Textured or smooth implants for breast augmentation? Three year follow-up of a prospective randomised controlled trial

Silicone breast implant surface texturing has been shown to reduce the short-term incidence of adverse (Baker III/IV) capsular contracture in augmentation mammaplasty in double-blind randomised controlled trials. It is, however, undetermined whether the textured surface merely delays the onset of severe contracture or its effect on capsular contraction is persistent. The current study reviewed, after three years, 49 of the 53 patients who had undergone subglandular breast augmentation mammaplasty in a randomised double-blind study with textured or smooth silicone gel-filled implants in 1989. The incidence of adverse capsular contracture was 59% for smooth implants and 11% for textured ones (P=0.001; chi(2)=10.60). Eight patients (31%) with smooth prostheses underwent breast implant exchange for severe capsular contracture between the one and three year assessments, compared with a revisional surgery rate of only 7.4% (2/27 patients) for the textured group (P<0.04). These adverse capsular contracture and revisional breast implant surgery rates clearly demonstrate that the effect of textured implants in reducing capsular contracture in augmentation mammaplasty found at one year is maintained at three years, and suggest that it may be long lasting.