The use of soluble steroids within inflatable breast prostheses.

A cortisone derivative (Solumedrol, Upjohn) has been added to the saline used to fill inflatable breast prostheses. In the experimental laboratory this drug passed slowly through the silicone rubber bag into a surrounding solvent. Clinically, this use has been evaluated in 100 cases of augmentation mammaplasty, with no evidence of wound complications attributable to the steroid. The influence of significant capsule formation (or "hardness") was less than 5 percent in this series.