More than ever before, women today look to breast augmentation when they consider plastic surgery. Breast enhancement features as one of the most requested plastic surgeries available. Way back in the past when breast enhancement was in its infancy the general outlook was very different!

The first recorded breast enhancement operation was conducted back in 1890. During this procedure paraffin was injected into the patients breasts. Unfortunately infections resulted, the breasts became hardened and lumpy. This technique of breast enhancement was eventually abandoned by 1920.

Transplants of fatty tissue from the buttocks and/ or abdomen into the breasts of the patients then started in the 1920’s. The main problem that arose was the ability of the patients body to reabsorb the fat deposits, leaving a miss-shaped asymmetrical breasts that also had large scar marks from the fat insertion points. By the 1940’s this next successive breast enhancement procedure was also stopped.

At the time of World War 2 it was alleged that Japanese prostitutes started acquiring silicon shots in their breasts in an attempt to entice American servicemen. Topless dancers in San Francisco and Las Vegas were by the 1960’s frequently trying this form of breast augmentation. More and more women looked into trying these silicon shots. Stories of serious complications associated with this practice soon emerged. Many unfortunate women who undertook the silicon shots surgery suffered from possible mastectomies, silicon migrations and subsequent organ damage, cancer-like lumps, infections and chronic inflammatory responses. After the mass hysteria over this breast enhancement procedure its practice was stopped, only to be continued by secretive small circles of people.

The 1950’s saw the invention of polyvinyl sponges that could be placed in breasts to enhance their appearance. Various types of this sponge were created but patients soon became unhappy with the results. After insertion the implants tended to reduce in size and become hard within the space of a single year. Implant removal was impossible from some women, others gained disfigured breasts as a result, infections and inflammations, alongside the increased risk of cancer became common knowledge.

1961 was the year when the first silicon breast implant was produced. 1963 saw the marketing of this product and a steady evolution of improvements to its form and application procedures. Capsular contraction was a problem which, in 1982, was combated through covering the implant in polyurethane foam. By 1992 over 100,000 women in the U.S. had received breast enhancement operations to insert these implants. The FDA informed the media that scientific analysis had seen polyurethane breaking down in humans to form cancerous products. The manufacturer at that time stopped the use of foam with its implants, only to receive further reductions in sales when it was found that the gel often leaked out of the implants and into the patients bodies.

1995 had Europe release a trilucent breast implant filled with soyabean oils. Roughly 9000 women underwent operations with this implant. Supposedly safer due to it being a more ‘natural’ filler material for implants, this type of breast implant was banned in 1999 when it was revealed that soyabean oils could become toxic when leaked into the body. The U.S. had never legalized the sale of this implant.

One of the largest silicone breast manufacturers in 1988 had its representative, Dow Corning, settle a $3.2 billion class action lawsuit for 170,000 women. Later in 1999 the Institute of Medicine stated that the silicone implants themselves didn’t cause any problems, but that it was the leaking of their contents that did.

Saline implants, which had been in the market for many years, were finally acknowledged by the FDA as being safe. Precautionary advice was also given highlighting the rather high rate at which saline breast implants ruptured at that time.

2001 saw the invention of a bra-like contraption consisting of tow hard domes of plastic edged with silicone. This device, which needed wearing for around 10 hours per day, reported to increase bust size one by simply sucking air from the domes to create a vacuum promoting extra breast tissue growth.

Up to this current year silicone and saline breast implants have been most successful. Implant shape has been diversified into round or anatomical/ contoured. Round breast implants create a more natural look and feel. Unfortunately these implants have been found to have the greatest degree of complications (e.g. leaks or capsular contracture), also not offering complete pole fullness (filling of the upper part of the breast). Contoured implants are teardrop shaped, mirroring the natural shape of a breast, are reportedly better suited to patients that need or have had reconstructive surgery. The degree to which the breast implant center point points out can vary. Contoured implants are textured on the outside so as to get the breast tissue to attach more firmly and prevent rotations of the implant inside the breast cavity. Such unwanted movements have been found to cause various complications, usually ending in miss-shaped breasts.

Even today, with many people undergoing the latest breast enhancement surgery it should be noted that the procedure is not totally safe, although complications are in general rare. Adequate pre-op advice/ consultation is always necessary with a trusted and well acknowledged specialist surgeon before receiving any kind of surgery.

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