1890---Paraffin injections are first used to augment the breasts, resulting in injections and lumps. This techniques was completely abandoned by 1920.

1920's---The first fat transplants were tried in the breasts, but most of the fat was reabsorbed and any fat that remained in the breasts became lumpy which made the breasts lopsided. This technique was abandoned by 1940.

1930's---The essential elements of today's breast lift procedure were developed.

1940's---Japanese prostitutes began using silicone injections to augment their breasts. This was later adopted by dancers in Las Vegas and San Francisco, but serious complications began to arise in the 1960's and the procedure fell out of favor.

1962---The first saline and silicone breast implants were developed by Texas plastic surgeons Frank Gerow and Thomas Cronin.

1974---The FDA is given the authority to regulate medical devices, including breast implants. Since saline and silicone breast implants were already on the market, it wasn't necessary for them to go through additional testing to obtain formal FDA approval.

1992---The FDA calls for a voluntary moratorium on silicone implants before recommending that silicone implants may still be available only for breast reconstruction patients or in women who are enrolled in scientific clinical trials.

2000---Saline breast implants receive formal FDA approval.

2006---Silicone breast implants receive formal FDA approval after one of the most intensive investigations of any medical device in history. Worldwide studies as well as numerous domestic scientific clinical trials showed silicone breast implants posed no significant risk to women.