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Breast implants and capsular contracture

Capsular contracture

The so-called ‘silicone breast’ are very quickly experienced as a part of the body. However, the human body does react to the insertion of breast implants or silicone breast. The silicone can cause capsular contracture, or create a connective tissue layer around the breast implant. This is actually a normal reaction to a foreign object that is implanted in the body.

For reasons still unclear, this capsule can become thicker and contract. This is harmless from a medical point of view, but in 1 to 5% of all cases it makes the silicone breast unnaturally round and firm. Calcifications may also occur. Consequently, capsular contracture can be a reason to surgically clean out the capsule and possibly replace the breast implant.

The type as well as the filling of the breast implant influences the risk of capsular contracture. On the one hand, the use of smooth surfaced breast prostheses will lead to capsular contracture in 30% of the cases. The risk is reduced to 7% when the smooth walled silicone is placed under the breast muscle. Coarse silicone involves only a 2 to 3% risk of capsular contracture. With this type of breast prostheses, the positioning above or below the breast muscle does not make a difference.
On the other hand, there is a bigger risk of capsular contracture with liquid silicone breast than with a silicone prosthesis filled with cohesive gel.
Therefore, you run the least risk of capsular contracture with coarse silicone filled with cohesive gel. This is why Clinic BeauCare prefers this type of breast implant.