ABSTRACT
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION Historically there has been great variation across time and cultures of the characteristics of the “ideal” breast (3,4). The first recorded surgical breast augmentation involved the transplantation of a lipoma from the buttock to the breast in an attempt to correct asymmetry and was performed by Czerny in 1895 in Heidelberg, Germany. More recently, Cronin and Gerow first developed the first successful silicone breast implant in the early 1960s, ushering in the modern era of breast augmentation. A decline in the early nineties occurred surrounding the sensationalized controversy surrounding alleged systemic health sequelae resulting from silicone breast implants. This led to the rapid development and popularization of saline filled breast implants, which were for many years the only option available to women for primary cosmetic augmentation. The silicone scare, which plunged the multinational chemical giant Dow-Corning into bankruptcy, was only recently reversed in 2007 after large-scale retrospective cohort analysis failed to demonstrate a link between silicone breast implants and any significant adverse events.
