Breast Augmentation Risk Reduced With Keller Funnel

Breast augmentation surgery may be less risky using the Keller Funnel, to be unveiled at the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons later this week.

Surgery of any kind comes with risks. But, with a new device that has recently come on to the market, breast augmentation may be facing a huge revolution.

The Keller Funnel is a cone shaped device designed to help surgeons place a pre-filled silicone breast implant into the breast pocket through an incision as small as 3 centimeters. The cone is lined with a hydrophilic polymer coating, a special lubricant that – when moistened – makes the funnel so slippery, an implant can go into the wide end, out the small end, and right into place without ever being touched by human hands. The fact that the surgeon or nurse never have to touch the implant – even wearing surgical gloves in a sterile environment – reduces the risk of infection and capsular contracture.

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Using the device also reduces surgery time by minimizing the “fiddle factor”, reduces incision lengths, lessens trauma to patient tissue, and minimizes stress on the implant during surgery. Lowering these risks means fewer complications and a greater chance of success for breast augmentation patients.

Board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Kevin Keller invented the funnel after silicone breast implants were re-introduced to the U.S. market in late 2006. Describing himself as one of the “younger generation” surgeons, Dr. Keller was accustomed to making small incisions for saline implants, which are inflated after being inserted into position. However, as silicone gel implants came back onto the market, patients held the continued expectation of small incisions and less scarring with surgery. He conceived of the Keller Funnel in large part to keep his patients happy, he says.

“I can use the same size incisions I have always used for the saline [implants], I can put them in that same position, in the sub-muscular pocket, which is best for an implantthis is so fast and moves so quickly, you don’t have all that trauma to the skin edges,” says Dr. Keller, describing the benefits of the Keller Funnel.

Since 2007, nearly 150 patients have been treated using variations of the device to perform primary augmentation or augmentation with mastopexy. The Keller Funnel officially will be unveiled to the medical community at the annual conference of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons on October 23 – 27, 2009 in Seattle, Washington.