Criteria for selecting anatomical vs. round type implant

Many of the patients ask this question so I have shared various postings on it and provided much explanation but there is still some confusion.

Breast augmentation Korea KIES-U Plastic surgery clinic

So I have prepared an algorithm today for your understanding.

I have tried to make it crystal clear, but I am not sure if it is effective enough.


I have used terms such as loose and tight skin for easy understanding but this actually refers to the breast envelope. This involves all the parts that include the fat under the skin layer, epidermis, muscle, etc.

Young women have tight skin, and older women have loose skin.

Also, thin person with small original breasts also have tight skin. A person with larger size breasts has loose skin.

Another case is that if the patient gives birth, the skin becomes loose as well.

So this is the first thing that we need to consider. Choosing anatomical or round type is not like choosing a typical product when shopping. We need to consider the status of the original breasts, and the body of the patient.

If you are young and have tight breasts but apply large sized implants, your skin would put much pressure on the implant causing the shape to deform.

In such case, I would recommend anatomical type implant. If the implant can be seen from the outside, it is better to use the anatomical because it is more natural looking.

But things become different if the patient wants small volume. Although the skin may be tight, the implant volume itself is not large therefore there is not much tension inside the pocket. The implant is half-liquid because it is consisted of gel therefore it gets shaped down once inserted and so the upper part of the implant looks little empty.

This makes the new breasts look natural.



So even though you have tight skin but prefer more natural looking breasts and you are not that interested in large volume, round type implant may be the best choice.

Then how about those with loose skin, or aged patients, and those who gave birth and have sagging breasts?

The goal of breast augmentation for such patients may be enlargement, but there is also another goal of removing the wrinkles, making the skin more elastic and filling up the upper breasts to make them look better.

If small volume implants are used in such cases, there would not be much effect in filling up the upper volume or making the skin elastic. If the volume is too large, then the sagging effect could result quicker therefore one must choose an appropriate sized implant.

Also, such implants need to be stabled and maintain its shape although the skin may not be elastic.

Although the original breast shape becomes out of shape, the implants should able to support and maintain the new shape formed in order to lead to positive result in the long term. This is what we call shape stable implant.


The most representative shape stable implant was firm implant such as Style 410 in the past, but now there are too many products with many spectrums that have differences in level of stability.

Most of the anatomical implants introduced in our country are stable in shape but most of the round type implants at our country are not.

So the type, whether it is the anatomical type or the round type, is not important, but the stability is.



Lastly, there are patients who have appropriate size, shape, volume, feel, ratio, etc in the original breasts. Such patients can use all types / volume implants. Both round type and anatomical can make the breasts look beautiful....

The implants were initially used to enlarge your breasts therefore the original breasts are important. If your original breasts look great then the implants would not have much influence in making them look better.

So if there aren’t any complications after the breast augmentation, the patient would be greatly satisfied.

Today, I shared a diagram that could be simple for you to understand the differences of the implants that I have shared much in the past.

There are too many implants imported today and it is difficult to decide between the round type and the anatomical type. The answer can be found above.
Thank you for reading.