Breast Surgery Implant Placement

Before your breast augmentation surgery, you and your surgeon will discuss the variables for implant placement to determine where to place your implants during surgery. Here are the options to consider.

Breasts are naturally positioned over the pectoral muscles of the chest wall, and fibrous strands called Cooper's ligaments attach them. The fatty tissue in the breast is what gives a soft consistency. This tissue extends throughout the breasts, surrounding the glands and fibrous tissues. The outer breast tissue is soft and extends over and beyond the pectoral muscles of the upper chest. The breast comprises a complex group of tissues, including glandular, fatty, and fibrous tissues. The pectoralis major muscles attach to the upper arm area and stretch across the chest like a fan. The pectoralis minor muscles attach to the shoulder blade (scapula) and stretch down to the ribs. Now that you have a basic understanding of breast anatomy, here are three types of breast implant placements:

• In front of the pectoral muscles and under breast tissue (subglandular implant placement)
• Partially under the pectoral muscles (partial submuscular implant placement)
• Behind breast and major muscle groups (full submuscular implant placement)

Subglandular Implant Placement

Subglandular breast surgery requires the creation of a pocket to place the implants under the breast tissue and in front of the muscles and fibrous tissues that line the front of the ribs and chest wall. Subglandular implant placement locates the implants in front of the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor and behind the soft layer of tissue.

Partial Submuscular Implant Placement

Partial submuscular implant placement requires the creation of a pocket between the pectoralis major muscle and pectoralis minor muscle for placement of the implants, so they sit behind the breast tissue and also partially under the pectoral and other chest muscles. During the procedure, the lowest part of the pectoralis major muscle is cut so that the upper part of the implant sits deeply beneath the muscle, but the lower part sits beneath the breast (sub-glandular).

By placing the implant between the breast and chest muscles, the partial submuscular placement offers more support for the implant over time and can prevent sagging.

Full Submuscular Implant Placement

With full submuscular implant placement, the implant is placed behind the breast tissue, the pectoralis minor and the pectoralis major, so the implant lies beneath both muscle groups in the chest area.

The optimum implant placement location depends on the size of the breast implants, your anatomy and other factors related to your goals and expectations.