Women have different needs and goals for wanting breast augmentation surgery. Aesthetic trends around obvious breast augmentation and subtle breast augmentation come and go, but in my practice, the majority of women are searching for a natural-looking size, cleavage, and silhouette or "side boob."

Most of my primary breast augmentation patients are vibrant, active women. They might just be starting their career, or a stay-at-home working mom, or social media influencer. I also operate on female executives and women in the health and wellness industry who want implants that won't negatively effect their lifestyle or draw unwanted attention to their chest.

While the reasons for breast augmentation surgery and the outcomes are all unique, the collective desire is the same. Women want a natural-looking augmentation that compliments their lifestyle and doesn't scream "boob job".

Variables like body type, natural breast tissue, and goals for augmentation will collectively determine the type of implant best suited to produce the desired result. Implant manufacturers take those variables into consideration when creating implant types for breast implant surgery.

When you combine the three primary implant manufacturers Allergan (Natrelle Implants), Johnson & Johnson (Mentor Implants), and Sientra, you have thousands of possible combinations for type, size, and style of implants to create custom breast augmentation results.

This includes the two primary breast implant shapes: round implants and anatomic or "teardrop" implants.

Anatomic Breast Implants

Because anatomical implants do keep their shape against gravity they must be carefully placed in the correct orientation and keep their placement. If an anatomic implant rotates, it can result in the natural breast tissue having a lopsided or distorted appearance. For this reason, anatomic implants ONLY come in a textured surface (much like fine-grit sandpaper). The textured surface keeps the implant in the correct orientation because the breast tissue adheres to the textured surface (much like velcro), preventing implant rotation.

Because anatomical implants do keep their shape against gravity they must be carefully placed in the correct orientation and keep their placement. If an anatomic implant rotates, it can result in the natural breast tissue having a lopsided or distorted appearance. For this reason, anatomic implants ONLY come in a textured surface (much like fine-grit sandpaper). The textured surface keeps the implant in the correct orientation because the breast tissue adheres to the textured surface (much like velcro), preventing implant rotation.

BIA-ALCL

To protect women's health, in 2019 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a recall on Allergan textured implants due to the growing risk of a condition called Breast Implant Associated-Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). This rare condition arises in the scar capsule surrounding textured implants.

For this reason, most board-certified plastic surgeons have abandoned using all textured surface implants, including anatomical breast implants.BIA-ALCL is not associated with round, smooth surface breast implants.