When implants debuted, they had a viscosity like corn oil. When they leaked, the liquid got into the surrounding soft tissue, which caused lumps and other problems.
When you use the safer gel in a breast implant, it’s actually a form of silicone.
Gel implant companies made liquid silicone thicker. So a cohesive gel implant is more like gelatin.
“If you cut Jell-O and put it on a plate, it keeps its form,” Dr. Popp said. “But if it sat there for a few hours, it might liquefy a bit. That’s just like cohesive gel implants. They’re somewhere between a liquid and a solid.”
When gel implants leak, and he notes all implants eventually do, they tend to stay more solid. This makes them less likely to affect the soft tissue around the breast.
As a result, cohesive gels – “memory” gels – are safer than the more watery silicone implants.
Gummy Bear … implants?
Yes, there are such things as “Gummy Bear” implants. They are solid, never liquid or semi-liquid.
Dr. Popp said their big advantage is this solid material doesn’t leak. It stays wherever you put it.
“We’ve gone from a liquid to a solid during the evolution of silicone implants,” Dr. Popp said.
It’s only natural
Cohesive gel feels more natural than a Gummy Bear implant.
If you take a baggie and fill it with corn oil – no air bubbles – it will have a soft, smushy feeling more like breast tissue. But if you fill a baggie with “Gummy Bears,” it feels firm but less natural, Dr. Popp said.
And it’s harder to get “Gummy Bear” implants into your body than cohesive gel because it requires a longer incision.
“There’s no way to compress ‘Gummy Bear’ implants,” Dr. Popp said. “The cohesive gel implants can be compressed and inserted through a smaller incision.”
Although Dr. Popp offers cohesive gel implants, he does not do “Gummy Bears.”
Interested in breast implants but need more information? Set up your free consultation with Dr. Popp at 402-391-4558.
