Advice

Informed Consent

Informed consent is crucial to successful breast implant surgery. Informed consent results when patients are provided with all the facts and information necessary to make an educated decision to proceed with a medical treatment or surgical procedure. Full informed consent is in the best interests of both patients and physicians.

Patient Safety First

The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and the American Society for Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in its effort to ensure patients receive safe and effective medical devices. Patient safety is the primary concern of all plastic surgeons. Scientific studies on the safety of breast implants support the more than 30-year clinical experience that saline-filled breast implants are safe medical devices. Now that silicone gel breast implants have been FDA-approved to be made available for the U.S. market and determined to be safe and effective, the FDA will continue to monitor them by requiring Allergan and Mentor Corporation (the manufacturers) to conduct a large post-approval study following about 40,000 women for 10 years after receiving breast implants. The two societies support continued research on both saline-filled and silicone gel-filled breast implants.

Benefits

Studies confirm that the vast majority of women who choose breast augmentation experience improvements in body image, self-esteem and quality of life.

Additionally, women who have undergone breast augmentation by board-certified plastic surgeons report that they are being adequately informed about the risks and benefits of breast implant surgery, and that their surgeons are responding to their questions and needs.