less fullness (and less cohesivity) than the Inspira Soft Touch implant. The most full-appearing implant (and most cohesive) is the Inspira Cohesive implant.
With all these beautiful implant options, we can choose the one that suits you and your goals.
All of the Inspira gel breast implants are designed to give good upper pole fullness. How much fullness you want will help us choose which exact implant would work best for you.
It's good to have options, and it's even better to have all GOOD options!
--Dr. Kavali
