Are Silicone Breast Implants Dangerous?
As silicone implants have become available again for breast augmentation since late 2006, they have become favored by most women over saline implants.Their soft and natural feel makes them the preferred choice today in breast augmentation.
I have seen many women come in for breast augmentation consults that are initially dead set against silicone breast implants and want saline implants, only to change their minds once they have accurate information. In talking to patients over the past two years, here are some of the most common myths surrounding silicone gel breast implants.
1) SILICONE BREAST IMPLANTS CAN CAUSE HEALTH PROBLEMS AND MAKE ME SICK. Large numbers of breast implant women have been studied and it has been concluded that they do not cause autoimmune disease. The fear that silicone breast implants causes health problem has been extensively studied and dismissed. It is the primary reason that silicone breast implants were allowed back on the market by the FDA. Silicone breast implants are one of the most extensively studied medical devices in the history of mankind. Yes it is true that there have been a very small number of women with silicone breast implants that developed autoimmune diseases but the actual rate of this occurrence is no greater than that of women who have never had breast implants. Women of the ages 20 to 45, which is the primary age for breast augmentation surgery, have the highest rates of autoimmune diseases.(ages 20 -45) So it would not be unexpected that the two will occasionally occur in the same patient. But autoimmune diseases are not cased by silicone breast implants.
2) IF THE SILCINE BREAST IMPLANT RUPTURES, IT WILL SPREAD THROUGHOUT MY BODY. Today’s silicone gel implants are much more like jello than any liquid. The silicone particles are gelled together so that they move as sticky mass, not flowing like a liquid. As a result, if the implant suffered a large tear, the mass of silicone simply sits there. If you squeeze on a silicone implant that has been cut with scissors, you will see that it comes bulging out of the tear only to be retracted back into the implant when the pressure is removed. Checmiaclly, we all have silicone particles throughout our bodies in microscopic amounts due to a lifetime of exposure to that element. But women with silicone breast implants today have not been shown to have substantially higher levels than those who don’t have implants.
3) SILICONE BREAST IMPLANTS BECOME HARD OVER TIME. When a breast with an indwelling implant becomes hard, it is known as capsular contracture. While not well understood, the natural scar tissue around a breast implant may thicken and get hard over time. In days gone by with old-style silicone implants, which were placed above the chest muscle, capsular contracture was common. When the body is exposed to small amounts of free silicone particles (known as bleeding through the implant) it will react by forming more scar tissue. In today’s breast augmentation surgery, the combination of newer silicone implants which have very negligible amounts of bleeding and the implant being typically placed under the muscle, have reduced the lifelong risk of capsular contracture significantly. While that risk always exists, and it is higher when placed above the chest muscle, the occurrence of capsular contracture is not common.
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