Best Breast Implants UK: Comparing Mentor, Motiva and Silimed Brands

Choosing the right breast implant is one of the most important decisions in any breast augmentation journey. The brand, surface technology, gel formulation, and shape all play a role in determining how your result looks, feels, and performs over time. Breast augmentation remains the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure in the UK, and with several premium implant brands on the market — Mentor, Motiva, Silimed, Nagor, and Polytech among them — it’s natural to want to understand which are the best breast implants and how they differ. This guide gives an honest, in-depth comparison, and explains which implants Centre for Surgery uses as standard and why.

At Centre for Surgery, we have worked with many of the leading implant brands over the years, and our implant offering has evolved as the technology and clinical evidence base has developed. For many years, Mentor and Motiva were the two primary brands used at our clinic, and both remain excellent options with strong safety records and distinct clinical strengths. More recently, however, we have transitioned to using Silimed implants as our standard — a decision driven by the clinical evidence behind Silimed’s surface technology, particularly their polyurethane foam-coated range, and the unmatched breadth of options their BioDesign product line offers.

What Makes a “Best” Breast Implant?

There is no single best breast implant brand for everyone — the best implant is the one matched to your anatomy, tissue characteristics, and aesthetic goals. That said, a high-quality implant should meet several benchmarks: regulatory approval (CE Mark for Europe, and ideally FDA approval), a long clinical track record with published safety data, a low rate of complications such as capsular contracture, a good manufacturer warranty, and a range of profiles and surfaces broad enough to tailor the result. The brands covered below all meet these standards; the differences lie in what each emphasises.

Mentor Breast Implants: The Established Standard

Mentor has been manufacturing breast implants for over 40 years and is one of the most widely recognised names in the global implant market. Their products are FDA-approved and carry the CE Mark for European use. Mentor implants have been used in millions of procedures worldwide, and their long clinical track record is one of their most significant strengths.

The Mentor Range

Mentor’s most widely used product in the UK is the MemoryGel Xtra — a round, highly cohesive silicone gel implant with a textured surface, available in moderate, moderate plus, high, and ultra-high profile variants. Their shaped implant range — the CPG (Contour Profile Gel) — offers a firm anatomical option that is particularly well-suited to patients who want a defined, structured teardrop shape with strong upper pole support.

Mentor’s gel cohesivity comes in three levels, allowing surgeons to select the consistency most appropriate for each patient’s tissue characteristics and desired result. The firmer gel options offer more structural support and pronounced projection, while softer variants provide a more natural feel and movement.

Who Mentor Suits Best

Mentor implants are a strong choice for patients seeking predictable, well-evidenced results with a broad range of familiar profiles. Surgeons with many years of experience with Mentor will have deep familiarity with how the product performs across a wide variety of anatomies. Patients who want a firmer, more structured shaped result, or who want the reassurance of a very long-established product with extensive published safety data, are often well-served by Mentor. Read our full Mentor breast implants guide for more.

Motiva Breast Implants: Innovation and Natural Movement

Motiva is a more recently established brand but one that has rapidly built a strong reputation for innovation — particularly in surface technology and implant dynamics. Their sixth-generation nano-surface technology, combined with the ergonomic gel formulation used in their Ergonomix range, positions Motiva as a strong choice for patients prioritising the most natural feel and movement.

The Motiva Range

Motiva’s three main product lines address different patient goals. The Ergonomix is their signature offering — a round implant with an ergonomic gel that behaves differently depending on the patient’s position. Standing upright, it assumes a teardrop-like shape. Lying down, it flattens naturally, mimicking the behaviour of natural breast tissue in a way no conventional round implant can fully replicate. For patients who prioritise the most natural appearance and movement above all else, the Ergonomix is one of the most compelling options available.

The Progressive Gel range offers a firmer gel consistency with greater upper pole fullness — a good choice for patients who want a more prominent, rounded result. The Progressive Gel Plus pushes this further, delivering maximum upper pole projection for patients seeking the fullest possible outcome.

Motiva also incorporates Q Inside Safety Technology — a microchip embedded within the implant that allows traceability and verification throughout the implant’s lifetime. This is a meaningful differentiator for patients who want the reassurance of electronic tracking and easy identification of their specific implant if needed.

