New Gummy Bear Tear Drop Silicone Impants - anyone have them?

Momto - most of the women on our forum have subpectoral reconstruction.  The reason my PS did a subglandular was because I'm a dancer and he was afraid it would inhibit my full range of movement.

cathyann,

A good running store with trained shoe fitters can offer a lot of options for PF relief. Doctors may know the body, but they rarely know the shoes and insoles that can really help. Arch support is kind of a misnomer......running shoes don't support the arch, they provide either cushioning, stability or a mix of both. What kind would work for you would depend on what type of foot you have. Generally two foot types are prone to PF, those that are very flexible and need to be supported or those that are very stiff and need cushioning. A good fitter will be able to decipher this and make suggestions about shoes.

Insoles are often a good option as well, and we tend to have a pretty good success rate with over-the-counter versions.....at a much lower cost than custom orthotics.

They should also be able to tell you about the Strassburg sock and other ways to fight PF. Shots are generally a temporary fix, but don't address the underlying cause.

Good luck! Life's too short to have sore feet! :-)

Gail

Hi, I currently have tissue expanders and exchange surgery will be Nov.15th. I originally wanted a FLAP cause I dispised the notion of having my body parts that fake. Decided against the flap because it is a longer recovery and I previously had a c section and if I decided to have a child that would be more surgeries on my abdomen. I also am 26 so I feel as if I didn't have my breasts as long as a older woman. (Double mastectomy is march) So I wants new ones to be great. And unlike sum older women I will wear low cut shirts and bikini tops so after all this crazy cancer stuff I want a new set of girls that I could love. Lol sort of like my adoptive girls I will always remember the old pair but since I have to get new I want them to be good. Anywho I planned to talk to my PS about tear drops and to my surprise that's what she recommends for me. I want to look natural but want to be bigger. I had a nipple and skin sparring mastectomy so I get a good look now of how I will look with my tissue expanders ( left 475, right 450). Good thing my doctor will be doing fat grafting so that should help by providing a bed of healthy tissue for the radiated side and make them appear more natural feeling. So I guess I'm not too too worried about the firmness of the gummy bears, but I am concerned about them moving after reading some posts here. The discussion on brands,volume, height, projection is overwhelming. I do so much research but will feel better with the info of women that has physically been there and have the implants themselves. So basically I wrote this whole chapter to ask women how they feel about the tear drop gummies. I picked what I believe is the sientra about 2wks ago but I have a while to go for surgery so I will go again before making a final decision. Picked one but not 100 percent sure. So any input on chosing your implant will be useful. Thanks to chemo I have gained 30 pounds but I am still small around the chest measuring about a 31. So I definitely don't want too wide of an implant . Thanks ladies

I just got the gummies and they look great but are kind of hard, hopefully they'll soften over time.  Mine were also the result of a direct to implant over the pecs, so there is a bit of rippling on the upper pole but it's not too bad.  They look better than the former round silicone implants which I had before the swap to gummies.

Hello. I am new to this forum and am glad I found this discussion board specifically on the gummies! I had so many questions/concerns with these before my exchange, as I had a feeling my PS was going to opt to use these...& she did! My TE/implant exchange was just done on July 9th, so I am barely 5 days post-op. My PS was partial to the anatomical gummy bears, as lots of PS's are for reconstruction purposes - because it supposedly yields a more natural looking breast when there is no real breast tissue left to work with. My PS told me she would bring her "party bag" (of implants) to the OR and try on different styles/sizes to determine which she felt looked/fit best with what she had to work with. I woke up from the surgery to discover she went with the Natrelle 410 FF (full height/full projection) anatomically shaped gummies. They are 655 cc's, while my expanders were only filled to 570. The width, height & projection dimensions of the implants are also greater than that of my expanders. I have a small ribcage at 29" (so typically a 32" band) & am 5'5", 120 lbs. I would have thought this size implant would've really done me justice, lol, but I am not as happy as I feel I should be. Perhaps I am jumping the gun only being 5 days out from exchange, but while I have fullness from the front I feel that the side profile (projection) should be greater. My TE's were only 5.7 cm, while these implants are 6.1 cm (projection). I was also hoping for a tad bit more upper pole fullness. These shaped gummies definitely drop more naturally than the expanders, however they look and feel very firm & I almost feel that I still have the TE's in my chest. I guess I was hoping to wake up & not have that feeling anymore! I'm wondering now if my expectations were too high of having really natural feeling breasts again, that actually move with me. Or, these implants just take some time to feel natural. I was thinking if they don't "break in" & perk out more I could always get a great fitting bra that lifted them up & out a bit more (demi's are usually good for this), but now I'm wondering if I'll even be able to wear a bra. It seems these implants are so molded you can't pick them up to even put in a bra! So, ladies, those of you who have had these shaped gummies for a while, can you please enlighten me! Do they move more over time and feel more natural? Do they fit into a bra properly? Do you have cleavage or are you able to create it if you want? Do they fill out more with time? As I mentioned, I am small framed & my PS went w/a generous size, so I'm not sure if my muscles are just holding them back or what. Input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.    

