Teardrop breast implants in Turkey

Three things matter more than the shape name: how much of your own tissue covers the implant, the base width relative to your chest, and the projection and volume chosen. A person with generous cover will get a soft result from either shape. A person with very little cover will see the edges of whichever device is used, and shape will not rescue that.

This is why an assessment that starts with measurements is a better sign than one that starts with a catalogue. The question worth asking is which base width fits your chest and how much cover you have, not whether the shape is round or anatomical.

• Good soft tissue cover

  Either shape will look soft, and the difference in the finished breast is the part the evidence says is hard to see. Choose on the practical trade-offs instead.

• Thin cover, little breast tissue

  Edges and rippling are more visible with any implant. Placement under the muscle and implant selection matter here far more than the shape name.

• Wide or narrow chest

  Base width is the measurement that decides whether an implant fits you. An implant wider than your chest base does not become right by being anatomical.

• Breast sits low

  Then the question is not shape at all. An implant fills a breast, it does not lift it, and the conversation should be about whether you need a lift.

For implants in general see breast implants, for a lift on its own see breast lift, and for the combined operation see breast lift with teardrop implants or breast lift with round implants.

Texture exists to solve rotation. A smooth anatomical implant would turn in the pocket, so anatomical devices are almost always textured, and the degree of texture varies between manufacturers. The association between textured surfaces and breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma is the reason certain macro-textured products were recalled worldwide, and it is the reason many surgeons moved back to smooth round devices.

Regulators do not recommend removing implants from people who have no symptoms. What they do recommend is that people know what is in them. Ask for the manufacturer, the model, the surface and the implant card, and keep it, because a decade from now that card is the only way anyone will know what to look for.

• Rotation. The risk specific to this shape, and correcting it means returning to theatre.
• The texture association. Textured surfaces carry the recognised link to breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma, which is why device choice is a question to ask by name.
• Capsular contracture. Scar tissue tightening around the implant, changing shape and causing discomfort, and one of the commonest reasons for further surgery with any implant.
• Rippling and visible edges. More likely with thin tissue cover, and the reason placement and cover matter more than the shape name.
• Sensation change. Reduced or altered nipple sensation is a recognised outcome of any augmentation and is not always temporary.
• Rupture and further surgery. Implants are not lifetime devices. Replacement or removal at some point is expected rather than exceptional.
• They do not lift. An implant fills a breast. If yours sits low, an implant alone will give you a larger breast in the same position.

• Ask for manufacturer, model, surface and size in writing. And leave with the implant card. Without it, nobody can advise you years later.
• Ask the surgeon's position on textured devices. Given the lymphoma association, a surgeon who has thought about it will have a clear answer.
• Ask about base width, not just cup size. Cup size is not a measurement. Base width is, and it is what decides fit.
• Ask what happens if it rotates. Who corrects it, where, and at whose cost. This is the most likely reason to return.
• Ask to see results at a year. Implants drop and soften over months, so early photographs show a shape nobody keeps.
• Agree the follow-up in writing. Names, dates and a route back to the surgeon from home for at least the first year.

• United States Food and Drug Administration, safety communications on breast implants and breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma.
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, randomised intraoperative comparison of anatomical and round implants in breast augmentation.
• Aesthetic Surgery Journal, blinded assessment of round and anatomical form-stable implants.
• British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, patient guidance on breast implant surgery.
• Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, information on textured breast implants.
• Turkish Ministry of Health, register of facilities licensed for health tourism.