Breast implants are like cell phones – much loved, but a problem
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Ilena Rose
Jun 25, 2008, 1:37:40 AM6/25/08
to Breast-Impla...@googlegroups.com
Note From Health Lover, Ilena Rosenthal
http://ilenarose.blogspot.com
Interesting Blog! Also important to note ... that the cell phone &
vaccination & breast implant industries all paid the junkscience
PR teams to keep their hallucination of 'safety' going for as long as
possible. Places on this blog to vote & comment.
Breast implants are like cell phones – much loved, but a problem
http://inyourface.freedomblogging.com/2008/06/24/breast-implants-are-like-cell-phones-–-much-loved-but-a-problem/
June 24th, 2008, 9:17 am · 3 Comments · posted by Colin Stewart
Survey: Are breast implants a health hazard?
Breast implants are the nation's No. 1 plastic surgery procedure for
women despite their long-term record of ruptures, pain and other
failures.
They also remain a sore subject for many women, as Duke University
plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Zenn learned last week when he described
silicone and saline implants as "equally safe," which provoked a storm
of angry comments.
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/your-plastic-surgery-questions-answered/
Despite their critics, breast implants are like cell phones — embraced
by enthusiastic consumers who are willing to overlook the problems
they cause.
With cell phones, the problems tend to be dropped calls and inaudible
conversations. With breast implants, the problems range from minor
flaws in breast appearance to major health crises that require medical
intervention.
Also like cell phones, breast implants routinely need to be replaced,
as "Real Housewife of Orange County" Tamra Barney (pictured) did last
year, to put an end to back and neck pains.
The average cell-phone user replaces a headset every one or two years,
and breast-implant patients typically need to remove or replace their
implants after 10 or 20 years. Don't expect breast implants to last a
lifetime, says the Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA tells women with silicone implants they need to have an MRI
scan every two to three years to make sure the implants haven't
ruptured, spilling the silicone gel into the body. The agency has also
required implant makers Allergan and Mentor to conduct 10-year studies
of whether implants are affecting patients' health.
Nationwide, about 27,000 woman had breast implants removed last year,
compared to 348,000 who had their breasts enlarged with new implants,
according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Implants are so popular that women typically replace defective ones
with new implants. Women don't simply remove them, says Dr. Donald
Altman, chief of plastic surgery at Irvine Regional Hospital and
Medical Center. Most would find their chest unattractive after
removing implants, the FDA suggests, citing loss of breast tissue,
dimpling, puckering and wrinkling.
Zenn unwittingly stepped into the fray last week in a New York Times
blog where he answered various questions, including one about the
safety of implants. He said:
The Institute of Medicine found that much of the concerns were hoopla
— except for the problems that they both have: rupture, scarring, and
infection. Most plastic surgeons and patients will tell you silicone
just feels better. Implants are replaced when one of the above
problems occurs.
The provoked a barrage of critical comments, amid some supportive
ones. For example, one woman wrote:
How long will it be before the medical profession finally realizes
that breast implants are toxic to the human body???? It infuriates me
to read doctors that are not willing to admit that silicone is a toxic
substance. How many women have to suffer needlessly, and spend
thousands of dollars trying to get well, and all because implants are
deemed "safe". Thousands of women have been harmed by breast implants.
Plastic surgeon and blogger Dr. Rob Oliver commented:
You'd think he was advocating beating your wife as nearly 5 out of
every 6 comments are by breast implant "survivors" wailing alternately
on his intelligence, character, and ethics. Ah, the wonders of the
Internet to organize like-minded partisans into rapid response teams!
Much like the autism vaccine conspiracy theorists, the breast implant
siliconistas come off looking out of touch with such reflexive outrage
on command, particularly when you recognize the kind of heavy duty
microsurgical and reconstructive surgery practice that Dr. Zenn is
known for at Duke. He's one of the good guys for Pete's sake!
There's intelligent reasons to object to breast augmentation surgery,
but claiming it caused symptom or disease "X,Y,Z…." is a dead horse
that's been buried several times over!
Oliver provides links to many studies about implant safety. His
summary from last year, after the FDA lifted its ban on silicone
implants, stated:
The body of literature continues to be remarkably consistent in that
the weight of the epidemiological evidence does not support a causal
association between breast implants and breast or any other type of
cancer, definite or atypical connective tissue disease, adverse
offspring effects, or neurological diseases.
He also states:
There are, to be fair, some competing studies which are smaller than
these which have in fact suggested some problems. The problem is that
they are usually smaller, plagued by selection bias (i.e. patients'
self-reporting problems in unselected patients tend to inflate
reported connection, while studies with preferred
unselected/randomized groups have consistently failed to corroborate
this), and have not been easily reproduced.
On the other side, the advocacy site Beauty and the Breast commented
about the dispute:
I can't tell you how many times I have heard a woman say "I went to my
plastic surgeon to get a breast lift and he/she talked me into
implants," or "I went to my plastic surgeon to have my implants
removed and my he/she told me that I would look terrible and tried to
talk me into just having them replaced," or "my plastic surgeon told
me implants are perfectly safe and I believe him because he does this
every day."
Well, ladies, this article and these reasons are why your plastic
surgeon says these things. As we have already pointed out here at
Beauty and the Breast, breast plants are an annuity medicine, you have
to keep coming back for more and more. More and more money out of your
pocket and into the plastic surgeon's bank account.
