Kelly: I've been considering breast augmentation and I want to know what is the difference between saline and silicone implants?

Dr. Michael Salzhauer: Okay, that's a great question. Breast augmentation is one of the most common operations that plastic surgeons do, second only to liposuction and the numbers of procedures. Recently you might have read in the paper or seen on the news, silicone implants are back on the market. Now, there was a big scare back in the 90s and questions raised about whether or not silicone implants were safe. Now the difference between silicone and saline, they're both two different kinds of implants. The difference is how they're filled or what the material inside the implant is. Now, if you think of an implant as sort of a balloon or a bag, the shell on the outside is made of a material, a plastic-like material that's called silicone. Now, that's true for silicone and saline-filled implants. The bag on the outside or the balloon is made of the same material and it's shaped the same. In the saline implants, the inside of the balloon is filled with saline water. Saline is what you would get if you got sick and had to go to the hospital. Into your veins they would infuse saline. So it's perfectly safe. It's the natural constituents of what your blood is made out of. So if a saline implant deflates or the material that's filled with leaks, we know 100% there's no danger whatsoever. However, of course, since it is a water, you know. It's filled with water. If it deflates, your breast will deflate. Now silicone implants, on the other hand, are filled with a Gummi Bear-type silicone material. They feel much more natural, feels like a real breast, and when people come into the office I have silicone and saline implants out of various sizes that you can touch and feel and decide for yourself which you prefer. Now, the silicone implants are more expensive by at least $1,000 and that cost goes directly to the manufacturer. They just have an increased cost in making them and getting them approved by the FDA. They look the same. Once they're in your body, the saline and the silicone implants look exactly the same. The only difference is in the feel. Now, when a woman comes in, I explain to her all the risks and benefits of each one and let her make her own decision. For some people, safety is a paramount concern. They don't like the idea of having this gooey, Gummi Bear-type material in their body. They prefer to have the saline implants. They're less expensive, etc. There's a myriad of reasons why someone might choose saline over silicone and, in fact, most women in the United States have saline-filled implants because the FDA did not allow us to use surgeons to implant them for the last 10 years. About 4-5 months ago, the FDA gave clearance for silicone to be used again, and so that's becoming increasingly popular and will become more increasingly popular over the next couple of years. Now in Europe and South America, where there was no ban on silicone implants, silicone implants are by far the more common method of breast augmentation. I anticipate that over the next 5-10 years, silicone implants will be the most popular method of breast augmentation in the United States.

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