Submuscular Breast Implants

When a patient makes the decision to have breast implants surgically placed the patient and the cosmetic surgeon both have a lot of options available to them. Placement, type, shape and the different types of incision are among the top concerns that the patient and plastic surgeon must decide upon.

The placement that some cosmetic plastic surgeons prefer to use for breast augmentation is the submuscular position. This type of breast implant placement is underneath the chest muscle. The submuscular breast implant placement allows for the entire breast implant to be hidden under the chest muscles and can minimize the complication of wrinkling and rippling because it is further away from the top layer of skin than other placement options for breast implants. The submuscular breast implant placement also helps to keep the implant up higher in the chest so that it ages better than other placements to help keep the risks of sagging and drooping to a minimum.

This placement technique also has been known to have less capsular contracture than some other placements. With the submuscular breast implant placement there are better chances that the mammograms and MRI screenings that the patient will eventually need will be easier to read than that of other placement techniques.

The disadvantages of submuscular breast implant placement are almost the same as those of other implant placement techniques. With this placement option the breast surgeries do tend to run a bit longer and are a little more complicated. The healing time associated with this type of breast implant placement is also a little longer than that of some other placement options. Many athletic patients do not care for the submuscular breast implant placement because when the chest muscles are flexed the implant distorts for that moment. Another downside is that rupturing of breast implants tends to have a higher chance under this implant placement.