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The Trident Approach To Choosing The Right Breast Implant

15 December 2022/in Breast Plastic Surgery /by admin@staiano

Choosing the right breast implant can seem daunting.

There is a dazzling array of sizes and shapes of breast implants out there and you will be forgiven for thinking that it is an impossible decision.

…but fear not

It is not as complicated as it may seem.

I have specialised in breast surgery since 2007 and have developed a process that simplifies the decision making and takes away the myths and opinions that you will find freely distributed by anyone and their aunt.

Here at The STAIANO Clinic, we follow a three step process known as The Trident Approach.

Step 1: measure the base width of your breast

This is the most important part of choosing the right breast implant, yet it is the least talked about on online forums and chats.

You cannot have any implant that you want.

When you look at the vast number of breast implants in the breast implant catalogue, a huge proportion of them are already unsuitable for you because they will not ‘fit’ your breast.

It is essential to get this right because if the implant is too wide, you run the risk of synmastia which is a web between your breasts, this is sometimes referred to as uniboob and is a difficult problem to correct. The other issue with using an implant that is too wide is that it can stick out too far to the side and your arm will catch on the side of your breast.

If your implant is too narrow, then, because they usually have a round base, it may not be tall enough to fill the upper part of your breast and will not fill the footprint of your breast, so you may not achieve the fullness that you desire.

Once we have measured the base width of your breast, you will automatically be limited at to the range of implants that will suit you.

Step 2 – look at the different shapes and profiles of implants

Breast implants come in 2 shapes:

Round
Teardrop

They also come in different profiles which means that some are more prominent than others.

They are commonly termed, low, moderate, high and extra high profile. Although not all companies use this terminology – Mentor for example have a moderate plus profile (but not a low profile) and Motiva has different names for them, although the principle for all of them is the same – some implants stick out more than others.

It is not as simple as saying that a certain shape or profile will give a certain look, because it depends on the natural breast tissue that you already have.

When choosing the shape and profile, we need to take in to account the size and shape of your breasts – it is not a one size fits all.

This is why it is not possible to give a useful opinion online. You need to have an in person consultation with a plastic surgeon so that we can discuss your aims and then examine you and assess your body and breast shape before considering the shape of implant to have.

Step 3 – choose the implant volume

This is the final thing to look and yet this is often the starting point for many people.

Contrary to popular belief, the size of the implant is not as important as people think.

In fact, if your friend tells you that they have a 300cc implant and they have a good result, that is not really helpful to you. There are a whole variety of 300cc implants.

It mainly depends on the base width.

If your friend has a wide chest, then she may have a low profile 300cc implant, whereas if you have a narrow chest, then it may be an extra high 300cc implant that will be the best fit for you.

These will give two completely different looks, not to mention the need to take in to account yours and your friend’s breast size and shape before you start.

Clearly the size of your implant plays a part and you will need to be comfortable with the volume.

We use sizers at the clinic and this will allow you to ‘try on’ different volumes to get an idea of the sort of volume that you feel comfortable with, however the volume that you can have will be dictated by the base width of your breast and the shape and profile of the implant that you choose.

You can register for my webinar on ‘Choosing The Right Breast Implant’ Here

Whilst it can be a daunting experience to choose the right breast implant, when you approach it with The Trident Approach, it brings a system that takes some of the mystery away.

To find out more details about having breast implants at The STAIANO Clinic, click here.

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Size Doesn’t Matter

9 November 2016/in Breast Plastic Surgery /by admin@staiano

In this video Jonathan discusses why size is not the only factor to consider when it comes to choosing breast implants.

You can find out more about how we help you to choose the right breast implant size using our Trident Approach by clicking here.

Register for my webinar where I talk about how to choose the right breast implant size and shape to give you the result you desire.

Request A Price For Breast Enlargement

How do I choose the perfect size breast implant for me?

12 June 2013/in Breast Plastic Surgery /by admin@staiano

When you are first thinking about having a breast enlargement, this might seem like any easy question. You may know someone who has had breast implants, so you ask them what implants she had and she says she had 390cc implants, so you think, her’s look great, so I’ll have 390cc implants too please.

