What is Saline?
Offering an alternative to silicone, manufacturers chose saline as an implant filler. Saline implants also have a silicone outer shell (the same shell used in silicone gel-filled implants) and contain salt water.
Saline vs. Silicone: Advantages and Disadvantages
Saline implants, which were officially approved by the FDA in 2000, have some advantages and disadvantages over silicone breast implants which were FDA-approved November 17, 2006:
All implants carry a risk of rupture. If a saline implant leaks or breaks inside a woman’s body, the salt water is simply absorbed into her tissue.
The size of saline implants can be altered, depending on the aesthetic or physical needs of an implant recipient. This allows women to increase the size of their implants over time, after her skin has expanded. Or if a woman decides that her implanted breasts are bigger than she wanted, she can minimize their size. Saline implants feature small valves in which a doctor can insert a needle and either add or subtract the liquid. The size of silicone implants cannot be changed without actually changing the implant with an operation.
Some patients may find that saline implants do not offer a natural look and feel and that silicone mimics this more effectively.
However, saline implants carry many of the same risks as silicone gel-filled implants, including capsular contracture, infection, pain, and nerve damage. Implants, whether filled with saline or silicone, are not a lifetime device and may need to be replaced.
Advantages of Silicone Implants
Many surgeons and patients with breast implants have the opinion that silicone implants have a more natural look and feel than saline implants due to the fact that silicone gel has a texture similar to breast tissue.
Advantages of Saline Implants
Saline implants have some advantages over silicone implants. Silicone implant ruptures are harder to detect. When saline implants rupture, they deflate and the results are usually seen almost immediately. When silicone implants rupture, the breast often looks and feels the same because the silicone gel may leak into surrounding areas of the breast without a visible difference.
