The organic craze is constantly hitting new levels: first organic fruit, organic beef, organic beauty products … now organic breasts? Dallas-based surgeon Bill Johnson M.D. now offers organic breast augmentations at his clinics. Like us, you’re probably pretty curious about how organic breast implants work. EndlessBeauty.com talked to the humble, Texas Tech-educated Dr. Johnson for all the details.

The organic breast implant procedure combines liposuction with an autologous fat transfer. What does that mean?
Dr. Johnson explains that the fat needed to enlarge the breasts is removed from a problem area (outer thigh, stomach, etc.) using liposuction. The fat is then processed using careful harvesting techniques (to ensure the fat “lives”) and implanted back into the breast. The term autologous simply means that it is your own fat.

Why is it considered organic?
Dr. Johnson’s procedure is considered organic because there are no foreign objects being inserted into your body. The procedure uses your own fat, thus eliminating your risk of having a bad reaction to the procedure. Standard silicone or saline implants can cause a negative reaction in some patients.

What are the benefits of organic implants over silicone implants?
“There is no hardness, it’s natural, and your body won’t reject [the implant],” Johnson says. Silicone implants tend to become harder over time, but using fat from your body eliminates the possibility of them ever hardening.

What are the drawbacks of organic breast implants?
Dr. Johnson has seen only a few drawbacks with the procedure. For instance, if someone who is really thin and fit wants the procedure done, there may not be enough fat to give them the desired size of breast, whereas with implants you’re not limited to size.

Also, since fat has no shape, the newly introduced fat has to take the shape of the preexisting breast skin. Johnson adds that “sometimes the skin of women with small A cups won’t accept the fat, and women with large EE cups would need to have the skin reduced to give them their desired results.” This also is not a limit with traditional breast implants.

Do organic breast implants require regular “touch-ups”?
Predicting this is difficult, Dr. Johnson says, because the procedure is relatively new. There is no patient out there who had it done longer than 5 to 7 years ago. So having to have the breasts retouched for maintenance might become an issue later on; Dr. Johnson estimates it might be necessary every 10 years. He does add that 20 percent of his patients come back for bigger implants (more fat injected) after 6 months because they like their results so much.

What are the success rates? How popular is organic breast augmentation?
The procedure is fairly new, with only about 1-2 percent of all breast augmentations done this way. Dr. Johnson predicts that it will greatly increase in the next 3-5 years, and by the year 2020, the organic route will make up about 25-30 percent of all augmentation procedures.

Can other areas of the body have similar organic surgery procedures?
Dr. Johnson and his staff use the same liposuction and fat transfer process to fill in the face and the buttocks. Johnson actually says that organic butt implants are much better than traditional implants in the buttocks because implants can be felt when the patient sits down, but you can’t feel your own fat.

What is the cost of organic breast augmentation compared to traditional implants?
Organic breast augmentation, which includes platelet-rich plasma to ensure the fat survives, will cost on average anywhere from $4500 to $6500, depending on specials available at the time. Traditional silicone implants range from $5000 to $7000.

How did someone come up with this procedure?
The fat removed from liposuction procedures was just being thrown away. So why not remove it and use it to fill breasts?

Catherine Saunders is a staff writer and researcher at EndlessBeauty.com.