Breast implant surfaces and their design goals. Learn about how to choose between smooth and textured implants and how the choice may impact the rate of capsular contracture.

Two types of breast implant surfaces are available for both silicone gel filled and saline filled implants:

• smooth: The smooth breast implants are ... smooth as their name suggests. Smooth breast implants move around freely inside the pocket in which they were inserted.
• textured: The surface of the implant is not perfectly smooth. The texture may be fine or coarse. With some of the textured implants a magnifying glass is needed to see the individual grains or lumps. Textured breast implants do not move around freely inside of the capsule.

Implants with a smooth shell are less palpable than textured and usually feel softer and more natural. They are ideal for women with thin skin and insufficient tissue coverage.

Smooth breast implants are reletively easy to replace, sometimes without destroying the capsule, cost less, and are said to wrinkle less and last longer. This is why majority of surgeons use the smooth breast implants.

So... why textured implants? The design objective of textured implants was to lower the rate of capsular contracture but after years the results are not conclusive. The scar tissue of the capsule grows towards the implant and 'connects' to the texture. Because of that it is frequently recommended that anatomical implants be textured - to prevent the implant from turning upside down inside the pocket.

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