Breast implant patients commonly ask the question if they should switch their old saline breast implants to the newer silicone implants. My general answer to that is simply–It depends. If you are perfectly happy with your saline breast implants why change? However if you have rippling, or do not like the look or feel why not?

Time for breast implants at the beach !

The saline implants I feel are less quality which of course is reflected in the price. That is not to say they are bad , its just that they do tend to have rippling where you can see the edge of the implant more so than the newer silicone implants. Also they tend to feel more natural in thinner woman. Yet the disadvantage of the silicone breast implants is that they require a larger incision to place.

Overall I like the silicone the best, but like I said if your happy with the salines you have then  why risk another surgery?

Dr. Michael Pasquale , a Board Certified Hawaii Plastic Surgeon has put together a great spring special deal for his clients this year. Aloha Plastic Surgery have thought of what combination of procedures that often are done together brain storm session and will offer an add on procedure for free. Free one area of liposuction for those undergoing breast augmentation for a limited time. This combination has proven to be popular and for Dr. Pasquale does not add a lot of time to the operating room as Dr. Pasquale performs most of his breast augmentations with relatively good speed compared to many, so the additional liposuction that some people need is not that much more surgical time This is great for many who need to get the extra muffin top off while they get breast implants. So liposuction free with breast implants whoopee.

Breast Augmentation Liposuction

Of course Dr. Pasquale takes the time he needs to “do it right” but his experience over 20 years the guy has the technique down ! As a successful plastic surgeon with the economy down Dr. Pasquale wants to give something back to his clients some of who may not have the extra money for that added procedure. Well you can read more about Breast Augmentation and Liposuction Special deal at his web site. So take a look.

Silicone verses saline breast implants

I think the major change in breast implants in Hawaii by our patients is that by far they are switching to silicone implants. It has now passed over the 60 % mark in our practice. There appears to be one main reason for this change. They feel nicer than the saline breast implants. The saline ones are by no means look bad or are bad,  but it just seems the silicone breast implants are liked more by our patients.

Saline breast implants we have been performing for years and these patients are happy as well. Occasional we in Hawaii clinic will recommend that some one should stick with saline, especially in thin skinned woman. The reason is the tissue cannot hide the unatural feel of the saline breast implants

The advantage is feel and less problem with deflation I believe. The disadvantages is the incision to place them is larger. Yet Dr. Pasquale many times can place them in the arm pit where one will notice them.

The cost is the other disadvantage as they cost more.

So only you can decide about the saline or silicone choice in breast implants for the most part.

We will  try to guide you.

Nikki

Rippling can be a problem for thin woman

Dr. Pasquale who does a lot of revision work including such things as double bubble deformity and synmastia(  uni boob  )showed me a new product today. This is a tissue matrix which can line the inside of the breast pocket. What it does is give some thickness to the tissues to cover the implant so you do haev “rippling” or other problems due to thin skin covering the breast implant. We have all see this in very thin woman. In fact I have personally observed rippling develop in someone who previously did not have that in their breast implants when they lost weight.

Dr. Pasquale has used this material before with good success, though the one he showed me today is more thicker than the older style by a new manufacturer. The material apparently will stimulate in growth of the surrounding tissues and integrates into that.

Well I just thought I would mention this as it seems to be improvement. You can check more on this in our office if you have bad rippling of your breast. There may be other ways to correct the problem as well such as changing the style of the implant.

Well that’s all I have for now.

Nikki

Well many times someone comes to our office and ask us why we do not have LASER LIPOSUCTION?  Well i tell them that Dr. Pasquale does not feel he needs to use laser liposuction as the results are the same and he does not want to use hype to “sell surgery”.   I guess I wondered myself  if there was some secret advantage to the LASER. Now I have eye witnessed as someone in our office had the LASER LIPOSUCTION and had already a few years ago had the traditional liposuction. I will not mentioned names here but I saw the person after ward.

Well I can debunk some of the things I heard on the internet.

1. NO BRUISING WITH LASER LIPOSUCTION is commonly said.

Well here is a picture of the person who had laser three days later. As you can see bruising is there clearly.

Laser Liposuction Does it Bruise?

2. Painless and can go back to work the next day. Well this person went back to work the next day after traditional and after LASER LIPOSUCTION so what is the difference again?

