Silicone Breast Implants and Your Body: What's the Real Deal?
You have probably heard a lot of back and forth about the safety of silicone-filled breast implants. The good news is that these implants have been largely exonerated from concerns that they increase your risk of breast cancer and autoimmune/connective tissue diseases such as lupus and arthritis. Silicone-filled breast implants are now an option for women who wish to undergo breast augmentation.
As of November 2006, silicone breast implants are approved for women of all ages who need breast reconstruction and for women ages 22 and older for breast augmentation.
The best way to make an informed decision about what type of implant to choose for your breast augmentation is to carefully weigh, and understand, the advantages and disadvantages of the available implant options.
What Is Silicone? A Brief Chemistry Lesson
Silicon is the second most abundant element on the planet. In nature, silicon combines with oxygen to produce the many types of silicas that are part of the environment, including sand, quartz, and minerals. In fact, silicon and oxygen together comprise three-quarters of the Earth's crust. Silicone was used in prehistoric times to create tools and weapons.
Silicone became a staple ingredient in commercial products in the early 1940s. Scientists and chemists ultimately found ways to use it in a host of products in just about every industry known to man — including the food processing, textile, aerospace and medical industries.
While people often think “breast implants” when they hear the word “silicone,” this ubiquitous polymer is also used to augment or reconstruct cheeks, chins, brow bones, calves, pectoral muscles and joints. Silicone products, in their solid form, have been safely used within the body for years.
Silicone Controversy
So how did all the controversy regarding silicone breast implants take shape?
Breast implant manufacturers first came up with the idea of silicone-filled implants with thin shells in the 1970s and 1980s. Their earlier incarnation had thicker shells, so the breasts did not look natural. The new thinner shell solved this problem. Unfortunately, it also made them more likely to rupture — and leak.
This is when all the trouble started.
It was in the 1980s that reports of silicone gel leaking out of the implant shells first surfaced. The gel migrated into the pocket containing the implant and, occasionally, into other areas of the body. A disproportionate number of women with these implants seemed to develop autoimmune diseases and connective tissue diseases such as lupus and arthritis. What followed was a host of class action lawsuits and several million-dollar judgments against implant manufacturers. The controversy surrounding silicone gel implants went on for years. (For more detailed information, see our timeline of the key events in the history of breast augmentation here).
In 1991, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked implant manufacturers to submit evidence that silicone-gel-filled breast implants were safe and effective. At that time, the manufacturers could not provide the required information. In January 1992, the FDA called for a voluntary moratorium on the use of silicone breast implants. Later that year, the agency lifted this ban, stating that silicone-gel-filled breast implants should be available only for women seeking breast reconstruction after breast cancer treatment or revision of an existing breast surgery. Implant makers were told to conduct rigorous studies on women in these categories who received the implants.
The Institute of Medicine stepped in soon thereafter. This well-respected organization concluded that silicone breast implants may be responsible for localized problems such as hardening or scarring of breast tissue, but they do not cause systemic diseases.
In November 2006, the FDA approved the sale of two brands of silicone-filled breast implants. Allergan received approval to market its Inamed® Silicone-Filled Breast Implants and Mentor Corporation received approval to market its Mentor MemoryGel™ Silicone Gel-filled Breast Implants. However, the FDA is requiring that both of these manufacturers continue to study their respective implants.
Silicone-gel-filled breast implants are now considered a safe and natural option for the hundreds of thousands women seeking cosmetic breast augmentation.
Silicone Breast Implants: Gel Migration
There is some concern that the silicone gel will migrate if the implant should rupture. This errant gel could cause some local problems such as granulomas (small areas of inflammation within the tissue).
Your Silicone Breast Implants: Be Vigilant
Women may also choose saline-filled breast implants. If a saline implant ruptures, it is immediately apparent, as the implant will deflate, but the salt water will be harmlessly absorbed by the body. It is not always evident if a silicone gel implant ruptures, because it leaks out gradually. Women with silicone-gel-filled implants need a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam of their breasts three years after their surgery, and then every two years, to check for these silent ruptures.
Cohesive gel, or “gummy bear,” implants, if or when they are approved by the FDA, may help alleviate some of the lingering concerns about silicone gel migration. These implants have the consistency of a gummy bear. If they were to rupture, the gel wouldn't migrate. Stay tuned.
Breast Implants 4 You provides detailed information about breast augmentation surgery, including breast augmentation before and afters and details about breast implants cost.
