The Fascinating History of Breast Augmentation

Breast augmentation is one of the top five most popular cosmetic surgeries and has remained at the top of the lists for quite a while now. This popular surgery isn’t just for women who want to increase the size of their breast, although that is the majority of cliental.

This procedure is also a way for women who are not naturally symmetrical to make their breast evenly sized and it gives women who have lost a breast to breast cancer a way to recreate the lost breast tissue.

In fact this is how breast augmentation was originally created in 1895 by a surgeon named Vincenz Czerny who used a patient’s adipose tissue to repair an asymmetrical breast that he had removed a non-cancerous tumor from previously. This surgery was successful but other attempts at early breast augmentation were not.

Other surgeons attempted to recreate Dr. Czerny’s success by injecting women’s breast with paraffin wax or surgically implanting foreign objects like glass balls, wool rubber and even ox cartridge among other things. Obviously what even a novice knows about the human body would dictate that these attempts would result in death and they did of course.

By the 1950’s surgeons were still trying to solve the problem of how to create a larger breast for women but their attempts to inject silicone directly into the woman’s breast resulted in breast hardening which ironically resulted in the women who were experimented on losing their breast in a mastectomy.

But by the 1960’s there was some success in this endeavor when the Dow Corporation and two doctors developed the gel implant with more successful results. It is the fifth generation implant shell that was finally deemed the successful one with its semi solid gel filling that unlike earlier versions won’t leak out quickly if a leak is developed.

With these new developments doctors finally had figured out the answer to the question they had sought since the late 1800’s and could now successfully enlarge the size of a woman’s breast with three different types of implants they had developed including saline, silicone and composite implants which never gained favor and are no longer manufactured.

The road to success for breast augmentation has never been smooth though and even with the success of the Dow Corporation, there was a bump in the road when leaking silicone implants were reportedly at the heart of many women’s health problems resulting in the FDA placing a ban on their use. After years of investigation and studies the FDA lifted the ban as unfounded but with more precautions in their use.

Today both types of implants – saline and gel silicone- have a laundry list of pros and cons that can get quite extensive and involved. In the end selection depends on your own preference based on your needs for size, feel and texture desired.

But one thing is certain about breast augmentation, it has never been safer or more popular than it is today.