Swelling was the same the person said so i do not see an advantage there at all. So why should anyone pay more for LASER LIPOSUCTION??

Well Dr. Pasquale always says Plastic Surgery Companies come out every few years with something new just to market and now I believe it more .

Thats it for now

Nikki

One complication I have seen is the so called ‘Double Bubble ” deformity after breast augmentation. I have seen this a few times in patients who have come to our clinic. What is seen is at the bottom of the breast there is like a double breast with a fold then another fold. According to Dr. Pasquale , my boss when the surgeon releases too far or the patient has an exceptionally tight fold under their breast this can result.

The repair can be very difficult but Dr. Pasquale has done a good job on the ones I have seen. Take a look at the example below.

double bubble deformity

Although this blog is primarily about breast implants, we also have some interesting military patients who are men. Many times these guy have a condition of  known as Gynecomastia  this means they have breast tissue growth . Some guys I know refer to this as “Bitc… Tits” but that is the slang. It looks rather odd in a t-shirt and these macho men willl be embarrassed. It can occur in a younger age as well like 16. Known causes are such things as smoking pot. steroid use and it may most of the time simply be genetic or unknown reasons.

Dr. Pasquale uses both a combination of liposuction and surgical removal depending on the individual patient for gynecomastia in military men.

The recovery is quick and the fellows really appreciate this. They do however have to wear compression for month or so. This keeps down the swelling after gynecomastia liposuction or removing the breast tissue in men.

The issue of injecting fat in the breast has come up on occasion. This is not a well accepted procedure by most American Plastic Surgeons such as Dr. Pasquale. Although he will perform fat transfer to other parts of the body the breast is thought not be a good choice. The reason for this is that the injection of fat into this tissue may turn to small calcium granules. These calcium deposits on the mammogram appear as a pattern similar to cancer. So when the radiologist looks at the mammogram he cannot tell the difference between the cancer and the fat injected.

fat injected into breast can look like cancer

This is cosmetic not required surgery so Dr. Pasquale believes it is foolish to risk confusion with cancer. So that is the thinking at present and could change as more evidence from solid research into fat injection to increase the size of the breast. Breast implants ok, fat injection into breast not ok.

There are few if any surgeons in the United States who will perform this procedure.

I think there is  a good reason for this so I personally would not do this at this time. Yet I will be open when more research is known.

Nikki

Breast implant rippling

One of the worst things I see in breast implants which do not look nice is rippling. Rippling is when you can see the wrinkles in the breast implants through the skin. This will happen in very thin skinned ladies. It is really bad looking when you can see it on top of the breast. Its most common in the lower part. All implants will have wrinkles but only in very thing or no tissue between the implant and skin thus you can see the wrinkle.

One way to help according to Dr. Pasquale is to use high profile implants to fix the breast rippling it helps. Another way would is to place a tissue substitute where the rippling is very bad and this serves as extra tissue. Sometimes I have seen Dr. Pasquale take implants that were placed above the muscle and then place them under the muscle which helps as well.

Fortunately I do not see very many of these problems in our practice but mainly when they come from elsewhere and I see them fixed.  We have a web site about fixing your breast problems as well!

Nikki

Antaomical Breast Implants

An anatomical shaped implant has less upper pole fullness. This means that it would appear to be more natural shape than the round smooth variety. In theory this seems logical , however there is much debate. Dr. Pasquale who I work for does not care for the anatomical much. The reason is that they are textured which he really does not like except in special cases because the textured implants he believes it causes too much rippling.  The nature of the textured implant is they were designed to allow in growth of the tissue which stabilizes the implant in the pocket. That is required with anatomical implants as if they turn upside down the shape would be opposite of what it should be. So they are textured. The textured implants as stated the tissue grows into the texturing. So when the implant folds inward it pulls the tissue with it.

Round Breast Implant Saline

This is what is thought to cause ripples to be visible, I have seen some very bad cases of this. I have seen rippling with smooth round, but not as bad as with the textured. Well the issue of Anatomical Breast Implants and Smooth Round Breast Implants is debatable for sure and surgeons disagree.

Much of this will really depend on your body type. skin thickness and shape of your breast so its always advisable to get an expert plastic surgeon who can give you some guidelines.

The best advice is to come in for a consult and we can evaluate you and help you decide what is the best for your individual body type.

Nikki