Filling saline implants without changing them?

I recently had Saline Breast Implants, and I now wish I would have gone bigger than what I did. Can you fill saline implants without changing them?

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24 answers to “Filling saline implants without...”

A: Saline Implants

John Philip Connors III, MD

No...once saline implants are filled, the valves closed and the procedure completed, there is no way to "add" saline after the fact. Also, if you plan on reoperating, make sure you discuss the prosthesis warranty and its compromise if the implant is removed to be filled with your surgeon. They... more

A: Filling saline implants more requires another operation

John Diaz, MD

Once the saline implants are in, and you have healed from surgery, there is no way to fill them unless you have another surgery. There is a kind of saline implant which does allow the surgeon to fill it more after surgery. However, these implants have a port which sits on the side of the chest under the skin.... more

A: Saline implant adjustment without replacement is possible

David J. Levens, MD

If you happen to have postoperatively adjustable implants, there would be a valve just beneath the skin that could be accessed by your surgeon in the office to add or remove saline simply with a needle. Likely your implants are not the adjustable type, but the fill volume can still be adjusted. However,... more

A: Filling saline implants after surgery most likely requires another operation

Bahram Ghaderi, MD

Unless you have adjustable implants with the attached ports it would require another operation for you to increase the size of your implants. Even with another surgery your current implant can only be filled to a certain amount which you will likely not notice after it is done. Your two options are either to... more

A: Consider how much larger you would like to be

David A. Robinson, MD

Saline implantscan be filled with additional saline however, the size may not change very much.  There are different sizes of implants that are only meant to be filled with a recommended range of saline.  If you fill the implants beyond the recommended range, this can potentially alter the shape of... more

A: Results may be so mild that you might want to consider a removal or replacement

Stephen A. Goldstein, MD

Yes, your surgeon may overfill your saline implants to make you slightly larger..but you may not notice much of a difference in size.  Also, I want to reiterate that you will need to undergo another surgery in order to fill your implants further--and that overfilling saline implants will make them feel... more

A: You can add saline to your breast implants, but results will be mild

Brian S. Glatt, MD

As most others have said, it is possible to increase the volume of your saline implants "in situ," without removing them, but certain conditions need to exist.  You needed to have a periareolar incision for original placement in order to easily access the port without removing the implant in... more

A: Live with the size of your breast implants, or replace with larger implants

George J. Beraka, MD

To CountryGirl87, Hi! First, putting more saline into the implants is another operation. I think that you think this can be done with a needle through the skin.  It cannot. The manufacturer does not recommend this approach. With this approach, at best you can become only a little bit bigger. So, my... more

A: Yes, but not the best option.

Sanjay Grover, MD

Yes, you can add more saline to your current implants; however, it is generally not advised.  First of all, each saline implant has a certain fill range that is recommended for each sized implant.  If you exceed the recommended volume by too much it will increase your chances for scalloping along the... more

A: Yes, but it may not make you much larger

Jeffrey Zwiren, MD

As I understand you had a breast augmentation with saline filled implants and now desire to be a larger size. This can be done up to a certain extent with your existing implants. It all depends upon how much saline was placed in the implant at the time of your original surgery. Nothing creates more anxiety... more

Comments

Paula Frederick
1 post
27 Jul 2009

36 y.o. female, 5'5, 120 lbs I recently had an implant exchange to smooth round Mentor implants - left, 450cc; right, 475cc. My surgeon said that I had a slight difference in breast tissue so he compensated by putting in more saline in one than the other. I am 3 wks post-op and can notice that the right breast is slightly larger than the left because of the 25 cc difference. Is it worth it to go through surgery again to have 25 cc's added to the left breast to even it out?

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