What types of breast implants are available?

Before you compare sizes, surgeons or schedules, settle one question first: what fills the implant.

Two fills, described by the regulator

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration describes the first fill this way: Saline-filled implants come in different sizes and have either smooth or textured shells. For the other fill, the same agency says: Silicone gel-filled breast implants have a silicone outer shell that is filled with silicone gel.

Read those two statements side by side. The shell is the container in both cases, and the fill is the variable. When a consultation in Fayetteville or East Syracuse turns to "which implant," ask which fill and which shell surface are being discussed, because they are separate decisions.

What to read before you choose

At the deciding stage, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons keeps a page on the types of breast implants and a separate page on what breast augmentation costs. Read the type page first, then the cost page, so the price you see is attached to a specific implant rather than a vague one.

Add the FDA's own account of risks and complications of breast implants to that stack. It belongs before the consultation, not after the date is booked.

The warning sign that changes the answer

An advisor who names an implant without naming both its fill and its shell has skipped half of the description above. Treat that as a reason to slow down, not as a detail to sort out on surgery day.

The question that usually follows

Once the type is clear, most readers in the Syracuse area ask what the full cost looks like and what complications to plan around. Those two pages, cost and risks, are the next stage of reading.