The purpose of any body implant is to replicate what is missing or deficient in size or volume. Most of the time this is done for muscle augmentation for most body implants with the exception of the breast. The other lone exception is that of the male testicle.
Testicle implants are designed to replace a lost testicle either through a congenital deformity or one lost through cancer removal or traumatic injury. There are two types of testicle implants based on their composition, saline-filled or solid silicone. Saline testicle implants are the only ones that are FDA-approved but some will eventually fail (deflate) if the containment bag develops a hole and will need replacement.
Solid silicone implants are used on a custom basis for testicular replacement. They have the advantage that they will never fail or need to be replaced because of device breakdown. The implant also costs less to use and does not involve the extra step of adding the filler material to it during surgery.
Unlike saline implants, the feel of silicone implants can also altered by changing its durometer. Durometer is a well known scale of measuring a material’s hardness particularly used in elastomer and rubber materials. This is defined as the material’s resistance to permanent deformation. By changing the degree of polymerization of the silicone, it can have variable degrees of softness.
While there is no definitive test for how hard or soft a testicle should feel, I have found that the soft durometer silicone sphere implant is the most natural feeling. What you don’t want is a testicle implant that feels too hard. Given the tight space between the legs, a soft implant has an advantage.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana