Liquid injectable silicone for soft tissue augmentation

Abstract

Liquid injectable silicone is a unique soft tissue augmenting agent that may be effectively utilized for the correction of specific cutaneous and subcutaneous atrophies. Although historical complications have occurred, resulting likely from the presence of adulterants and impurities, modern purified silicone products approved by the Food and Drug Administration for injection into the human body may be employed with minimal complications when strict protocol is followed. In this article the present authors review the history and controversy regarding silicone as well as describe the appropriate indications, patient selection, instrumentation, treatment protocol, and anticipated complications involved with the use of liquid injectable silicone for soft tissue augmentation. Although its use is controversial, the present authors maintain that liquid injectable silicone is an important and effective augmenting agent for the long-term correction of scars and facial contour defects such as HIV facial lipoatrophy. Furthermore, it is a treatment modality deserving of continued investigation.

Silicon-associated subcutaneous lesion presenting as a mass: a confounding histopathologic correlation

“…They may be induced by the adulterants rather than the silicon itself or by the materials mislabeled as being silicon that are in fact mineral, linseed, or flax oil [17]. It has been also suggested that toxic substances already present in the body are attracted to the site of implant and initiate a granulomatous reaction [19]. This theory may explain why granulomas may develop throughout the bed of implantation rather than being limited to a few foci [18].…”

“…Pure injected silicon is biologically inert and is associated with minimal tissue reactivity; mononuclear cell infiltrates classically seen in chronic inflammation are not present in significant amounts and at most are localized to the interface with the implant [19]. Silicon is washed away from the samples during processing and is nonpolarizable, which may present a diagnostic challenge.…”

Penile Cellulitis and its Medical Treatment Due to Self-Injection of Non-Injectable Enlargement Cream Into Penis for Penile Augmentation: Case Report of a Unique Complication and Review of Literature

“…The complications of these agents were generally treated with surgical procedures. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Self-injection for penile augmentation becomes more remarkable with the cause of easy application. In the literature there are few case reports for self-injection for penile augmentation.…”

Clinical data on injectable tissue fillers: a review

“…Only one relatively small prospective pilot study in which a silicone filler is used, with just six months follow-up, is available [45]. Descriptions of unpublished FDA approved studies for silicone fillers [10,46] are insufficiently detailed to draw conclusions. For the more recent filler materials such as polymethyl methacrylate micro spheres in collagen, polyethyl methacrylate (copolymer of hydroxyethylmethacrylate and ethylmethacrylate) in hyaluronic acid, polyacrylamid solution, polyalkylimide solution, more data from prospective studies are available, with varying sizes of the study populations and follow-up periods for each product (TABLE 4).…”