What are the Spectrum® Postoperatively Adjustable Breast Implants? Particularly the Siltex Round Spectrum® Breast Implants? What are their advantages and disadvantages?

The Spectrum® Postoperatively Adjustable Breast Implants are made only by Mentor. The obvious advantage to the adjustability of such breast implants is the ability to enlarge or diminish the size of a breast after the operation. Many women that are quite pleased with the results of their breast augmentation surgery wish that they would have opted for breast implants that were slightly larger, or slightly smaller. Indeed, the decision as to how large of a breast augmentation to request is a tough one. Short of wearing a silicone prosthesis to determine the optimal size for breast enlargement in any particular woman, there are not very many options. This is not what one would call high tech, and at times some patients are unsure in spite of such a maneuver. The Spectrum® Postoperatively Adjustable Breast Implants give a plastic surgeon the ability to adjust the dimensions of an enlarged breast for up to half a year after the fact. This is performed via a tiny fill tube left in place at the time of surgery. The breast implants are filled to a point deemed perfect by the patient, and the tube is removed in the office. Another very powerful reason to use such adjustable implants is when performing breast enlargement surgery along with breast lift surgery. Because the complication rate for this procedure is unacceptable to some aesthetic surgeons they chose to stage it, or perform the breast augmentation separately from the breast lift. The reason for this is that the two procedures stress breast skin more than either one alone. The breast augmentation will stretch breast skin, and place it under tension. The breast lift will excise skin and place it under tension. This excessive tension, in the very least can make for very wide and unattractive scars, and at the worst cause breakdown of the incisions and implant exposure, breast skin and fat (necrosis) death, and possible life-threatening infection. Because the adjustable breast implant does not need to be inflated to full capacity at the time of a simultaneous breast lift and breast enlargement surgery, the augmentation mastopexy can be carried out all in one step. The breast can then be gently and gradually stretched over time. This will obviate the need for an extra surgery. Siltex® Round Spectrum® Style 2400 breast implant, as the name suggests, is a textured implant of moderate projection that can be filled to the desired size as describe above. It is available in the size listed below.