Hi, I'm Dr. Frank Lista and we are filming
here in Operating Room Number 1, here The
Plastic Surgery Clinic.
Lots of my patients when they come to see
me, they say, "I hear that implants can be
smooth or they can be textured.
What's the difference?"
Well, an implant surface is either smooth
or rough like velcro, textured.
Let me show you a couple.
So this implant has a textured surface and
if you see, it's rough, like velcro.
And this implant is smooth.
Now, implants are textured for a reason.
If we use a teardrop shape implant, then the
implant needs to be textured to keep the implant
in the right position.
If we use a round implant, it can be textured
or it can be smooth.
So implants are textured to help keep the
implant in position, which is important if
it's teardrop shaped, but not so important
if it's round.
The other thing, though, is that texturization
was invented to help reduce a risk called
capsular contracture.
Capsular contracture is a complication where
the body forms scar tissue around the implant
and makes the breast feel hard.
It's not actually the breast that goes hard,
it's not the implant that goes hard, it's
scar tissue around the implant that goes hard.
That's called capsular contracture.
Well, what we've discovered is that texturization
reduces the risk of capsular contracture,
but only when the implant's place above the
muscle.
If the implant's placed above the muscle,
we think texturization lowers the risk of
capsular contracture.
But when we go behind the muscle, studies
have shown that you can use round, you can
use textured, or smoother textures, it doesn't
make any difference.
The rate of capsular contracture is the same.
So if the rate of capsular contracture is
the same, we're going to use the one that
has the lower complication rate, and that's
smooth.
So generally, behind the muscle, we use a
smooth implant and above the muscle we use
a textured implant to keep the rate of capsular
contracture low.
And that decision as to whether you should
be above the muscle or behind the muscle depends
on what's right for you.
Some people think that all implants should
be placed above the muscle, other people think
that that's not right.
The answer is is that these implants have
been invented just for that use and we'll
use the implant that's right for you in that
situation.
Thanks for watching.
