Title: Saline replacing silicone gel. (breast implants) Citation: USA Today (Magazine), Oct 1993 v122 n2581 p4(1)
Subjects: Breast implants_Innovations
Reference #: A14236149
Abstract: A new sterile technique for implanting saline implants under the breast muscles reduces the risk of infection and tissue contracture. The method also decreases sagging and tissue hardening.
Full Text COPYRIGHT Society for the Advancement of Education 1993
With silicone gel-filled implants restricted by the Food and Drug Administration, physicians are searching for a device to bridge the gap created by the continued demand for implants and the lack of availability. Although saline implants have taken the back seat in breast implantation, a new procedure advanced by Richard Mladick, Virginia Beach (Va.) General Hospital and The Center for Cosmetic Plastic Surgery, takes care of many of saline's adverse effects and may give hope to women who want fuller, more attractive, as well as natural-looking breasts.
Physicians point out that saline implants tend to rupture more easily and sometimes can "wrinkle" or feel unnatural. Mladick's procedure, combining insertion of saline implants under the breast muscle with a sterile technique that significantly reduces the risk of tissue contracture and infection, resolves those complications.
With below-muscle implantation, the breast look better, especially for women with small frames; incidents of sagging are fewer; tissue hardening around the implant occurs less than over the muscle; and the implant interferes less than other implants in cancer detection by mammography. "When you have the implant below the muscle, you have a little more tissue to support the implant. One big factor with above the muscle is that, in some patients over a period of time, you can begin to see folds under the skin. It almost never occurs under the muscle."
The no-touch sterile technique involves extreme precautions the surgeon takes before and during the procedure, including using powderless gloves, soaking the implants in an antibiotic, and changing gloves several times during the operation. The implant is inserted without any skin or breast contact, and the saline solution that fills the implant, which also contains an antibiotic, is not exposed to outside air. After implantation, the device is covered with an antibiotic foam.