Breast Reduction/Enlargement Surgery

Breast Enlargement Surgery

Breast enlargement surgeries are very popular in North America, and in the United States, breast augmentation is currently the most commonly performed cosmetic surgery. Although the number of breast augmentations performed in the United States declined by 12 percent between 2007 and 2008 (due to an economic recession), the overall increase in breast augmentation procedures between 2000 and 2008 was 45 percent. Women choose to undergo breast enlargement surgeries for a variety of reasons, including dissatisfaction with breast shape and size, occupational purposes, loss of one or both breasts due to mastectomy, and sex reassignment surgery. Because there are no laws in North America that limit who can claim the title of plastic surgeon, and thus any person holding a medical degree can operate a plastic surgery practice, there are a range of economic options for women seeking breast [Page 193]augmentation depending on the individual surgeon's qualifications, prestige, and geographical location.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Western doctors unsuccessfully experimented with fat and liquid paraffin injections to augment body parts, including women's breasts, although this was not a commercially viable project at that historical moment. Countless other substances have been unsuccessfully implanted in the breast to make it larger during the early to mid-20th century, from wool to ivory to glass and also several synthetic substances (most popularly Silastic rubber implants and liquid silicone). It was not until the 1950s and 1960s that surgeons began to experiment with saline and silicone implants, and that breast augmentation gained a wider public acknowledgment, although not acceptance.

The implants that women receive today are most commonly silicone envelopes filled with either saline or silicone gel, and can be circular, teardrop-shaped, or shaped to fill in areas hollowed out by a lumpectomy. A recent breakthrough in silicone implant technology is the cohesive gel implant, or “gummy bear implant,” which is a solid but malleable piece of silicone that will not rupture.

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