Rippling is a rippling of the breast prosthesis that is noticeable to the touch or sight. Most of the time, this rippling is usually noticed on the outside of the breast or in the cleavage area in certain postures such as when we bend down and the breast hangs.
Causes of Rippling
- Overfilling or underfilling of saline implants
- Very thin women
- Subglandular plane in patients with small breasts
For example, in a saline implant where the lower limit of filling is 525cc and the upper limit is 575cc, it is not advisable to exceed these limits due to the risk of rippling. The most common is that this rippling is noticeable to the touch and not so much to the sight.
Thin women usually have little tissue to cover the breast implant, that is why in order to avoid rippling, the placement of the breast implant should be in the submuscular plane and always made of high cohesive silicone gel. Personally I do not usually use saline implants due to this and many other reasons among which is the risk of implant volume loss.
I do not usually place breast implants in the subglandular plane in patients with little breast tissue because of the risk of rippling and palpation of the implant. In these cases I opt for placement of the prosthesis in the submuscular plane.
How to solve Rippling
The best formula is to prevent it.
In the case of patients with saline implants who come to the office suffering from rippling, I opt for a change to high cohesive silicone gel implants with FDA and CE marking.
If the patient has implants in the subglandular plane, I offer the option of placing a new breast implant in the submuscular plane or providing extra coverage in the cleavage or rippling area by injecting autologous (the patient’s own) fat (lipofilling) taken by liposuction from the abdominal area, inner thighs or cartridge area.
You can also read this other article with a study on FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved prostheses.
