Pure Beauty

By: Katharine Griffiths
Created on 12th January 2010

Capsular contracture is the most common complication follow breast implant surgery. We answer your questions on Polyurethane Surface Breast Implants which significantly reduce the risk of capsular contracture

What are Polyurethane Surface Breast Implants?

Medical grade Polyurethane foam is used to cover the silicone implant (comprising a silicone shell and silicone gel). The Polyurethane foam is approx 1mm thick and is bonded onto the outer silicone implant.

What is the difference between Polyurethane implants and other breast implants?

All breast implants are made of an outer silicone shell, which is either filled with a cohesive silicone gel or saline. The outer silicone shell and the cohesive silicone gel filler is the same in Polyurethane covered implants as it is with other implants. Only the surface is different.

Why were Polyurethane surface implants developed?

From the development of the first breast implants in 1962, the most common complication associated with breast implant surgery is that of capsular contraction. This is where the body's membrane, which grows around all implants and which normally you can't see or feel, behaves like ‘shrink-wrap', compressing the implant causing it to feel firm or hard, sometimes painful and often distorting its shape.

Capsular contraction was very common (40-60 per cent) with early smooth walled breast implants. Polyurethane implants reduced the occurrence down to 1-3 per cent, a significant reduction.

Textured silicone implants were developed in the late 1980s to mimic the Polyurethane foam surface. Early research has shown textured silicone surface implants to reduce or slow down the onset of capsular contraction, however recent large multi-centred core studies show that the incidence of capsular contracture with textured implants still remains high at 8-13 per cent over three years and rising to 15.5 per cent over seven years.

The Polyurethane foam surface helps break up this membrane and has been shown to reduce capsular contraction to very low levels. Many studies indicate that the capsular contraction rate is as low as 1 per cent, over 18 years.

Will Polyurethane implants feel natural?

No breast implant ‘feels' exactly like breast tissue, however it has been reported in various articles, that Polyurethane implants feel ‘warmer' and ‘less alien' than other breast implants. Polyurethane implants do take slightly longer to soften after surgery. You should expect the final result after 45-60 days.

What if I already have a capsular contraction with previous breast implants?

Polyurethane implants have been shown in several studies to reduce the incidence of recurrent capsular contraction to around 2 per cent in patients that already have had a previous contracture with another type of implant.
CS&AM