Droplets deform soft substrates near their contact lines. Using confocal microscopy, we measure the deformation of silicone gel substrates due to glycerol and fluorinated-oil droplets for a range of droplet radii and substrate thicknesses. For all droplets, the substrate deformation takes a universal shape close to the contact line that depends on liquid composition, but is independent of dropl...

Because lubricants may decrease trauma during coitus, it is hypothesized that they could aid in the prevention of HIV acquisition. Therefore, safety and anti-HIV-1 activity of over-the-counter (OTC) aqueous- (n = 10), lipid- (n = 2), and silicone-based (n = 2) products were tested. The rheological properties of the lipid-based lubricants precluded testing with the exception of explant safety te...

By definition, transdermal, drug-delivery applications mandate the use of adequate adhesive systems to not only keep the pharmaceutical agent in contact with the intended surface, but to facilitate sustained, controlled delivery. Engineers who must determine which silicone chemistry is optimal for their device have a few options. While pressuresensitive silicone adhesives (PSAs) have typically ...

Nucleation and growth methods offer scalable means of synthesizing colloidal particles with precisely specified size for applications in chemical research, industry, and medicine. These methods have been used to prepare a class of silicone gel particles that display a range of programmable properties and narrow size distributions. The acoustic contrast factor of these particles in water is esti...

Breast implants have been used for breast reconstruction and augmentation for the last 50 years. There are about 100,000 women in the United Kingdom with silicone implants, of which approximately 60% are for breast reconstruction following mastectomy [1]. Approximately one to two million women have undergone breast implantation in the United States [2]. The silicone Poly Implant Prothèse breast...

BACKGROUND The history of gluteoplasty augmentation includes only a few reported clinical series. OBJECTIVE We report our experience in performing gluteal augmentation using an intramuscular technique in 160 cases over 15 years. We also establish guidelines for performing this procedure. METHODS All patients were women, ranging in age from 18 to 65 years, who underwent intramuscular gluteop...

Since silicone gels were first used in the treatment of hypertrophic scars (HS) and keloids (K) they have proved useful and safe. Depending on the specific investigation, the application of silicone gels showed improvements in redness, itching, texture and thickness of HS and K in 60% to 100% of cases. Generally, texture was the first scar characteristic to change, followed by color and height....

LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this article, the participant should: 1. Be familiar with the medical uses of silicone. 2. Have a working knowledge of the most important epidemiologic studies regarding silicone gel-filled breast implants. 3. Be aware of the issues about which patients desiring breast augmentation or reconstruction with implants must be counseled.

Although textured silicone breast implants have been shown to reduce the incidence of capsular contracture, there is little evidence if this effect is maintained in the long term. It has been 10 years since the double-blind randomized trial in which 53 patients received either Mentor smooth (26) or textured silicone gel implants (27). Of the 14 patients who were not known to have developed a co...

The success in consumer electronics in the 1990’s will be focused on low-cost and high performance electronics. Recent advances in polymeric materials (plastics) and integrated circuit (IC) encapsulants have made high-reliability very-large-scale integration (VLSI) plastic packaging a reality. High-performance polymeric materials possess excellent electrical and physical properties for IC prote...