IDEAL IMPLANT® Structured Breast Implants: Innovation at its Finest

by | Mar 2, 2020 | Breast Implant Education Center, Breast Implant Options

In 1992, board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Hamas and his wife were on a flight to Colorado. Dr. Hamas was drinking scotch with ice cubes while his wife had a glass of water without ice. When the plane experienced some turbulence, the water in his wife’s cup sloshed out,  while his scotch did not. That day, the concept for the IDEAL IMPLANT® Structured Breast Implant was born.

This simple event caused Dr. Hamas to think about breast implants in a new way. He had been wanting to develop a new type of implant for his patients for some time and he realized he could create a saline-filled breast implant with an internal structure to control movement of the saline, much like the ice cubes controlled the scotch in his glass. The IDEAL IMPLANT design eliminates the problems with unstructured saline implants, such as wrinkling, sloshing, and an unnatural feel. It also does away with patient concerns with silicone gel implants of silent rupture, the need for regular MRI scans to detect rupture, and women’s anxiety about silicone gel in their tissues. 

After ten years of development, testing, and refinement, including contributions of clinical expertise from many board-certified plastic surgeons, the IDEAL IMPLANT was approved by both FDA and Health Canada in 2014.

The Unique Design of IDEAL IMPLANT® Structured Breast Implants

Some patients compare the feel of older, unstructured saline breast implants to a water balloon sitting on your chest wall because the saline movement is uncontrolled, so it sloshes around when your body is in motion. With the new structured IDEAL IMPLANT, a series of implant shells nested inside and two separate chambers control the movement of the saline for a more natural feel. 

The IDEAL IMPLANT’s innovative patented internal structure is considered by many experienced plastic surgeons to be one of the best innovations in breast implant technology to date! Arizona-based IDEAL IMPLANT Premier Network Surgeon Dr. David Creech says, “The IDEAL IMPLANT has two primary chambers. In between the inner chamber and the other chamber are multiple sub-chambers which have baffling between, so it allows the saline to go in and out between that outer chamber. That creates softness.”

Illinois-based plastic surgeon Dr. James Kurley says that both he and his patients like the look and feel they get with the IDEAL IMPLANT, “I’ll be honest, these days if I’m going to put in a saline implant, it’s going to be the IDEAL IMPLANT, because it comes very close in approximation to the feel of gel implants . . . Plus, the fact that this implant doesn’t ripple and wrinkle like traditional saline implants did. . .”

No More Silent Rupture

Not only does the IDEAL IMPLANT deliver a beautiful look and natural feel, but this new implant also eliminates the problem of silent rupture. Silent rupture means women with silicone gel implants can have a leak or rupture in their implants without knowing it’s there for lengthy periods of time. Silent ruptures can cause other serious breast implant complications and lead to subsequent surgeries. 

“When there’s a silicone implant that ruptures, if you detect it relatively early, a lot of times we’re able to remove the implant as well as the scar tissue that surrounds the implant kind of as one unit,” says Virginia plastic surgeon Dr. Eric Desman. “But frequently, that leak in the silicone implant is not detected quickly, and the silicone starts to leak through that scar tissue and it gets to be a challenging, complicated surgery to get that old implant out and then put a new implant in . . . With an IDEAL IMPLANT it’s pretty easy to detect a leak because the breast will just start to get a little bit smaller as the saline leaks out, and then it’s a fairly straightforward operation to replace that implant.”

Because silent ruptures with silicone gel breast implants can happen at any time with no warning, the FDA recommends women with these implants obtain MRIs every two years to check if their implants are intact. These MRIs are expensive and usually not covered by insurance, so many women cannot afford the cost of these frequent scans. In a 2017 Independent Survey, Women’s Preferences in Breast Implants, 89% of women (91% of nurses) said that they would be less likely to choose a silicone implant after learning about the FDAs recommendations, including 42% of women who already had silicone gel breast implants. 

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, IDEAL IMPLANT Premier Network Surgeon Dr. Naveen Setty says he likes that the IDEAL IMPLANT gives comfort to his patients, “A lot of women are concerned about monitoring implants for silent rupture, which you don’t have to do with the IDEAL IMPLANT. Most of the women coming to me are in their 30s, so they’ll have these breast implants for many years. The fact that the IDEAL IMPLANT is easier to monitor and follow up with is a big deal.”

Women with the IDEAL IMPLANT can look in the mirror and be confident that their implants are intact and feel greater peace of mind knowing there’s only saline inside should a leak occur. When you compare the IDEAL IMPLANT to other breast implant options, it also has the lowest rates of rupture and capsule contracture at eight years after primary breast augmentation. 

More Women Choosing IDEAL IMPLANT

While women can still select silicone gel breast implants or unstructured saline implants for their breast augmentation, many who hear about the IDEAL IMPLANT through online sources or from a friend walk into their surgeon’s office specifically requesting the IDEAL IMPLANT for their breast augmentation. 

Dr. Robert Hamas says, “When I started practicing, the surgeon made the decision – the women didn’t have many sources of information. Today there’s a huge amount of information on websites and through social media…Times have really changed and women expect, and they should, to be able to make their own decisions and get unbiased information.”

New York-based plastic surgeon Dr. Sophie Bartsich says that  the majority of her patients now pick the IDEAL IMPLANT for their breast implants, “Since I’ve introduced IDEAL to my practice, I’ve had almost no patients who’ve chosen to have something else. . . I think there’s something that this implant offers that I’m responding to and that my patients are responding to. The surprise I have is the scale in which it’s happening. Then when you really sit down and think about it, it’s really not that surprising . . . the results have been great and the patient satisfaction is very high.”

When selecting a surgeon for your breast augmentation, be sure you seek out someone who is board-certified and willing to present and discuss all your options with you. Your surgeon should be happy to educate you about all your implant options to help you figure out which one is best for your individual situation.

IDEAL IMPLANT: The Best of Both Worlds

One patient of Connecticut-based Ideal Implant Premier Network Surgeon Dr. Ellen Mahony who chose the IDEAL IMPLANT for her surgery had this to say, “I’m so glad for the IDEAL IMPLANT. I’m so glad that they feel just like gel, but they’re saline. . . Saline implants have come a long way from when I started researching them back when I was 19, and now you have something out there that feels just like gel . . . you have the best of both worlds: feels like gel, yet they’re saline and they’re natural . . .”

When the IDEAL IMPLANT was created, breast implant technology took a step forward! The board-certified plastic surgeons who offer IDEAL IMPLANT across North America are doctors committed to continued innovation that better serves patients. Find out for yourself why this new implant equals beauty without compromise.