Attempts to improve the look of the breast by augmenting its size and shape date back to the late 1880s. Among the materials inserted in breasts early on were ivory, glass balls, ground rubber, ox cartilage, and sponges, sacs, and tapes made from various synthetic substances. Later came rubber, Teflon, and silicone.

Some breasts were augmented by injection. In the 1940s, an array of liquid substances were injected into the breast, such as paraffin and petroleum jellies. Later, industrial silicone fluid and medical-grade silicones were injected into the breast by unlicensed practitioners, sometimes in staggering amounts. These methods of breast injection caused pain, skin discoloration, ulceration, infection, disfigurement, breast loss, liver problems, respiratory distress and pulmonary embolism, and even coma and death. The frequency of capsular contracture with presilicone implants may have reached 100%. Between 12,000 and 40,000 women received breast injections in Las Vegas before the procedure was declared a felony under Nevada state law in 1976.

In 1963, Dow Corning Corporation introduced the first silicone-gel-filled implant. The earliest Dow shells had a high-molecular-weight “gum ” filled with amorphous silica, and the gel in the implant was platinum cured. By the early 1970s, the Dow Corning Dacron-patched implant had achieved stunning popularity, accounting by one estimate for 88% of all implants sold.

These early implants had thick shells and gels. The silicone rubber elastomer shell usually had seams and a smooth surface. The inside contained a firm silicone gel and fluids. Rupture rates were low because of the tough shell, but complications from capsular contracture were common and gel-fluid seepage was probably considerable.