Nesw,

I looked at the Natrelle size chart and it looks like the 410 MX comes in a 520 and 550 cc (or grams), but not 535. Do you know which one you have? Am just wondering what you think about the projection? Looks like you'd have 6.5 or 6.7 cm, depending on whether you have the 520 or 550 implants. If I had known about the extra full projection I would have asked about it to have that little bit more! I thought only the full projection was FDA approved. Did you get the extra full as part of a clinical trial?

Are the gummies suppose to be a little flat at first and take some shape after a period of time?I'm still taped up ..I see PS tomorrow for post op so will see
See after all the tape is off..

My gummies 410MX 550cc, were flat looking post op. I had significant swelling so that didn't help the look. Over the next few months they did change with more definition, but no upper pole fullness. They are a fixed moulded shape, so a push up bra won't really do anything. I looked great in a bra and clothes (a padded bra gave better projection), but wanted them to look nice naked, more round. They felt too wide and the projection didn't quite match the width. My ps wanted to do some fix up things, so I suggested a different anatomical gummy, the Mentor CPG 620cc. PS thought i was being very fussy, but the result is better. It is a narrower implant with more fullness, therefor it is rounder looking. I'm much happier.

Nesw,

How did you get in the clinical trial? My PS wants we to go with the teardrop gummy bears for a more natural look but I wanted the natrelle style 45 because they gave more projection with a smaller width which I need. I am 5'4" 120lbs with a 29" ribcage so I can't handle a very wide implant, 12.5 cm is about my max according to my PS.

Nutmeg - my PS is approved for the trial, so he can include any of his patients.  I didn't want round breasts or canyon cleavage, so I'm hoping for a medium size and natural looking that won't interfere with running, bowling, and yard/house work.  I'll unwrap later and take photos.  I taken photos throughout the entire ordeal, so I have a logbook of everything that was done.  I'm going to continue with the changes over the next few months and years.

Glad to hear you're doing well!  Mine stopped hurting a few days ago.  I can finally sleep on my sides!

TEs style: natrelle 133 fv, volume: 400cc, width: 12.0, projection: 5.3 +-.

They are filled to 470cc right now and they also are teardrop shaped. I love the shape and size they are right now but I have no cleavage at all and I feel like they are really far apart like 2 in, I wish I could post a picture to show you. I fell like I could definitely do a wider implant but my PS doesn't. I think I'm a large b maybe a small c right now and I'm afraid I'm going to be really small with a 425 especially since I've been told even if I got the same size as my tes they would still look smaller.

@minus two Do they soften wit time ? Do they move (jiggle) ? I know they are firmer but I don't want too feel like I still have my tissue expanders. I know this may sound crazy but I want breast that move I feel like I could live with the other problems such as size and shape. I just simply want them to move I've had tissue expanders since march, I had a skin and nipple sparring mastectomy so in clothes and even out it appears I have breast but its the weirdest thing that there is no movement up top.

nutmeg,

Maybe ask your PS about the wider implant again, expressing that you wouldn't mind them being closer together to achieve more fullness/cleavage in the front (if that is what you are after). My TE's were also anatomically shaped but I think the brand was Sientra and they were double-chambered w/a fill valve on the upper and lower pole. This way my PS controlled the shape on both top and bottom. This along w/the greater width, she was able to get them pretty close together. I think you are right about the size though. From research I have done, you have to go up in the projection and width of the implant to match the size you are filled to in your TE's. I think there's something to be said about this, because my implants are wider, higher projection and more cc's and I'm about the same size I was filled to max in the TE's. And I still wish I had a bit more projection! Am only a week post-op today so am still hoping things fluff a bit more. I have to say though, that they are feeling a bit softer and more moveable at this point. Even have a little bit of movement walking, which is nice. I guess we go through all of this waiting and anticipation of what we want and so when exchange time comes it's stressful because it's a one shot deal and we want it to come out right.  I have a couple of friends who had augmentation done and look amazing, bigger/fuller but can't tell they're implants. I guess I've spent time looking at them and dreaming of my own new amazing boobs, but adding implants to your own tissue yields a much different result than contructing breasts out of just muscle and a thin layer of skin. So, even if they come out great for being reconstructed they are still on a different level of greatness than that natural feeling of bounce, etc. It's easy to lose sight of this reality after everything we go through w/treatment, etc and just wanting to look great in the end. You have to keep your goals in perspective so as to not be let down. All of this stuff makes my brain hurt!

trina, i have the sientras 425cc anatomucals, round base, high projection and am happy!