Q&A on breast augmentation | Plastic surgery Korea

Should you use anatomical implant or the round implant?
The answer to this differs from a doctor to a doctor and even the hospitals.
There is no 100% correct answer, so the patients think the implants are chosen based on preference.



I have used anatomical implant for the past 5 years, and used round type and saline type from earlier period. I cannot exactly say that anatomical and the round type lead to differently shaped breasts, but I can say that there is a certain situation when the anatomical type must be used.

This has been agreed by many doctors.



1. When the patient wants a natural look (and if she likes anatomical type a lot)

Dr. Bronze took x-rays of anatomical and round type implants placed above the pectoralis muscle and showed them to many doctors. The doctors who saw the photos could not find any differences between the two.

This means that the doctors cannot distinguish the anatomical implant from round implant. This is the same for me as well. I cannot know whether the patient used anatomical or not even though I conducted the procedure
At times I think that it would be better to use anatomical implants on those patients who have small orginal breasts and used round type implants for breast augmentation. The augmented breasts look unnatural.

Anyways, in most of the time, the patient gets to decide on what type of implant she wants to use. If she prefers to use the anatomical type implant, we do not necessary feel that we try to change her mind.

2. Constricted breasts ; 

I have shared on this in the past. Constricted breasts are usually when the area from the nipple to the bottom of the breast is very tightly close together.
In order to put volume onto such breasts, there must be much tension on the bottom part so that the skin in that area can stretch out easily. For this to happen, anatomical implant would be useful.


You can refer to more information on this by clicking on the link below.
http://drleebreast.blogspot.kr/2016/11/breast-augmentation-for-constricted.html

3. Thorax hypoplasty

If there is no proper or clear ratio of the upper body, and if your original breasts are not shaped right, anatomical implants would be recommended.
If you have a Poland syndrome where one side of the thorax looks lower than the other, anatomical implant with larger size can be inserted to the lower side.

4. Breast ptosis or sagging

In case of sagging of the mammary glands, what is the best implant to use when wanting to avoid Mastopexy (lifting)? An implant with stability would be good. An implant that does not collapse and maintain its form would lead to high level of satisfaction. Anatomical is more stable compared to round type, so there are many who prefer the anatomical implant. Also, if we select tall anatomical implant, it would help add more volume on the upper breast as well.



Current trend is that there is no one appropriate implant for all causes. Different implants are used for different situations. Therefore, it is wrong to say that anatomical implant is good for everything. But I have shared cases where anatomical could be more effective in usage.

Thank you for reading and have a great day.

Is it anatomical implant surgery? Or a breast augmentation? 

I have stated in the past that the anatomical implant breast surgery is not a breast augmentation surgery but is a cosmetic surgery.

However, when I talk to my patients, many of them do not know what the difference between the anatomical implant and the round type implant is when used for the breast surgery.

Making your breasts larger is something of old. These days, breast surgery is to make breasts that match well with your beautifully shapes body. My post today is to elaborate on this.
This is not easy to understand. However, if you read the contents slowly and carefully, you will get a hold on it.



In order to understand this, you would need to know why the word ‘cohesive’ is used for the cohesive gel.
At first, Mentor named it cohesive gel, Memory gel.
It meant that the implant remembered or memorized its original shape when manufactured.
The implant needs cohesiveness in order to maintain its original shape. The company made a silicone material with adhesiveness and density.



The reason for developing cohesive and sticky gel is to prevent spillage of internal substance in the body if the implant collapses. The idea behind how much cohesiveness is necessary, is different for each manufacturers.

Anatomical implants have high level of cohesiveness (Highly cohesive silicone gel). In oppose, the round type implant has average level of cohesiveness (Classic cohesive silicone gel).

Many people know that the type of cohesive gel implants can be divided into anatomical and round type.
But before considering whether the implant is anatomical or round, it is important to know the level of cohesiveness.



Silicone gel with high cohesiveness; Tightly closed therefore does not leak and maintain its original shape.

