Augmentation mammoplasty: personal evolution of the concepts looking for an ideal technique.

The purpose of this paper is to report our personal experience in the field of augmentation mammoplasty. This experience is based on over 15 years in practice and working with more than 400 cases using different types of prostheses (single-lumen gel-filled, single-lumen saline-filled, double-lumen, smooth or texturized surfaces), different routes (submammary, periareolar, transaxillary), and different locations of the implant (complete submuscular, subglandular, subpectoral). Our present preference is for a partial submuscular (subpectoral) augmentation mammoplasty through an inferior periareolar route. The results of 91 consecutive patients operated on with this technique from January, 1990 to December, 1994, during the blow-up of the controversy on silicone, are reported.