Women seeking breast enhancement now have several options to choose from to meet their goals safely and effectively. While women can now have their breasts enlarged using their own tissue, augmentation with saline or silicone gel implants is still the most popular option. Each of these options had their pros and cons, fueling the quest for a solution. Now, the answer seems to have arrived with the FDA-approving the IDEAL implant in November 2014.
The IDEAL implant is designed with a unique internal structure that controls the movement of the saline inside and provides a natural feel. Moreover, it eliminates many of the undesirable features of saline and silicone devices.
Innovative Construction
This saline-filled IDEAL implant is meant for use in women 18 years of age and above for primary breast augmentation or revision augmentation. So what makes it different from the original saline and silicone implants? The answer is its internal structure is such that it blends the desirable features of its counterparts. This new implant has an inner shell around the inner chamber, which contains the inner saline filler, and an outer shell around the outer chamber, which holds the outer saline filler. One to three baffle shells nest between these shells.
Good Satisfaction among Patients and Physicians in Clinical Trial
In the clinical trial, 502 women received the Ideal Implant. It was found that the type and occurrence of adverse events in the trial were similar to those in other breast implant trials. The incidence of capsule contracture was low and both patients and surgeon expressed high satisfaction. The results of the trial were as follows:
- 83% of the physicians were “definitely satisfied” with outcome after primary augmentation and 77.9% with revision augmentation results
- Among the patients, 78% were “definitely satisfied” with outcome after primary augmentation and more than 76% with revision augmentation outcomes
- The complication rates in the two year period were 42.2% for primary breast augmentation and 50.5% for revision augmentation
- 17.1% of primary augmentation patients and 24.3% of revision augmentation patients (p.24) suffered grade II/III/IV capsular contracture
- Spontaneous deflation was noted for 5% of primary augmentation and 3% of revision augmentation patients
The operative procedure for the Ideal Implant insertion is similar to that for the original saline implant. The only exceptions are that there are two fill tubes for the two lumens and there is no need for overfilling.
The plastic surgeon who invented the IDEAL implant says, “It offers a natural feel without silicone gel, and the safety of only saline inside for peace of mind. Since silicone gel implants have a high rate of silent rupture, a woman cannot tell if her implants are intact or ruptured without an MRI scan; while, with the Ideal Implant, a woman can simply look in the mirror and be confident that her implants are intact.”