Dr Dennis Hammond on Breast Augmentation and Motiva Implants

Trish:Hey podcasters, I’m here today with Dr. Dennis Hammond. Dr. Hammond is a board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. He’s a plastic surgeon. He’s based in … What abouts are you based?

Dr. Dennis H.: Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Trish: Okay. Michigan. We’re here at the Advanced Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Workshop. Dr. Hammond has been talking on breast augmentations, things that can go wrong. We’re going to actually have a bit of a chat today about the Motiva implants. Dr. Hammond is highly sought after. He’s a big speaker on the circuit. He’s directly involved with Motiva from their FDA trials. Hopefully, you’ll tell us a little bit about it. I’m really excited about the Motiva implants. I think the next gen implants are great. Can you tell us a bit about them?

Dennis Hammond
Dr. Dennis H

Dr. Dennis H.: Absolutely. You hit the nail right on the head, next generation. Just by a bit of history, obviously, we had some troubles back in the ’90s with some concern about whether or not silicone implants made people sick. That caught us as plastic surgeons a bit off guard because we had not seen anything like that. But all of a sudden, now we had to prove it. We did over the ensuing 10 years. Many studies were done, large number of patients, basically showing that a breast implant really is nothing more than a spacer. It takes up space. It create what we would call a very pretty breast. But unfortunately, in the process of working through all of that, innovation in this area essentially stopped. In 2010 to 2015, we were basically using 1990 era implants. There was a real opportunity there for somebody to come along and make some changes in the way that implants are engineered, and how they perform. That’s exactly what’s happened with the Motiva implant. It’s one of the reasons it makes it such an exciting time.

Trish: I know that they’re not actually approved in the US, so you had to actually go to Costa Rica to even do the trials or something, haven’t you?

Dr. Dennis H.: Well, I needed to gain experience with the devices. There is an FDA trial that will be starting actually this coming March. I will be one of the sites that will be participating, doing some patients, accruing data to show the FDA that these are in fact safe. Now, that said, they’ve been using these implants for years in other countries, in South America, in Europe, and in Asia. I do many workshops around the world where we’ll do live surgery as part of an overall instruction educational event. We had a chance to use them many, many times. They really work amazingly well. I’m so stoked about how this is going to go in the future.

Trish: I can see, once they hit the American market, I think it’s going to have a huge impact. Do you agree? What impact do you see them having?

Dr. Dennis H.: You’re correct. Every surgeon I’ve ever talked to around the world that has had any volume of these devices in their practise has come away saying that they’re the best implants they’ve ever used, their revision rates. In other words, trying to help ladies that have troubles with their first operation are way down. It’s been performing beautifully. They’re really gaining what we call market share, in other words, surgeons are switching over to these devices pretty frequently. Then that will happen in the United States as well.

Trish: Well, I’m actually finding, because we’re a patient website, I’m actually finding patients coming to us saying, “Which doctors actually use the Motiva now?” It’s a bit of a selling point as well.

Dr. Dennis H.: I think so. I actually have a side practise in Dubai, of all places. We’re free to use them there. It’s a very popular implant in the Middle East at this point.

Trish: Yeah, right. Tell me, I know you’re speaking to about which implants to choose and why in minimising complications. Am I right, have I understood right when basically, using the Motiva implants, you won’t get capsular contractures, right? Or have I misunderstood?

Dr. Dennis H.: No, you understood I think the general tone of that discussion very well. I can’t say that you would never, ever get a capsular contracture. But from our standpoint as plastic surgeons, scientists trying to evaluate these things, the rate of capsular contracture is way lower, lower than anything that we’ve ever seen. Then more importantly, the rate of rapture is way low. Now, we have a device that functions really well aesthetically, and has a very low rate of complications associated with it. All of which is better for the patients.

Trish: Fantastic. From what I understand, they don’t have the anatomical ones yet, but they’re actually going through … That’s almost around the corner, isn’t it? They’ve just got round at the moment?

Dr. Dennis H.: Yeah, correct. The first introduction was what we call round implants. There is an anatomically shaped implant which is on the market right now, but is under strict control. In other words, only certain countries have been approved to use them. Those numbers of countries that are allowed to use the anatomical Motiva implant will expand over the next year, and it will become much more readily available.

Trish: Great. I’m really excited because I think the same old implants have been around for years. It’s actually almost time for a new implant to come on the market that was next generation.

Dr. Dennis H.: Absolutely. The way that I think about it, putting it in modern terms, the first iteration of breast implants was breast implant 1.0. Then when we went through the whole silicone crisis and we started to use anatomically shaped devices, that was breast implant 2.0. We were stuck at 2.0 for a long time. Now, this is the new iPhone. This is breast implant 3.0. It’s better than what we had before.

Trish: Fantastic. I know for a fact that you wouldn’t get involved if you didn’t think there was something better than what you’ve got. I’m pretty excited by … Well, actually I don’t want implants myself, but I’m excited for the ladies that want implants out there.

Dr. Dennis H.: Well, you know what? It’s not just cosmetically, they are also very useful in breast reconstruction. About half of my practise actually, is devoted to reconstructing the breast for ladies that have breast cancer. Complications in that population are even more common than in just a standard breast augmentation group. To utilise these devices there is going to be one of the major uses, I think. When we can help ladies deal with breast cancer and treatment as common as that is, that’s a good thing. This is going to be very important in that effort.

Trish: That’s so true. I hadn’t even thought of the reconstructions. But that’s so true. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it.

Dr. Dennis H.: Absolutely. I really enjoyed speaking with you. Thank you very much.

Trish: Lovely. Ladies, and maybe some gentlemen, if you want to find out a bit more about the Motiva implants, you could drop us an email to [email protected]. Otherwise, go to the website and just type in Motiva. Thank you so much.</span<

Dr. Dennis H.: Thank you.

Trish: Bye.

Further Reading About Breast Augmentation