Motiva Breast Implants: Everything You Need to Know

Dr. Kuruvilla (00:11):
Welcome back to the Behind the Double Doors podcast. I'm Dr. Shannon Kuruvilla, and today I'm going to be answering all of your questions about Motiva implants. They've been around the world for I think about 15 to 18 years. However, they are new to the US in terms of FDA approval. They were just approved last fall by the FDA here for use for breast augmentation. So Motiva implants differ from other very common implants that we use here in the United States in terms of kind of two main technological differences. The first one is the shell of the Motiva implant. So we all know that there is something called textured breast implants and nont textured breast implants are smooth breast implants. We don't offer what's called macro textured breast implants anymore because they have been associated with something scary called ALCL. The more common breast implant that you will see is something called a smooth implant.

(01:06):
Motiva implants are also smooth implants. However, if you were to look under the microscope at the irregularity of the shell of Motiva implants, it's a four micron irregularity as opposed to when I tell you about the smooth shells that we have seen prior to the Motiva's, that is one micron irregularity. The size of a micron is 1000th of a millimeter. So in your typical smooth breast implants, that is the irregularity of the shell, 1/1000th of a millimeter. In the Motiva breast implant shells, it is 4/1000th of a millimeter, so still tiny. It is not your macro textured implants that have been associated with cancer. It is still, it is a micro textured implant that is less inflammatory to the body. So the body is less likely to identify this prosthetic device as foreign and therefore less likely to have an inflammatory reaction like capsular contracture.

(02:04):
The other new technology that Motiva has introduced is something called monoblock, and that is the composition of their silicone. They are calling this a sixth generation silicone breast implant, and the importance behind their monoblock technology is that it is formulated to kind of move with your breast tissue and move within the shell, kind of like natural breast tissue. So patients do report that these feel a lot more natural and they move kind of with the breast. In the United States, we do offer two different types of Motiva implants. There is the ergonomix and then the smooth round. We choose that one based off of the patient's goals. So for the patient that really wants a lot more upper pole fullness and wants that augmented look, we tend to go with the smooth round implant. And then the other implant that we offer is the ergonomix implant.

(02:57):
So for patients who are asking for that kind of teardrop results, a very natural takeoff that is the ergonomix. You can also kind of see that when you look at these implants. So if you turn them on their side, you can see the smooth round maintains a little bit more upper pole fullness versus a slightly more teardrop shape to that upper pole of the ergonomix implant. And it just has to do with the fill of the implant and how flexible that gel is that they've put in each shell. So there are, off the top of my head, or I guess two other technologies that Motiva has developed that are on the horizon and very exciting. The first is Preserve. So they have identified this retro mammary space behind the breast tissue that we can get to and place an implant in successfully without disturbing the natural breast tissue, the strength ligament ligaments of your breasts, and then also staying out of that muscle fascia. So that is the Preserve technique, and it uses tools to get into that pocket and with a very small incision place, a moderate size implant into the breast tissue, which is great for minimizing pain. A big concern with augmenting anybody's tissue is malposition if you're weakening those ligaments of your breasts, and then also capsular contracture if you're causing any sort of bleeding that sometimes people are worried that blood can increase your risk of capsular contracture. So that's very exciting. It can also be performed under local anesthesia or even light sedation. And then the second one is the Mia, which is use a similar technology to place even smaller implants through a trans axillary incision. And that is thought more of almost this breast enhancement. So it's not your larger augmentations, it's small breast implants up to, I think it's like 150, 200 cc implants to give the look that patients often try to accomplish with just a pushup bra.

(04:54):
So they're calling it this breast enhancement, not necessarily breast augmentation. Also can be done under local as like an in and out office procedure, which is very exciting. Immediately after surgery, we have noticed a lot less swelling to patients, which is great because they see their final results almost immediately as opposed to waiting for swelling to subside and not really knowing how their tissue is going to respond and settle, which has been awesome. Also, patients just feel a lot more comfortable after surgery. When patients are lying down, they have reported to us that the Motiva implants do maintain their shape a lot better, and they don't tend to fall to the side or become malpositioned. Are there cases when I would recommend Motiva over another brand? So I feel like this is very surgeon specific. I try to be pretty dogmatic about who I'm electing to put an implant partially under the muscle versus on top of the muscle or subfascial.

(05:52):
If there is a patient who is emphatic that they don't want their muscle manipulated and they want the implant on top of their muscle or underneath the fascia, and I'm worried that maybe they don't have a lot of breast tissue to camouflage that implant, I feel more comfortable putting in a Motiva implant because there is less rippling. You don't need as much tissue coverage for these Motiva implants, so it's very personal. So far that's been kind the patient I've guided towards Motiva implants. The largest implant that we offer here in the US for Motiva is 625 ccs. They do do three different levels of profile, so they're mini, they're demi, and they're full. So at Basu Aesthetics and Plastic Surgery, we were one of the first practices to offer Motiva implants once it became FDA approved. So we have been able to track outcomes, which has been nice.

(06:41):
We started placing them in October of 2024, so it has been nice to monitor the 3, 4, 6 month results after placing them. Patients who have had their Motiva implants for a while are as happy as they were the week after we put in their implants. They still feel that they are very natural. They don't notice that they have implants in them. They've been very pleased thus far. If you are interested in Motiva implants, whether or not you already have breast implants in place, we are very excited to offer Motiva implants at Basu Aesthetics and Plastic Surgery. Call our office to schedule a consultation with me and that phone number will be in our show notes.

Announcer (07:26):
Basu Plastic Surgery is located in Northwest Houston in the Towne Lake area of Cypress. To learn more about the practice or ask a question, go to basuplasticsurgery.com/podcast. On Instagram, follow Dr. Basu and the team @BasuPlasticSurgery. That's BASU Plastic Surgery. Behind the Double Doors is a production of The Axis, theaxis.io.