World's lightest breast implants invented

File photo / NZ Herald

A revolutionary new breast implant - the lightest ever created - is designed to avoid the kind of sagging that can occur after time with conventional cosmetic breasts.

The new implants, called B-Lite, weigh 30 per cent less than any others on the market.

Up to now, implants have been made of weighty silicon gel or a saline water solution.

The new type consists of a silicone shell filled with minute balls of silicate, a solid form of silicone gel, but much lighter.

Inventor Dael Govrin, an Israeli biochemical engineer, said: "Breast implants haven't got any lighter in weight since they were first introduced in 1962. There has been no change in what goes into an implant since day one.

"We know that after ten or 15 years, these implants will need replacing. When you put an implant in, it is a dead weight. That's why they start to sag after a number of years and why women get through two or three sets if they want to maintain good-looking breasts.

"We think it is important to make an implant as light as possible."

The average conventional implant weighs just over 1lb, while the average real breast is slightly lighter than that. The new implant weighs a third less than than the conventional type.

Nearly 40 Israeli women have already been fitted with the new breasts and say they hardly notice they are there.

Mr Govrin was challenged to create the new implants by his brother Jacky, an Israeli plastic surgeon.

Dael Govrin said: "The feedback from our first patients is extremely positive. Some of the women are having implants for the first time and they say they are lighter than their own natural breasts.

"The breast still move naturally - from side to side - as they would if you saw a young woman on a beach walking along in a bikini.

"Any lighter and they would have taken off. And that wouldn't have been natural."

Mayaan Peled, 27, from Tel Aviv, who has had the surgery, said: "My boobs were sagging because I had lost an enormous amount of weight. The only things that sagged after shedding 40 kilos [88lb] were my boobs.

"The result of the surgery is fantastic. I don't feel as if my breasts are there. They are fuller than before but not as heavy and I'm still wearing the same-size bra."

The new implants have been given European 'CE Mark' approval.

- Mail On Sunday