Differences between the cohesive gel products according to implant manufacturers 

Before July 2007, only the saline bag type implants were used for the breast augmentation as the cohesive gel implants were not certified prior to that date. (Cohesive gel implant could be used for reconstruction but not for cosmetic reasons)






Cohesive gel implants could be used since, but it was limited to the round types. In Korea, we could only use two brads of Mentor and Natrelle (McGann) both from US.

Mentor acquired by Johnson & Johnson, and McGann acquired by Allergan are two largest sellers of implants globally, but we cannot say that their products are the most ideal ones.
There are 7 to 8 other multinational companies making implants as well. Even I do not know which one is the best. I do not have any data that compares all these implants although countries such as Japan, China, Hong Kong, Mongolia, etc all have these 7 different brands of implants.

Polytech was certified in our country after receiving the CE certification.
Silimed, which is used as much as Mentor and Natrelle in South America including Brazil, got certified by FDA this March and is waiting for certification here in Korea. Therefore, I think that we would be able to meet many variety of breast augmentation products in our country.
Patients in our country have rather standardized body compared to those patients from western countries. Most women have under-band sizes of 70, 75, 80 and want to increase from AA or A cup to B or C cup.



So the mostly used implants in our country are round type 250, 275cc from Mentor and 253cc, 272cc, 290cc from Natrelle.
255cc and 280cc are mostly used in our country when considering unique anatomical type implant from Polytech.

I have stated in the past that although companies print same amount of volume for the implants, the volume of all these implants are all different in reality.

When I compare the three implant brands that are sold in our country, I think that Mentor’s textured implants does not have any stickiness therefore, I do not use it much.
I usually use Polytech’s round type implants of 255cc and 285cc. I will compare the two brands of same sizes.

The standards for all implants a mid-profile.

As for round type,
Natrelle implant has a diameter of 11.6cm and height of 3.6cm. Polytech 266cc implant has a diameter of 11cm and height of 3.8cm. (Mentor 250cc, 11.3 x 3.4)
Natrelle 290cc, 12cm x 3.8cm and Polytech 285cc, 11.5cm x 4cm. (Mentor 275cc, 11.7 x 3.5)
There are the implants that are commonly used by Koreans (mid-profile). As you can see, Natrelle has the longest diameter. Polytech is rather narrow and tall.






Natrelle is on the left side, and Polytech on the right.
Both have similar amount of volume but the shapes are a little different.

Korean women do not have wide chest. Those who have AA~A cup sizes have breast width of 10~11cm.
Natrelle implant might have better quality but the width is rather wide therefore, it is not easy to use 275cc implant on the patient.

Polytech’s round implant is more applicable in such terms for those Korean women who have narrow chest. When the breast augmentation with this implant is complete, the new breasts look really good.
Of course, those of you who have wide chest and shoulders do not need to worry about this.
This difference is also related to how much gel has been tightly put into the silicone implant. Polytech implants are not filled at maximum so it becomes a little fat and roundish. Mentor is not filled up as much.

Then which is better? To fill up to the maximum level or not?

According to Tebbetts (2010), filling up the volume of the implant as much as possible avoids the problems of rippling and folding therefore it is better when filling up the upper part of the breast. The less filled implant does not cause much problem after the surgery, but as the patient gets older, her upper part of the breast might look empty.

This is different for the anatomical implants. Natrelle anatomical implant (not certified yet) and Polytech anatomical implant have near identical diameter and height in the mid-profile category.



Polytech anatomical implant, 280cc, diameter of 12cm and height of 4.1cm.
Natrelle anatomical, 270cc(oval shaped), 11.5 x 4.2. In oppose to the round type, Natrelle implant might look more thicker in this case.

Today, we looked at the three brands of cohesive gel products of mid-profile.
The weather is getting hotter, but if you get the 24 hour recovery system after the breast augmentation, you would not have any problems even with this hot weather.

Thank you for reading.