Getting breast implants is a big decision to make, and there are a lot of individual choices you have to make within that decision. If you've been strongly considering getting breast implants but don't know where to start making choices, here are the three things that you'll likely need to make some decisions on.
Shape
The shape of your breast implants plays a big role in how your breasts look after the procedure. At one time, there was only one type of implant shape, but that has since changed. Now, shapes like teardrop-shaped implants and round implants exist.
Each shape results in a different breast appearance after the procedure. For example, teardrop-shaped implants tend to result in a more natural breast shape. Round implants create taller cleavage and have the most traditional shape for breast implants.
Size
Obviously the size of your breast is ultimately up to you, so you'll need to decide how large you want to go. Doctors tend to refer to breast implant sizes in ccs, which is a reference to how much fluid or material there is inside of them. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean much to a patient.
The good news is, your doctor will be able to show you exactly what you can expect from different sizes of breast implants. They'll be able to do this by showing you the actual implant, and the results of women who have gone through the procedure before you with different sized implants. They may also show you a digital estimation of what your body will look like with different sizes.
Material
Lastly, you need to decide what kind of material goes inside the breast implant. There are a few choices to make here.
The most common filling is silicone, which is known for holding its shape well and creating a firm, perky looking breast. Silicone implants are a great choice for standard breast implant procedures.
Another type is saline. Saline is a material that's safe for the body to absorb, so in the rare instance that anything ever happened to your breast implants, you wouldn't need to worry about a leak. In addition, saline implants are a great choice because they can be used in a transumbilical breast implant procedure, where the implant is threaded up from the navel and then inflated with saline. This results in any scarring being far from the breast and generally hidden within the folds of the navel.
If you have questions about breast augmentation, don't hesitate to ask a cosmetic surgeon about it.