Breast implants can be placed either above the muscle, under the muscle, orunder the muscle fascia. The most common placement is under the muscle. The reason for this is because this maximizes the tissue over the breast implant and the edges of the implant, resulting in a more natural look and feel. Also, under the muscle placement allows for less rippling or wrinkling.
Regardless of type of breast implant, saline or silicone, the placement of the implant is crucial in making the end result as natural as possible. The breast implant is usually placed under the pectoralis muscle. This ensures that maximal tissue is covering the breast implant, including the skin, soft tissue, and muscle.
A saline breast implant is harder than a silicone gel implant, so if both types of implants are placed under the muscle, the silicone gel breast implant is still more natural feeling than a saline implant.
Every breast implant has the potential to have rippling or wrinkling. This is when you can feel or see the edges of the breast implant. To avoid this, you want to have more tissue coverage over the breast implant, which implies under the muscle placement for your breast implant.
Breast implants are usually not placed above the muscle.
There is an anatomic substance known as the fascia, which is a thin, clear whitish covering for the muscle. Sometimes the breast implant is placed above the muscle, but underneath the fascia. This is more commonly done in other countries, but is less common in the US.
Dr. Roy Kim is a Plastic Surgeon in San Francisco, CA, who specializes in breast augmentation.
If you’d like to read the original article, please go to http://drkim.com/blog/2010/07/07/why-are-breast-implants-usually-placed-under-the-muscle/ or www.drkim.com for further information or answers to other questions.
