Protective funnels devices are commonly used to deliver implants in primary breast augmentation (BA) yet there is a paucity of evidence-based data describing their safety in the literature.
The purpose of the study was to assess the safety of protective funnels in primary BA within the first 30-days postoperatively.
This multi-center, Level 3 study retrospectively reviewed the surgical records of 380 consecutive patients (760 breasts) who underwent primary BA by nine board-certified plastic surgeons using the iNPLANT Funnel (Proximate Concepts LLC, Allendale, NJ, USA) for implant delivery between November 2019 and December 2020. Data was collected pertaining to demographics, implant information, surgery details, and postoperative complications.
The mean patient age was 33 years and 76% patients had a BMI < 25. Of this cohort, 11.4% were smokers, 0.8% had diabetes, and 83% were ASA class 1. All patients received smooth implants with a median volume of 375cc. A total of 8 (2.1%) complications were reported including: 3 hematomas (0.79%), 1 seroma (0.26%) and 1 superficial infection (0.26%). No patient required explantation. We identified ASA class, BMI, surgery duration, and implant size as potential risk factors.
The data suggest that use of protective funnels, such as the iNPLANT Funnel, in primary BA are a safe option when used according to the manufacturer’s IFU. Its use led to a low infection rate (0.26%) and a complication rate (2.1%) consistent with the average reported in the literature (2%-2.5%). 1 Implications for clinical practice are encouraging and future research will include a prospective analysis with a larger case series and potentially a control group.

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