Breast Surgery

Breast Surgery

Breast augmentation is now the second most commonly performed aesthetic surgical procedure after liposuction, based on the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. In 1998 only, more than 130,000 girls in the Usa experienced the process. This amount grew to 191, 000 in 1999 - - a 51 percent increase in the previous year and nearly a 500 percent increase since 1992.

Before 1992, two types of breast implants were available. Both had an outer silicone shell filled with either silicone gel or saline (sterile salt-water). But since 1992, the majority of the breast implants were of the saline variety because in that year, the Federal Food and Drug Administration confined using silicone gel filled implants. This restriction was spurred by the concern that silicone gel leaking into the human body could be dangerous, and by the inability of the manufacturers to provide adequate safety data on their implants. FDA's determination eight years ago means that silicone gel implants can simply be utilized in controlled clinical studies for the purposes of reconstruction after mastectomy, correction of congenital deformities, or replacement of ruptured silicone-gel implants that were used for augmentation.