Breast Implant: definition

A breast implant is a prosthesis used to alter the size and shape of the breasts of a woman (this surgery is known as breast augmentation mammoplasty, breast augmentation or breast enlargement) for cosmetic reasons, to reconstruct the breastor breast (eg after a mastectomy or to correct congenital deformities of the rib cage), or due to other reasons such as sex reassignment from male to female. Breast implants are a device used in cosmetic and reconstructive procedures related to the male chest wall. A breast tissue expander is a temporary breast implant used in stages for breast reconstruction procedures. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, breast augmentation is the most common cosmetic surgical procedure performed in the United States. According to data compiled by the American Society of Plastic Surgery, in 2007, 307,230 breast augmentation surgeries were performed in the U.S., a decrease of 12 percent compared with the previous year. This decrease is related to the financial problems of a struggling economy. Despite the reduction, breast augmentation surgeries were held as the first cosmetic surgery performed in the U.S.

There are two main types of breast implants: saline implants and silicone implants, implants. Saline implants have a silicone elastomer shell filled with sterile saline liquid. Silicone implants have a silicone shell filled with a viscous silicone gel.
Breast implants are used primarily to:

• Primary reconstruction (to replace breast tissue that was removed due to cancer or trauma or that has failed to develop properly due to a severe breast abnormality such as tuberous breast deformity.)

• Revision reconstruction (revision surgery to correct or improve the result of original breast reconstruction surgery).

• Primary augmentation (to increase breast size for cosmetic reasons).
• Revision-augmentation (revision surgery to correct or improve the result of an original breast augmentation surgery).

By Mily