Aesthetic shoulder augmentation with silicone implants.

BACKGROUND

Men with narrower shoulders may appear less muscular than other men. Deltoid muscle underdevelopment or atrophy, a condition commonly linked to narrow shoulder issues, may be associated with congenital deformity, trauma, or neoplasm. For some people, regular exercise does not effectively develop the deltoid muscle region. Some people naturally have a smaller build than others. Even with developed deltoid muscles, these people still appear to be small. The authors have performed lateral shoulder augmentation with silicone implants for 4 years. Based on their experience, this procedure stands as a reliable solution for men with narrow shoulders.

METHODS

Lateral shoulder augmentation with silicone implants was developed and used for 81 patients between April 2009 and April 2013. None of the patients had shoulder deformities except for two patients (one patient with Poland's syndrome and one patient with Sprengel's deformity). The implants were placed through a horizontal axillary crease incision in a plane dissected between the deltoid fascia and muscle.

RESULTS

All augmentation or correction procedures have been met with complete patient approval. Five patients had minor complications such as hematoma and implement displacement. However, all these complications were resolved to the satisfaction of the patients.

CONCLUSION

When silicone implants are used to achieve purely aesthetic improvements, successful shoulder augmentation procedures are observed. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each submission to which Evidence-Based Medicine rankings are applicable. This excludes Review Articles, Book Reviews, and manuscripts that concern Basic Science, Animal Studies, Cadaver Studies, and Experimental Studies. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors http://www.springer.com/00266 .