Trends Explored for Aesthetic Breast Augmentation From 2005 to 2021

TUESDAY, Dec. 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For aesthetic breast augmentation, the most common technique remains smooth silicone prosthesis placed in the subpectoral plane through inframammary incision, according to a study published in the December issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Michael J. Stein, M.D., from Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, and colleagues reviewed breast augmentation tracer data from 2005 to 2021 and compared trends for an early cohort (EC, 2005 through 2014) and a recent cohort (RC, 2015 through 2021).

The researchers found that compared with the EC, patients in the RC were older (35 versus 34 years), more likely to have ptosis >22 cm (23 versus 20 percent), less likely to smoke (8 versus 12 percent), and less likely to undergo preoperative mammogram (24 versus 29 percent). Inframammary incisions have become more common (80 versus 68 percent), while there has been a decline in use of periareolar incision (14 versus 24 percent). There was an increase observed in submuscular plane placement (56 versus 22 percent) and a decrease in subglandular placement (7 versus 19 percent). The most popular implants were silicone (82 versus 58 percent). From 2011 to 2016, there was an increase seen in textured implant use (2 to 16 percent), followed by a sharp decrease to 0 percent by 2021, in line with approvals and warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"Despite temporary adoption of textured implants in the RC, possibly related to enthusiasm for potential decreased capsular contracture risk in the subglandular plane, their use was overshadowed by a majority of smooth devices used by American Board of Plastic Surgery diplomates in primary breast augmentation," the authors write.

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