Who Motiva Suits Best

Motiva is an excellent choice for patients who prioritise natural movement and feel, those who are particularly concerned about the appearance of implants when lying down or moving, and those for whom implant traceability matters. The Ergonomix range in particular tends to appeal to patients who are concerned about achieving the most realistic, dynamic result possible. Read our full Motiva breast implants guide for more.

Silimed Breast Implants: Our Standard Choice at Centre for Surgery

Silimed is a Brazilian-founded implant manufacturer with over 45 years of history, CE Mark approval for European use, and FDA approval for both round and anatomical implants. Having transitioned to using Silimed implants as our standard at Centre for Surgery, we believe they represent the most comprehensive and clinically compelling offering currently available in the UK market.

The primary reason Silimed has become our implant of choice is their surface technology. Silimed is the only breast implant manufacturer in the world to offer four distinct surface options — Pure Polyurethane, True Texture, Soft Plus, and Smooth — and it is the polyurethane foam-coated range in particular that sets them apart from every other brand on the market.

Pure Polyurethane — The Lowest Capsular Contracture Rate Available

Silimed has been manufacturing polyurethane foam-coated implants for over 35 years — longer than any other manufacturer. The polyurethane coating adheres to surrounding tissue through vulcanisation, avoiding the risk of double capsule formation while providing exceptional positional stability. Critically, it delivers a published capsular contracture rate of just 1% over ten years — the lowest of any implant surface type currently available. A prospective five-year clinical study covering 342 patients reported zero cases of capsular contracture and zero implant ruptures over the follow-up period.

For patients where capsular contracture risk is a primary concern — whether due to previous augmentation, revision surgery, or individual risk factors — polyurethane implants have the strongest published evidence for reducing contracture. They are, however, a textured surface with a reported association with BIA-ALCL, so the trade-off should be discussed with your surgeon.

The BioDesign Range — Biotype-Matched Sizing

Silimed’s BioDesign product line takes a fundamentally different approach to implant selection. Rather than matching implants to a volume category, BioDesign matches the implant’s dimensions to each patient’s individual biotype — their chest width, height, and tissue characteristics. Five distinct profiles and up to four projections per profile across round, anatomical, and conical implant shapes allow for a degree of surgical tailoring that is simply not achievable with a standard volume-based approach. This philosophy aligns closely with how the most experienced breast surgeons think about implant selection, and it is one of the reasons our surgeons find Silimed’s range particularly useful across a wide variety of patient anatomies. You can read more about this in our dedicated Silimed breast implants guide.

Who Silimed Suits Best

Silimed implants are suitable for the vast majority of patients presenting for primary breast augmentation, and their range of surface options and biotype-matched sizing makes them particularly valuable in more complex cases. Patients with a history of capsular contracture, those undergoing revision surgery, those with asymmetric or unusual chest dimensions, and those seeking the most evidence-backed minimisation of long-term complications are all especially well-served by Silimed’s offering.

Other Breast Implant Brands: Nagor and Polytech

Mentor, Motiva, and Silimed are the brands most commonly discussed, but two others are worth knowing about as you research the best breast implants.

Nagor is a British manufacturer, part of the GC Aesthetics group, that has produced breast implants for several decades. Nagor implants are CE-marked and known for reliable quality at a competitive position in the market. They are a respectable option, though their surface and sizing range is not as broad as Silimed’s.

Polytech is a German manufacturer notable for its B-Lite lightweight implants, which use hollow microspheres within the gel to reduce implant weight by around 30%. For patients having very large implants, or those concerned about the long-term effect of implant weight on tissue and posture, the lightweight option is a genuine point of difference. Polytech also offers polyurethane-coated implants similar in concept to Silimed’s.

How Do the Brands Compare?

Each of these brands is a premium, CE-marked, clinically validated option — none of them is a poor choice. The differences lie in the specific characteristics each brand emphasises and the patient profiles each is best suited to.

Where Mentor leads is in its longevity and surgeon familiarity. Four decades of widespread clinical use means an enormous body of published safety data and a large community of surgeons who know the product intimately. For patients who are particularly reassured by the longest possible clinical track record, Mentor’s position is unmatched.

Where Motiva leads is in natural movement and implant dynamics. The Ergonomix range’s position-dependent behaviour is genuinely distinctive, and the integration of microchip traceability through Q Inside technology sets Motiva apart on the innovation front. For patients whose primary concern is the most natural appearance and movement — and particularly those who worry about how implants look when lying down or exercising — Motiva remains an excellent choice.

