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hdubs's avatar
hdubs
Member
15 years ago

Saline or Silicone?

I'm going to have to make a decision in a couple of months when my reconstruction is due to be finished and my tissue expander gets swapped out for a breast implant. Do I go saline or silicone?  I've done some reading and it seems it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.  The risks and benefits are pretty much the same so I'm tending towards saline because I think if the silly thing ruptures, I'd rather have saline leaking in my body than silicone.  The tissue expander is just a bag with saline in it after all and it looks OK.

It would be great to hear from someone who's faced the same sort of decision.

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  • hdubs's avatar
    hdubs
    Member
    15 years ago

    I had a latissimus dorsi reconstruction so the tissue expander is sitting between the chest and the back muscles.  I had it done in January and it hasn't needed to be topped up since then so I'm not really sure how much saline is actually in it.  It doesn't have as much "give" as my natural breast, but almost does.  It's soft and comfortable to sleep on, etc, but if I poke around deep enough I can feel the resistance of it.  All up, it's not real but it's close enough for me.