Choosing your implant for water drop breast augmentation 

It is not easy to make a normal person who is not professionally knowledgeable in medical field to understand what a doctor wants to communicate. I get quite surprised that my patients do not understand me.

Today I look like to share something that the patients have most difficulty understanding, making it easier for you to understand. It is about selecting a water drop implant.

Water drop implant is 3 dimensional, so you can select the implant according to 3 stages.


There are those who are quick to ask “are you not going to decide on the volume (cc)?” If you think about the three stated above, you will be able to know the volume instantly.

You will be able to know what a diameter / height / thickness are with the help of the image below.





You only need 2 parameters for the round type implant because the diameter and the height is always the same.

But you need to decide on the diameter, height, and thickness for the water drop type.

First, the diameter refers to the width of the implant. The diameter of the implant should be selected first. It cannot exceed the diameter of the breast. If the diameter of the breast is 10.5cm, the diameter of the implant should be equal or less than 10.5cm. From the 3 parameters of diameter / height / thickness, the diameter should be chosen first.

Second, the height of the implant is related to the type of the implant. The one with short height would be the ‘short type’, mid height would be ‘Normal type’, and the long length would be ‘tall type’. So one would measure the upper body and if it seems long, you would select the tall type, or if it seems small, you would select the short type. The normal type is the most common one. You will be able to understand this more easily with the help of the images below.







Third, we refer to the thickness as ‘profile’. Low profile refer to the one that is really thin, Moderate profile for normal sized one, and the high profile for something that is thick. The volume of the implant depends on the thickness.

So, if you want a large sized implant with increased cup size, you would select the high profile.

If you aren’t too greedy about the up size and want something that is more natural, you can select the moderate profile. Low profile is used if you have asymmetric breasts or sagging ones.

But, there are some who are not satisfied with the new volume although they use the high profile. So there are some manufacturers who make Extra high profile, i.e. very thick implants. Extra high profile cannot be used without much thinking. It is used for those who have thick skin tissue and want large volume.



The sizing of the water drop type implant is selected according to the following order.

1. Measure the diameter of the breast then select on the diameter of the implant

2. Measure the distance from the collarbone to the nipple and the distance between one nipple to another. Decide if the upper body shape is wide or long in height. Then decide on the height of the implant

3. Ask the wanted cup size of the patient and then decide on the implant profile

This is how we select which implant to use.

Let’s try going through the three phases for an example.

Before Breast augmentation Surgery

Let’s analyze this patient.

First, the diameter of the breast is 11cm. We can use any implant with diameter of 11cm or less.

Second, the distance from the collarbone to the nipple is 17cm. if we draw a triangle, we can see a tall isosceles triangle. This means that we can use a round base type or the tall type implant.

Third, the patient does not want to increase the cup size much. The patient did not like to have big breasts originally, but as she gave birth and breast fed her child, her breasts sagged. Therefore she wanted the upper breasts to look bigger. In such case, the moderate profile would be appropriate.

This is it. We can select an implant that is 11cm in diameter, tall type and a moderate profile.

Polytech 260cc implant has a height of 12.2cm and a thickness of 3.7cm.
Natrelle 235cc implant has a height of 11.5cm and a thickness of 4cm.
SiliMed 275cc implant has a height of 12cm and a thickness of 4.2cm.
Servin 285cc implant has a height of 11.cm and a thickness of 4.6cm.

You can select one from any of the four above. But a patient should put each of the implant inside her clothes to see the volume and check on the size.
So it is better to see the actual size in person and then decide on the volume and the size. This patient liked the 260cc after the size test.

The implant has been selected and the result of the breast augmentation is as below.

Before and after Breast augmentation Korea KIES-U

The patient has a rather long chest but this is due to the sagging breast after giving birth. You can see that the upper part of the breasts have been filled up. The patient wanted more of a natural look so she was very satisfied with the result.
In summary, you need to measure the width of the breast and decide on whether to use the oval type or the round type and finally select the thickness profile according to the volume that you want.

In reality, the selection is not as simple because there are many patients with asymmetric breasts, and the tightness of the skin was to be known. There are other variables as well.

Therefore, the experience of the doctor is very important as well.

This is all for today, have a great weekend. Thank you.