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Dr. Casey explains the differences between breast augmentation and breast reconstruction surgery.
Dr. Casey:
The problem with breast reconstruction is that the implant has to do all the work as opposed to putting an implant underneath their own breast tissue where you have a good bit of tissue overlying the implant, any little surface irregularity, minor glitch, as far as position of the implant, is masked by their own breast tissue on top whereas with implant reconstruction, that’s one of the down sides is the implant has to do all the work. There’s only a small layer of skin and fat on top, plus the muscle that we put in under and the implant is doing all the work. So it has to look like the breast, stay soft.
It is a process as far as going through the expansion process and then putting a permanent implant in, and a lot of women still have some concerns about silicon breast implant. I have always been convinced that they are 100% safe, fortunately because of all the studies in the early 90s and the lawsuits because of the FDA moratorium on breast implant in 1992, a lot of women are hesitant to have silicone breast implants placed.
Now it’s never made any sense to me why you can use them for reconstruction but not for cosmetic use, but now because of all these troubles that implants went through in the early 90s they are probably the most extensively studied medical device out there and again, we have come full circle to the point where the FDA has released silicone implants even for general use.
I am 100% convinced that they are the best implant out there. They are more natural. They don’t ripple as much. They don’t wrinkle as much. They are not as heavy and they are not nearly as firm. So, that is typically what I would prefer to use but again, it’s a woman’s choice and as long as they are given the option and understand what’s involved I think they can make an informed decision.
About Dr. William Casey, M.D.:
Dr. William J. Casey, M.D., is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Dr. Casey graduated from Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University Medical Center in North Carolina. He then completed his residency in plastic surgery at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Minnesota and in general surgery at Greenville Memorial Hospital in South Carolina.
Visit Dr. Casey at Mayo Clinic