We looked into the following images before, but let’s refer to them again. The images are from a book written by Dr. Hammond.






The above image is one with low cohesiveness, i.e. MRI result of breast augmentation with round type implant.
The picture below is an implant with high level of cohesiveness. It is a MRI of a breast with anatomical implant.

The round type implant does not remember its original shape! The pressure from the surrounding skin and the gravity pulling the implant down make the implant rumple. We call it a round type implant but it does not remain round inside the body.
Therefore, if you use the round type implant with low level of cohesiveness, your breast becomes larger but the shape does not change.

But if you look at the bottom image, you will be able to see that the anatomical implant with very tight inner substance maintains its shape resisting the surrounding environment.
Anatomical implant maintains its shape making your original breast change its shape also. Your augmented breasts become anatomical, i.e. the shape that you want them to be.

This is the core point of the anatomical breast cosmetic surgery.

If your original breasts are beautiful, but you want them just to be larger, then you can use the round type to get the result that you want. You do not need to consider anatomical type. But if your original breasts do not look beautiful and you want to make them look better with larger volume, then you need to use the anatomical type!



You will be able to understand better with the aid of these images. The photo below shows the usage of very big round type implant because the patient was greedy about the size.



375cc implant was used. You may think that there is good enough volume but I am sure that most of the patients do not want their breasts to be like that.


Anatomical implant – Before surgery, 1 week after, 2 months after the surgery (left to right)

When you use the anatomical implant, your breasts shape differently as time passes by. You will be able to overcome the initial problem and have new beautiful looking breasts. Of course, you will have larger volume as well.

Today’s keyword was ‘Cohesiveness’. Anatomical implant with high level of cohesiveness make the breasts look more natural with larger volume. Round type implant with low level of cohesiveness just makes your original breasts larger.

Therefore, there is not much difference in the result using the round type implant. The implant itself is very simple and you just need to choose the size that you want.
But anatomical implant results differently according to who you are. The implant that you choose determines the final outcome therefore the selection process becomes really important. There are so many more types of anatomical implant than the round type implants.

One needs to judge which manufacturer’s implant and the type fits best with the particular patient in order to get the best result from the breast cosmetic surgery. The role of the doctor / surgeon becomes that much more important.

This is all for today. Thanks a lot.

Choosing the right size anatomical implant for breast augmentation

This is another frequently asked question. Today, I would like to post an answer on “How to choose the appropriate size of implant when getting a breast augmentation?”











I think that you would be able to catch the point after seeing the image above.
You might also wonder how a large sized anatomical implant is put into a body of a patient who is very thin.

What happens when an implant that is larger in width compared to the breast diameter is used? If you have a narrow thorax, you might be able to feel the implant from the outside. If you are one with funnel chest, the implants on both sides might come and stick together in the middle. This is a high possibility for skinny and thin patients.

If you have more flesh, your skin would be thick, therefore you might not feel the implant although it is larger than the diameter size of your breast. However, in such case, the implant inside your breast might be folded or squashed.

Implant being squashed means that the outer layers are folded. This would lead to implant collapse.

This is why I mentioned an example of parking spot earlier. A car is limited in terms of width, but not in height or length.






The image below shows a very thin woman with 320cc cohesive gel anatomical implant.
Being skinny is one problem, but having a tight skin is another factor that makes it difficult to use large sized implant. A round type implant at about 320cc would need a diameter that is longer than 12.5cm. But an anatomical implant that is long and thick, for example, Optimom from Polytech, a company in Germany, has 320cc in diameter of 11cm.






The patient is very thin, therefore, the breast does not look big although a 320cc implant has been used. This is breast augmentation. For some patients, 200cc might be large enough. For others, 400cc might be small.

But in order for an implant to be put into the pocket size, it is more advantageous to use an anatomical implant that is designed 3 dimensionally and has more variety of choices. It is also better in using a large volume implant.

Today, we looked at the factors in deciding the anatomical implant size for breast augmentation. Have a nice weekend.

Thank you very much.