Deciding to have breast augmentation surgery is an important decision for many reasons. Many women choose to have augmentation following their last pregnancy, if they’ve never been comfortable with the size and shape of their breasts, or if their breasts are not naturally equal in size. Once the decision to have augmentation has been made, then it’s time to consider what type of implant you’d like. There are many different sizes, shapes and materials to choose from – including the decision between saline and silicone.

“When silicone implants were largely taken off the US market in the early 1990s, the debate about their long-term safety was the main reason,” explains Dr. Robert V. Mandraccia, a renowned plastic surgeon from Bonita Springs, Florida. “However, most of the arguments against silicone were not ever scientifically substantiated. This gave silicone implants a bad reputation. Especially considering the many benefits they offer over saline.”

Some of the benefits to silicone include that they are more natural looking and feeling because their consistency is closer to that of real breast tissue. Due to these factors, the FDA still allowed women undergoing breast reconstruction surgery to opt for silicone implants until the ban was lifted in November of 2006. During the same time period, Europeans and other countries around the world still widely used silicone; they have never been banned anywhere else.

So, why did so many health care providers and cosmetic surgeons believe that silicone was dangerous to your health? The answer is that there were several unsubstantiated reports claiming that silicone implant leaks were linked to cancer and neurological disease. What’s interesting about this assessment is that silicone is a naturally occurring substance in the body and it had been used in medical devices implanted into the body for decades.

When the FDA re-evaluated the danger of silicone in 2006, it based its decision on extensive scientific research and concluded that the ban on silicone implants should be lifted. Now, women of all ages who are undergoing breast reconstruction can elect to use silicone, as well as any breast augmentation patient over the age of 22.

Since silicone implants are now an option again, there are other factors that each woman should weigh when deciding between saline and silicone implants. Although silicone does look and feel more natural, saline has its advantages as well. Some of the most important benefits of saline are that it is much easier to detect if a saline implant has ruptured. This is true because a saline implant that has ruptured will deflate. Saline implants are also easier to replace and have a lower rate of capsulation, a term used to describe the process by which your body forms fibrous tissue around the breast implant.