A mother of 1 in her early 30’s who is bothered by a deflated appearance of her breasts after pregnancy and breast feeding. She describes herself as a 36 B and would like to be a full C. She is 5’4” and 158 lbs and is shown before and again, 6 weeks after bilateral subglandular placement of Ideal Structured Saline implants 370 filled to “100%” fill of 410 cc.
Discussion: Our patient wanted a natural but fuller appearance and wanted to restore some volume to her upper breasts. Her breast width is 13.97 on her right and 14.3 on her her left. Her nipple to breast fold distance on stretch is 9 cm. The diameter of the Ideal Implant she selected and filled to 410 is 11.7 I usually add 3 mm to the base width of the Ideal because is it designed to sit on a curved surface. So 12 cm is less than her breast width, so it will not “look like an implant”. Her nipple to breast fold on stretch is 9cm. Any more and she may be a candidate for a lift. If her implants were placed below the muscle the implant would move separately from the breast and the breast which is slightly lax would have a tendency to drop off of the implant- this is sometimes called the “waterfall effect”. In a case like hers where the breast is lax, a subglandular placement allows the implant to move with the breast and settle with the breast, giving a more natural look. The tradeoff for a subglandular placement is a slightly higher risk of capsular contracture.
The 370 implant has an empty implant volume of 56 cc. The inner lumen is always filled to 214 cc. The outer lumen is filled to 145 cc, giving her a total implant volume of 410 cc. This gives a higher profile, which helps to add some volume back to her deflated upper breast.
Update: Our patient is now seen nearly 1 year after surgery. Her breasts have settled and appear even more natural in appearance. She remains thrilled with the improvement in shape and size.
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