Pectoral Implants

Excerpt

For many men, an adequately sized chest is psychologically significant. The constant exposure of large and well-defined pectoral muscles in media makes this a desirable standard for males. As a result, pectoral implants have become increasingly popular. However, some men are not able to achieve muscle tone as easily as others, whether it is from lack of exercise, congenital absence of the pectoralis muscle, or from injuries.

Pectoral implants were first developed for male patients in 1988 as a way to correct a pectus excavatum deformity, which results when the sternum has a sunken-in appearance relative to the rest of the chest wall. These early patients had models of their deformity cast in paper mache from which a custom cohesive silicone gel implant was created. This implant was then placed using a pre-sternal incision in the subcutaneous plane. By the early 1990s, surgeons had begun to use these implants in the cosmetic realm for chest augmentation in male patients. These early surgeons also used a pre-sternal incision and noted a high risk of implant exposure due to minimal tissue coverage in this area. After noticing this complication was all too common, they began placing the implant in the sub-pectoral plane using a trans-axillary approach. The trans-axillary approach has proved useful and has become the standard for pectoral implantation today.