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.