What are “gummy bear” breast implants?
Breast implants Sydney Kogarah
Women who are considering breast augmentation have many different choices to make, including where the incision will be placed, whether the implants will go above or below the muscle, and what type of implants they prefer. This makes breast augmentation a highly personalized procedure, with each woman able to choose the options that will work best for her.
One of the newer options that are now available is “gummy bear” breast implants. What are gummy bear implants? Why might a woman prefer this type of implant for her augmentation?
Gummy bear implants are made of highly cohesive silicone
Gummy bear breast implants are also known as highly cohesive silicone implants. To understand exactly what this means, we need to know a little bit about the chemistry of silicone.
Silicone is a type of polymer. This means that it’s made up of repeating small chemical units. There are chemical bonds between the units, and these bonds are known as cross-links. Different types of silicone have different numbers of cross-links. The silicone that has low cohesion is a runny liquid. This type of silicone is not used in breast implants but may be used in industrial settings, such as for lubrication of mechanical parts.
Silicone with moderate cohesion has a texture similar to gelatin, while silicone with high cohesion has a texture more like a gummy bear. Both of these types can be used in breast implants. Both types will look and bounce much like natural breast tissue, but the highly cohesive silicone feels somewhat firmer.
Advantages of gummy bear breast implants
There are a few different advantages of gummy bear implants, including:
- It’s less likely to leak into the body. When a highly cohesive silicone implant ruptures (meaning that a tear or a hole develops in the implant shell), the silicone inside is less likely to leak out, because it has a more solid consistency. Many women feel safer with gummy bear implants for this reason. With a moderately cohesive implant, silicone may leak out of a ruptured implant. It often stays contained within the capsule of scar tissue around the implant, but it can sometimes infiltrate the tissues of the breast and can be difficult to remove. While this is not common, it is a risk of silicone breast implants. With gummy bear implants, this is much less of a concern.
- It holds its shape over many years. Because highly cohesive silicone has more chemical bonds, it tends to hold its shape better. This means that highly cohesive implants are less likely to sag or droop over the years following a breast augmentation. However, it does also mean that highly cohesive implants don’t change shape as much in response to gravity. In certain situations, this may cause them to look less natural than a moderately cohesive implant.
- It’s less likely to ripple. Rippling can occur at the edges of any breast implant and may be able to be felt or even seen in areas where the overlying tissue is thinner (such as at the outer edges of the breast). To understand why this happens, think about a partially filled water balloon. When you hold it in your hand, it sags a bit, and wrinkles form on its sides. When you change the position of the balloon, the wrinkles will shift, but will still be there. This is how a moderately cohesive silicone implant behaves inside the body, and the wrinkles from the ripples that you can see or feel. However, think about a gummy bear. When you hold it in your hand, there’s little to no sagging, because it’s more of a solid and doesn’t change shape. A highly cohesive silicone implant behaves more like this, which makes rippling less likely to be a concern.
Breast implants Sydney Kogarah
If you choose to have breast augmentation, then you’ll have a variety of different decisions to make as you personalise your procedure to help meet your goals for your appearance. You’ll want to discuss your options with a qualified plastic surgeon, who can help to advise you about what results you could likely expect from various choices.
If you’re in the greater Sydney area, we invite you to book an appointment with Dr. Marucci at one of our conveniently located offices. As an associate professor of plastic surgery at the University of Sydney, he stays up-to-date on the latest plastic surgery techniques, allowing him to get the best possible results for his patients. You can book your no-obligation consultation appointment by simply contacting our friendly front desk staff.
