Silicone vs. Saline: Implant Replacement after Capsular Contracture

Your doctor is correct that doing something different the second time is the right choice.  However changing from a saline to silicone implant won't make much difference in your chances of getting a capsular contracture.  The contracture is caused by unclear reasons.  It isn't just a reaction... more

Capsular Contracture (CC) has a variable rate of occurrence, can be unilateral or bilateral, and can occur within months or take many years to develop.  Patients who have experienced CC are more likely to have it happen again with subsequent implant replacement.  However, if the implants... more

Silicone implants in general look and feel more natural.  But you can get another capsular contracture with any kind  of implant, and the risk is more like 5%. How the surgery is done is more important than what implant you use. Even without seeing you, I can tell you that going smaller is a... more

It's unlikely that your choice of silicone vs. saline will dictate the success of your procedure. Replacing the implants does makes sense, as some capsular contracture (cc) arises due to bacterial contamination of the implant. Going smaller will present some challenges.  Depending on your skin tone, you... more

Hello, I am not a big fan of silicone gel implants unless you have really thin tissue and are having problems with rippling. In my experience, the silicone gel implants have a very high encapsulation rate over the long term. In fact, my saline implant patients rarely develop capsular contracture. Some patients... more

Once you have capsular contracture (cc), your chances of having the same is increased. Nationwide, the risk of a primary augmentation and cc is around 7-8% with saline. The new data from one of the implant company shows that their silicone implant CC rate is close to 9%. This is nationwide, so look at these... more

You may want to consider having both implants replaced under the muscle. Though no definitive data is available, your best option for decreasing capsular contracture would be a site change from the "above muscle" pocket to the "under muscle pocket." I've recently published an article on... more

Once your body has shown that it "knows" how to make CC, your future risk will certainly be more than 1%. The lowest rates come with saline under the muscle so if you are above the muscle you might consider submuscular conversion. The risk remains higher with gel. Size doesn't really matter so much.

The rate of capsular contracture is much higher than 1% for patients that have had a previous CC.  Some studies suggest it is about 20-30%, and may even be higher.