Let’s talk about textured and smooth breast implants.
When we talk about textured and smooth implants, we’re talking about the silicone implant shell.
Smooth implants are round, clear, and have a shiny appearance. Textured breast implants on the other hand come in round and anatomical shapes, have a matte look and are soft (some would say “furry”) to the touch.
Textured and smooth implants behave differently in the body and serve their own purposes. Though textured implants are not as common in the United States as their smooth counterparts, they can be a great option depending on your goals and anatomy.
Amelia Aesthetics offers textured and smooth implants for many reasons, one of the most important being safety. Each has its own list of pros and cons so let’s take a look at what differentiates the smooth and textured implants.
Smooth and round and meant to move.
Smooth implants only come in a round shape because they are designed to rotate within the scar tissue capsule or pocket. Because they don’t adhere to the chest wall, they will drop and move lower on the chest over time.
Most women in the Bustmob Community reach for a smooth, round implant for their breast augmentation. Mainly because smooth implants tend to have fewer complications and many plastic surgeon offices only offer smooth.
When smooth implants are placed over the muscle, they tend to have a higher rate of capsular contracture. But when placed under the muscle (submuscular placement), smooth implants have one of the lowest rates of capsular contracture. Learn more about breast implant placement in the free Bustmob Academy app.
Textured implants stay put.
The textured shell acts a lot like velcro or a Command strip on the chest wall. Once the implant is placed it doesn’t rotate or drop. For anatomical or teardrop implants this keeps the implant from flipping upside down.
Textured implants also come in a round, dome-like shape. These round, textured implants still provide the upper pole fullness of smooth, round breast implants, but won’t drop and fluff. Textured implants tend to have a lower risk of capsular contracture when placed over the muscle (subglandular placement).
Textured Implants & BIA-ALCL
All textured implants have a slightly increased risk of BIA-ALCL. However, that risk is still very low overall. So let's talk about the risk of BIA-ALCL and textured implants.
4 Things to Know about BIA-ALCL (Breast Implant-Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma):
- BIA-ALCL is NOT breast cancer. It is a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma*
- Risk of developing BIA-ALCL associated with a breast implant is 0.003% (~1 in 30,000).**
- BIA-ALCL is treatable.*
- BIA-ALCL is more commonly associated with textured implants.*
To learn more about the risks of breast implants, watch the Breast Augmentation Risks series in the Bustmob Academy app.
How do I choose?
Doing your research ahead of time (congratulations, it seems you’re already on that path!), will ensure you’re not caught off guard during your consultation.
Be sure to have the facts, but keep an open mind during your consultation and lean into your plastic surgeon’s expertise when you’re deciding implant details like textured vs. smooth, implant placement, type, and shape.
Based on your goals and anatomy, your surgeon will be able to walk you through your options and their recommendations for you and your anatomy.
Bring your goal photos.
Goal photos are an important piece of your consultation. Having a few examples of results that you love can help guide your surgical plan.
The Bustmob GoalFinder is home to thousands of breast augmentation after photos. You can search implant details like placement, size, and brand and filter patient stats to see results on frames that match yours.
Save your goal photos in a personalized collection so you’re organized and ready to share with your plastic surgeon during your consultation.
Found this helpful, but want more?
Good news! This is just one of hundreds of fun, factual videos on the Bustmob Academy app to make your plastic surgery research easy.
From commonly told myths and FAQs, to recovery time and costs, Jenny Eden, founder of Bustmob, and Gretta Nance, lead educator at Amelia Aesthetics, break down your plastic surgery research into bite-size, binge-able pieces.
**Source: M Bradley Calobrace, MD, Michael R Schwartz, MD, Kamakshi R Zeidler, MD, Troy A Pittman, MD, Robert Cohen, MD, W Grant Stevens, MD, Long-Term Safety of Textured and Smooth Breast Implants, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Volume 38, Issue 1, January 2018, Pages 38–48, https://doi.org/10.1093/asj/sjx157
The free Bustmob Academy app is the perfect place to learn everything about the procedure you're considering.
