The Ideal structured saline implant is made of silicone on the outside like traditional saline implants but has additional shells of solid silicone on the inside, kind of like a Russian nesting doll. These shells or baffles provide additional support to the outside of the implant so that the saline does not flow freely through the implant- it gives them a softer more natural feel, very similar ( but not exactly as soft) as a silicone gel filled implant. They are not coated with additional chemicals. So inside your breast the part of the Ideal implant that is touching you ( the outer shell) is basically the same whether it is a smooth silicone gel or a smooth traditional saline implant. To be more precise, a silicone filled implant has a slightly different "platinum cured" silicone on the outside and the saline implants and the Ideal implants have a room temperature vulcanized outer shell. The company has changed the exact composition of the silicone manufacture since they were first released and they seem to feel even a little softer to the touch now than before when we compare more recent Ideal implant to the older samples in the office. The key thought for you is what is going to be in contact with your body when an implant ruptures and how will you know when this happens. A silicone implant rupture is "silent" and can often not be detected without an MRI. So you need special studies down the road on a regular basis to assess the integrity of a silicone gel implant. About 10% of silicone gel implants have leaked by 10 years with increasing numbers after that, so this is a valid concern for many women in their choice. With a traditional saline implant it is easy to tell if it leaks without a special study, they go flat, so that is their big advantage. But the saline feels more like a baggy filled with water. That is where the Ideal implant fits in. It feels much more like a silicone gel implant ( but not exactly) but has the benefit of being filled with only saline. So if/when it leaks, the saline is absorbed by your body like the fluid in an IV. We do not have studies going out to 10 years yet for the Ideal Structured saline implant but the numbers at 6 years so far are superior to the silicone gel and traditional saline implants at 6 years. An interesting "vote of confidence" in the Ideal structured saline implant is an outside insurance company (Liberty Mutual) making available an added cost "premium" protection plan than can be essentially renewed each year for your lifetime. It is $189 for the first year and you can renew it each year thereafter for $79. This means that the company would give you new implants for your lifetime if there is a leak and the insurance policy would cover up to $5000 of costs. This means to me that the Actuaries from the insurance company are confident enough in the early data on the Ideal Implant studies that they are willing to make this offer.