Where Silimed leads is in surface technology breadth and the clinical evidence behind capsular contracture prevention. No other manufacturer offers four surface options, and no other surface type in the market has published contracture rates as low as Silimed’s polyurethane range. The BioDesign sizing philosophy also offers a more anatomically precise approach to implant selection than the volume-based catalogues of competing brands. These are the reasons Silimed has become our standard choice at Centre for Surgery.

What About PIP Implants? A Note on Implant Safety

Anyone researching breast implants will eventually come across PIP implants, and it’s worth addressing directly for reassurance. PIP (Poly Implant Prothèse) was a French manufacturer whose implants were banned in 2010 after it emerged the company had fraudulently used non-medical-grade industrial silicone, resulting in higher rupture rates. The scandal understandably shook public confidence in breast implants.

It’s important to know that PIP implants have not been available anywhere in the UK for well over a decade, and the industry has changed significantly since. All implants used today — including every brand discussed here — are made from medical-grade cohesive silicone, are CE-marked and regulated, and are subject to far stricter oversight. Modern cohesive “gummy bear” gel also holds together even if the shell is damaged, rather than leaking. Centre for Surgery has never used PIP implants. If you have older implants and are unsure of the brand, book a consultation: your surgeon will assess them and arrange imaging only if it’s needed. Our breast implant check guide explains when a scan is worthwhile.

Silicone vs Saline: What Implants Are Used in the UK?

Modern breast implants used in the UK are silicone gel, not saline. Silicone implants have a cohesive gel that closely resembles natural breast tissue in look and feel. Saline implants — a silicone shell filled with sterile salt water — are no longer routinely used in the UK, as they are more prone to rupture, can deflate over time, and tend to feel less natural. All the brands covered here supply cohesive silicone gel implants.

Round vs Teardrop, and Choosing Profile and Size

Beyond the brand, three further choices shape your result: implant shape, profile, and size. Round implants give more upper-pole fullness and are the more popular choice; teardrop (anatomical) implants have more fullness at the bottom to mimic the natural slope of the breast. Profile determines how far the implant projects from the chest, and size is matched to your frame and goals. These are decisions best made with your surgeon using sample implants and sizing. Our guides on round versus teardrop shapes, implant profile and projection, and choosing the right implant size cover each in detail.

Why We Use Silimed as Our Standard Implant

The transition to Silimed as our standard implant at Centre for Surgery was not a commercial decision — it was a clinical one. Our surgeons reviewed the available evidence on surface technology, capsular contracture rates, and implant sizing philosophy, and concluded that Silimed’s offering gives the greatest proportion of our patients the best combination of long-term safety and surgical flexibility.

The polyurethane surface in particular has a compelling evidence base that no other surface technology can match for capsular contracture prevention. Given that capsular contracture remains one of the most common and distressing complications in breast augmentation, we believe using the implant with the lowest published contracture rate as standard is simply the right clinical decision for our patients.

We now use Silimed implants exclusively. With four surfaces, round, anatomical and conical shapes, and sizing matched to your chest dimensions rather than a volume catalogue, the range lets your surgeon tailor the implant to your anatomy without needing a second brand.

How the Right Implant Is Chosen for You

Understanding the differences between implant brands is a useful starting point, but the right implant for any individual patient is determined through a face-to-face consultation — not a comparison article. At Centre for Surgery, your consultation with a GMC-registered surgeon will involve a thorough assessment of your chest dimensions, tissue characteristics, skin quality, and aesthetic goals. Your surgeon will recommend the implant brand, surface, profile, and size that best matches your anatomy and what you are trying to achieve, explaining the clinical reasoning behind every recommendation.

Our surgeons use the gold-standard inframammary incision, placed discreetly in the natural breast fold, and the Keller Funnel as standard — an advanced “no-touch” insertion technique that allows smaller incisions and reduces the implant’s contact with skin during placement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Book a Breast Augmentation Consultation at Centre for Surgery

If you are considering breast augmentation and would like to discuss your implant options in detail, we invite you to book a consultation at Centre for Surgery’s Baker Street clinic in London. Our GMC-registered surgeons will guide you through every aspect of the decision — from implant brand and surface to size, profile, and surgical approach — with honesty, expertise, and your long-term wellbeing at the centre of every recommendation. Our clinic holds a “Good” rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

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Phone: 020 7993 4849 | Email: contact@centreforsurgery.com | Address: 95-97 Baker Street, London W1U 6RN