The Perfect Female Body Image

"We are reporting an analysis of the largest prospective study to date on silicone breast implant safety. We are sharing critical information on complication rates and rare associations with systemic harms. This data gives women important safety information about silicone breast implants to have real expectations and to help them choose what is right for them."
"Despite abundant data collection, and open public access, the LPAS [large postapproval studies] database had not yet been analyzed and reported."
"These findings are associations compared to the general population and determining why these associations are observed or any causation requires further study."
"To resolve the remaining uncertainty in the evidence base, it is important that this data be analyzed in an unbiased manner. It remains the plastic surgery community's duty to provide definitive evidence for the risks associated with breast implants."
“This study did not report a direct link or causative effect between implants and these diseases. It is important to understand a limitation of the study was that some diseases were reported by patients and not necessarily diagnosed by a physician. This is important safety information for women to consider when thinking about cosmetic or reconstructive surgery with breast implants. It also underscores the need for more research in this area."
"It’s vital that women with implants be aware of the potential risks, so they can identify symptoms early and consult with their doctors. Fortunately, many of the diseases and conditions that have an association with implants are quite rare, so awareness is that much more important."
"Patients are seeking an assurance of safety. The FDA has deemed breast implants reasonably safe and effective, and being educated about potential complications is an important part of good health. All surgical procedures and implantable devices have potential complications and side effects. As plastic surgeons, it’s our responsibility to continually monitor the long-term safety of breast implants and make sure that all patients and physicians are aware of any possible adverse outcomes. This ensures that patients and their healthcare providers can weigh the potential risks and benefits together to make the best possible decisions on augmentation and reconstruction."
Mark W. Clemens, MD, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston

What price beauty? For some there is no cost too dear. Women in Latin America in particular accept plastic surgery as a rite of passage as a woman, a desirable woman, a woman whose bodily features are to be admired, to gain attention, to be proud of herself. To these women their natural endowments need not necessarily represent the end result of what they can aspire to physically. It has become in many quarters, a classic formula when a teen enters her pre-adult years, to plan for breast augmentation surgery and for some, why stop there?

Still, it is in the United States that a greater percentage of women choose to undergo plastic surgery to amend errors that nature endowed them with. Simply put, the gold standard of plastic surgery is what takes place in the United States, followed by Brazil, and other countries where women see themselves not quite finished unless and until they have taken the necessary steps to pad their natural endowments so that their figures more closely resemble the ultimate ideal in female pulchritude.

Nearly all the cases of breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma have been linked to textured implants like this one.    CreditSouthern Illinois University, via Science Source

Silicone gel implants were associated with some horror stories in years past, from slippage to leaking, to infections and worse. A newly published independent analysis concluded with the suggestion that there are health problems associated more commonly with silicone gel implants; problems rare, it would seem, but troubling to no end for those unfortunate enough to be one of those whose breast implants are the cause of a medical condition.

Close to 100,000 women were included in the study published in the journal Annals of Surgery, representing the largest long-term safety analysis of silicone implants since 2006, the year the Food and Drug Administration permitted their re-entry on the American market following safety concerns leading to a 14-year gap. "We completely stand behind this study and we do feel it's our best data to date", assured Dr. Clemens, plastic surgeon, at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Women who have undergone breast cancer surgery with the removal of a breast understandably often choose to undergo reconstruction in an effort to resume a normal life and view of themselves as resembling how they had presented prior to surgery. Roughly 400,000 women in the United States choose to undergo surgical implant, mostly with silicone rather than saline. Of that number, three-quarters represent women who aspire to have larger breasts.

The website of the Food and Drug Administration warns women that "Breast implants are not lifetime devices", pointing out that up to 20 percent of women who have chosen to enlarge their breasts with silicone implants face removal within eight to ten years resulting from complications that include infections, wrinkling, scarring, pain, swelling and rupture of the implant. According to the FDA there is as well a small but increased rare lymphoma risk [type of cancer].

After learning she had breast cancer, Raylene Hollrah of Hermann, Mo., had a double mastectomy. But then cancer struck again — caused by the implants used to rebuild her chest.  Credit: Whitney Curtis for The New York Times

When the FDA approved implant devices from two manufacturers in 2006 it was with the proviso that the manufacturers conduct studies on how use of the implants affected women's lives. These reports contained in an FDA database were used by the researchers for their analysis. Women with silicone implants appeared to suffer greater rates of Sjogren syndrome, an immune system disorder, as well as a connective tissue disorder called scleroderma, and melanoma; skin cancer; albeit rarely.

Problems such as fibromyalgia appeared lower among women wearing implants, and birth defects and stillbirths were inconsistent and inconclusive. To add to the confusion a  higher rate of rheumatoid arthritis linked to one of the silicone brands, but with another a lower rate was seen. Dr. Andrea Pusic, plastic surgery chief at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, president-elect of the Plastic Surgery Foundation was unimpressed with the report, considering its potential to create greater anxiety than insight.

That problems associated with silicone implants are real is beyond doubt, however. And that women are risking real inconvenience in their lives should they need to have serial implants over the course of their lives if they remain committed to breast augmentation, let alone facing the onset of some quite life-disruptive diseases, seems to make the choice for implants an irrational, rather than a considered condition of vanity.

Some of the complications and adverse outcomes of a boob job include:

• Additional surgeries, with or without removal of the device
• Capsular contracture– scar tissue that forms around the implant and squeezes the implant
• Breast pain
• Changes in nipple and breast sensation
• Rupture with deflation of saline-filled implants
• Rupture with or without symptoms (silent rupture) of silicone gel-filled implants

According to the FDA, as many as 20 percent of women who have a boob job need their implants removed within 8 to 10 years.