Plastic surgeons will do anything to keep their schedule full,
especially during these difficult economic times.
http://ilenarose.blogspot.com
Interesting Blog! Also important to note ... that the cell phone &
vaccination & breast implant industries all paid the junkscience
PR teams to keep their hallucination of 'safety' going for as long as
possible. Places on this blog to vote & comment.
Breast implants are like cell phones – much loved, but a problem
http://inyourface.freedomblogging.com/2008/06/24/breast-implants-are-like-cell-phones-–-much-loved-but-a-problem/
June 24th, 2008, 9:17 am · 3 Comments · posted by Colin Stewart
Survey: Are breast implants a health hazard?
Breast implants are the nation's No. 1 plastic surgery procedure for
women despite their long-term record of ruptures, pain and other
failures.
They also remain a sore subject for many women, as Duke University
plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Zenn learned last week when he described
silicone and saline implants as "equally safe," which provoked a storm
of angry comments.
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/your-plastic-surgery-questions-answered/
Despite their critics, breast implants are like cell phones — embraced
by enthusiastic consumers who are willing to overlook the problems
they cause.
With cell phones, the problems tend to be dropped calls and inaudible
conversations. With breast implants, the problems range from minor
flaws in breast appearance to major health crises that require medical
intervention.
Also like cell phones, breast implants routinely need to be replaced,
as "Real Housewife of Orange County" Tamra Barney (pictured) did last
year, to put an end to back and neck pains.
The average cell-phone user replaces a headset every one or two years,
and breast-implant patients typically need to remove or replace their
implants after 10 or 20 years. Don't expect breast implants to last a
lifetime, says the Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA tells women with silicone implants they need to have an MRI
scan every two to three years to make sure the implants haven't
ruptured, spilling the silicone gel into the body. The agency has also
required implant makers Allergan and Mentor to conduct 10-year studies
of whether implants are affecting patients' health.
Nationwide, about 27,000 woman had breast implants removed last year,
compared to 348,000 who had their breasts enlarged with new implants,
according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Implants are so popular that women typically replace defective ones
with new implants. Women don't simply remove them, says Dr. Donald
Altman, chief of plastic surgery at Irvine Regional Hospital and
Medical Center. Most would find their chest unattractive after
removing implants, the FDA suggests, citing loss of breast tissue,
dimpling, puckering and wrinkling.
Zenn unwittingly stepped into the fray last week in a New York Times
blog where he answered various questions, including one about the
safety of implants. He said:
The Institute of Medicine found that much of the concerns were hoopla
— except for the problems that they both have: rupture, scarring, and
infection. Most plastic surgeons and patients will tell you silicone
just feels better. Implants are replaced when one of the above
problems occurs.
The provoked a barrage of critical comments, amid some supportive
ones. For example, one woman wrote:
How long will it be before the medical profession finally realizes
that breast implants are toxic to the human body???? It infuriates me
to read doctors that are not willing to admit that silicone is a toxic
substance. How many women have to suffer needlessly, and spend
thousands of dollars trying to get well, and all because implants are
deemed "safe". Thousands of women have been harmed by breast implants.
Plastic surgeon and blogger Dr. Rob Oliver commented:
You'd think he was advocating beating your wife as nearly 5 out of
every 6 comments are by breast implant "survivors" wailing alternately
on his intelligence, character, and ethics. Ah, the wonders of the
Internet to organize like-minded partisans into rapid response teams!
Much like the autism vaccine conspiracy theorists, the breast implant
siliconistas come off looking out of touch with such reflexive outrage
on command, particularly when you recognize the kind of heavy duty
microsurgical and reconstructive surgery practice that Dr. Zenn is
known for at Duke. He's one of the good guys for Pete's sake!
There's intelligent reasons to object to breast augmentation surgery,
but claiming it caused symptom or disease "X,Y,Z…." is a dead horse
that's been buried several times over!
Oliver provides links to many studies about implant safety. His
summary from last year, after the FDA lifted its ban on silicone
implants, stated:
The body of literature continues to be remarkably consistent in that
the weight of the epidemiological evidence does not support a causal
association between breast implants and breast or any other type of
cancer, definite or atypical connective tissue disease, adverse
offspring effects, or neurological diseases.
He also states:
There are, to be fair, some competing studies which are smaller than
these which have in fact suggested some problems. The problem is that
they are usually smaller, plagued by selection bias (i.e. patients'
self-reporting problems in unselected patients tend to inflate
reported connection, while studies with preferred
unselected/randomized groups have consistently failed to corroborate
this), and have not been easily reproduced.
On the other side, the advocacy site Beauty and the Breast commented
about the dispute:
I can't tell you how many times I have heard a woman say "I went to my
plastic surgeon to get a breast lift and he/she talked me into
implants," or "I went to my plastic surgeon to have my implants
removed and my he/she told me that I would look terrible and tried to
talk me into just having them replaced," or "my plastic surgeon told
me implants are perfectly safe and I believe him because he does this
every day."
Well, ladies, this article and these reasons are why your plastic
surgeon says these things. As we have already pointed out here at
Beauty and the Breast, breast plants are an annuity medicine, you have
to keep coming back for more and more. More and more money out of your
pocket and into the plastic surgeon's bank account.
Plastic surgeons will do anything to keep their schedule full,
especially during these difficult economic times.
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