Breast enlargement through the years

1.       In 2010, one and a half million women had undergone breast enlargement procedure, making it the most sought after cosmetic procedure. This procedure has been popular as it is a fix to make breasts bigger in size, to enhance the tautness and feel of the breasts and enhance the shape of the breasts.

2.       The earliest breast enhancement was performed in 1895 by Vincenz Czerny, a German surgeon specialising in oncological and gynaecological surgery. Instead of implants he used autologous adipose tissue also, called fat tissue to replace the patient's lipoma or a benign tumour in one of the breasts. Essentially, this breast procedure was not for enlargement purposes at all but to redeem the size of the breasts after a damaging surgery

3.       Robert Gersuny, an Austrian surgeon, and obstetrician, experimented to enhance the size of breasts with the help of paraffin injections that lead to a disastrous result. Paraffin is primarily made up of petroleum jelly and was discovered to be useful in the enlargement of body parts by Robert Gersuny. He had firstly used paraffin on soldiers’ testicles in order to increase the size and succeeded. He, later, went on to use it in the form of injections to increase the size breasts. His formula consisted of one part Vaseline and three parts olive oil and could go on hassle- free for several years but, then it would most definitely lead to a lot of health problems. The paraffin could form impenetrable lumps or huge ulcers and they could also cause blindness. Complete breast amputation could only save their lives.

4.       From the advent of the twentieth century, especially between the periods of the first and the Second World War, doctors and surgeons had begun exploring many different kinds of options to enhance breasts. Some of these fillers are- ivory, soybean, glass balls, lanolin, peanut oil, polyethylene chips, mineral oil, ground rubber, beeswax, ox cartilage, goat's milk, Terylene wool, Dicora, teflon, gutta-percha, Ivalon (polymer sponge made up of polyvinyl alcohol and formaldehyde) and polyester Silastic rubber (foam sponge). This was the time when the most innovation happened but none of these options for breast enlargement caught on later on as they had some serious infection risks.

5.       It has been evidently known that Japanese prostitutes after the Second World War in the 1940s injected themselves with various substances to cater better to the likes of American soldiers. These substances include liquid silicone, cobra venom, and olive oil, the results of which were expectedly so, very bad in the coming years.

6.       Later on, a flap-based breast augmentation was performed by Morton I. Berson (1945), and Jacques Maliniac (1950), which involved the rotation of the chest wall tissue inside the breast that would increase the size of the breasts.

7.       The pointed breast aesthetic of the 50s gained a lot of popularity and lead to a demand for breast enhancement. The discoveries made during the Second World War could now be used by the civilians. These materials included Ivalon sponge which was made up of polyvinyl and another one was polyethylene tape which was wound into a ball and then, encased in more polyethylene.

8.       Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, surgeons continued using synthetic materials for filling breasts such as silicone injections from which the silicone granulomas and breast hardening with the help of mastectomy were developed at a later stage.

9.       In the year, 1961, Thomas Cronin and Frank Gerow two American plastic surgeons with the help of the Dow Corning Corporation had developed the first silicone breast implants. The first breast augmentation mammoplasty was performed using these silicone- filled implants in 1962 on Texan Timmie Jean Lindsey, who is 83 now.

10.   Following these developments, in the year 1964, the first saline breast implant was invented and manufactured by the French company Laboratories Arion. They were at a boom in the 90s after the FDA produced a statement notifying the public of all the possible risks of silicone implants.

11.   In 2012 the FDA approved silicone gel-filled implants. They were filled with silicone gel that felt a lot like real human flesh and was approved by the FDA after years of experimentation and research. The gel is thick and almost semi- solid and was followed by better coatings and shapes to give the natural look to the enhanced breasts.