Breast Augmentation - An Overview

Breast augmentation is one of the most popular forms of plastic surgery. Here is an overview of this procedure, including a brief history and some basic facts about the surgery as it is today.

Breast augmentation has risen to become one of the most popular forms of plastic surgery for women. While it may seem as though this is a recent trend, implants have actually been around since the turn of the 20th century. A man named Vincenz Czerny was the inventor of the first implants around the late 1800s. From there, they have taken a number of different turns to become the medical implants we know today. Silicone took the early lead in the 1950s as the implant material of choice across the U.S. These were done in the form of injections, which proved to be rather unsafe. It was in 1961 that the first silicone gel implant was invented. They were used with varying success until the early 1990s, when they were banned by the FDA and replaced entirely by saline implants.

Following ten years of clinical trials and testing, a new form of silicone implant was allowed back on the market and quickly eclipsed saline as the most popular material for breast augmentation. Both materials continue to be used today, with doctors and women preferring one material over the other for various reasons. Silicone implants tend to look more natural, while saline implants are often cheaper.

Breast augmentation is usually thought of as a surgery women get for purely cosmetic reasons. While this is true in a sense, there are deeper medical reasons to have the procedure done. Many women choose to get implants as part of reconstruction following a mastectomy. They are also popular with men choosing to have gender reassignment surgery. The procedure is usually an outpatient one and can run anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000.

Breast augmentation is usually done in one of two ways. The surgeon will either place the implant above the chest muscle or below it. This consideration is usually due to the surgeon's comfort level with either procedure. They may go in through the armpit, through the belly button, or make an incision straight into the nipple. These various techniques can make a difference as to how the implants look, and what kind of recovery time is involved after the surgery has been performed.

As breast augmentation is an elective surgery, it is typically not covered by most insurance plans. There may be an exception to this in the case of full reconstruction following a mastectomy. Few insurance plans will cover the costs of gender reassignment surgery, and the cost is left to the patient to pay out of pocket.