Size is Not Important

Unfortunately, like most things in life – it is not that simple! The volume of the implant (in this case, 390cc) is only one factor when choosing which implant to have. In fact, when I am deciding on which breast implant to use on a patient, it is probably the last thing that I consider.

Watch my webinar where I talk about some of the difficulties in choosing breast implants

Width is Important

The first thing that I think about is the base diameter of your chest as this will dictate how wide an implant that I can use. This is crucial. If the implant is too wide for your chest, then you may get a web between your breasts (known as symmastia or synmastia), or there may be too much of the implant to the sides of your breasts and your arm will hit your breasts which will be uncomfortable. If the implant is too narrow it is not so bad, but it will not fill the footprint of your breast and so it is more difficult to give a nice shape to the cleavage.

You Cannot Compare Implants without Knowing More than the Volume

There are many different breast implants that have 390cc volume because implants come in different shapes and projections. The different shapes of implant are round, teardrop (also known as anatomical or shaped implants) and conical (the conical shape is only available in polyurethane foam implants).
There is also a variety of projections for each shape “ low, medium, high and extra high.

This means that a 390cc low projection implant will look different to a 390cc extra high projection implant. In fact, the low projection implant will have a wider base diameter than the extra high profile implant. This brings us back to the base diameter, which is the key when deciding on a breast implant.

how-do-i-choose-the-perfect-size-breast-implant-for-me

How I Choose a Breast Implant

When choosing a breast implant, the first thing that I do is to measure the base diameter of your chest. This is a fixed measurement and will dictate the size of implant that you can have.
The next step is to try on some sizers. I have a sizing kit in the clinic, which has sizing bras and vests and allows you to ‘try on’ different volumes in your bra to get an idea of the sort of size increase that you would like.

Cup sizes are unreliable and whilst I always ask patients if they have an idea of the cup size that they would like to be, I always stress that I am unable to guarantee a particular cup size. The sizing kit is more accurate and will give a good idea of what is achievable with the different volumes.

Finally, we go through some of my before and after photographs of patients with different shapes and different projections of implant to see what sort of ‘look’ you are after. Everybody is different and your final result will depend on the size and the shape of your breast before you start, but you can get an idea of what the different shapes and projections look like.

It is then a case of putting these pieces of information together to come up with a final cup size:

Base Diameter of your breast as established by my measurements

Volume of Implant as established by the sizers in sizing kit

Shape and Projection of implant as established by the ‘look’ you desire based on photographs

We call this The Trident Approach and it is a process that we have developed at The STAIANO Clinc

Sometimes, everything fits together nicely and it is relatively straightforward to come up with the implant that is right for you, but at other times, a compromise may be needed.

You May Need to Compromise on Size or Shape

The base diameter of your chest is set and you cannot change it and this will narrow down the range of implants that I can use in your case. Sometimes patients choose a certain volume of implant and then chose a certain shape, but it may not be possible to use an implant of that shape and volume in their breast.

The common situation when this occurs is when patients choose quite a large volume and may have a narrow chest. They may then go on to say that they don’t want too much fullness in the upper part of the breast and want a more natural look. It may be that in order to use an implant of the volume that they like, they will have to have an extra high projection, which will give a lot of fullness in the upper part of the breast. Alternatively, if they wanted a more natural look with a lower profile or anatomical implant, then they would have to accept a smaller volume of implant. We can have a discussion about this and you may want to go away and think about things.

I am very happy to see you again and again to go over things to make sure that we are confident that we have chosen the best implant for you.

It may all seem daunting, but don’t worry, it usually comes down to some pretty simple choices.

It is important not to get too bogged down in deciding between the exact volume of implant. The result depends on many factors and the actual implant volume is only one factor. Whilst it is impossible to guarantee a cup size, breast augmentation delivers predictable and life-changing results and has a very high patient satisfaction rate.