Breast Impants Essay, Research Paper

Breast Implants

I.

Should breast implants be concidered dangerous or are they safe for women to use? Small-breasted women in America say that they feel inferior or unfeminine in a culture where breast size is a major issue. Popular fashion models today are usually thin,but large-breasted,especially those who model lingerie,evening wear and swimsuits. With American culture seeming to equate cleavage with sexiness,it is no wonder that some smaller-breasted women doubt their attractiveness and recive implants that make their breasts larger.The explosive popularity of breast implants over the past three decades has waned recently,however,as a result of a growing controversy over their safety. Are breast implants dangerous? Do they cause

otherwise healthy women to become ill? Or are they a safe option for women who either lose a breast to cancer or simply want to change the way

they look? There are two main kinds of breast implants-those filled with silicone gel and those filled with saline (a salt-water solution) enclosed in a hard silicone shell. While critics contend that implants pose a threat to women?s health,defenders insist that that no cause and effect relationship

has been established between implants and disease.

II. Why Women Want Breast Implants

A 1986 Psychology Today survey found that one-third of American women were unhappy with the size of their breasts. For many reasons,personal body image and self-esteem are closely interwined. Young

women are bombarded with images of the ?Perfect? female body-often the sort of body they feel that men most admire and covet,and a standard that is nearly impossible to meet. Many girls first become body-conscious during adolescence,when they notice changes in their breast sizes;some women remain determined,often because of a lingering lack of self-esteem or confidence,to seek through breast augmentation what they consider to be perfection. Eighty percent of women who seek breast implants do so for cosmetic reasons-they want to have larger breasts. The remaining 20% seek breast reconstruction after they have had a mastectomy (breast removal) due to cancer. Many breast-cancer survivors suffer significant psychological trauma at the loss of a breast,and breast implants are a crucial element in making the women feel whole again. Despite the thousands of women who say they have encountered problems with implants,90% of women who have had breast-augmentation surgery are satisfied with the results,according to a 1990 survey conducted by the American Society of Plastic and Reconstuctive Surgeons (ASPRS).

III. History of Implants

1962- Researchers invent first silicone-gel breast implants;it goes on

the market.

1969- Saline breast implants introduced.

1976- Food and Drug Administration (FDA) given authority to

regulate breast implants.

1978- Dow Corning Corp.scientists tells FDA that studies are

necessary to determine risks of implants.

1988- FDA decides to consider breast implants as Class III devices;

manufacturers are required to submit data on their safety.

1991- FDA notifies implant manufacturers that they must submit

safety data.

1992- FDA imposes voluntary ban on sale of silicone-gel implants,

citing lack of safety data;allows limited use of that type of

implant if recipients participate in studies.

1994- FDA notifies makers of saline implants that they must submit

data on safety.

1994- Mayo Clinic study finds no link between silicone-gel

implants and connective-tissue diseases.

1994- U.S. District Judge Sam C. Pointer approves largest product

liability settlement in U.S. history:implant makers are to

pay out $4.25 billion over 30 years to women who say

implants made them sick.

1995- Dow Corning,the country?s largest implant manufacturer

until it ceased production of implants in 1992,declares

bankruptcy in May,citing soaring litigation costs.

1995- Harvard University study reports no link found between

silicone-gel implants and connective-tissue disease.

IV. What Are the Dangers

There are certain undisputed hazards associated with breast

implants,and manufacturers say they have been clear about them. Among

the risks outlined by implant makers:implants can rupture or leak,tissue around implants can harden,cause pain and change the breast?s appearance (a condition called ?capsular contracture?),and implants can

interfere with doctors? ability to detect tumors. In addition to these dangers,there has been fear-although unsubstaintiated to date-that breast implants can cause cancer. In fact,only one type of implant,formerly made

by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.,has been linked to cancer,and that implant was withdrawn from the market in 1991. The FDA now says the risk of

getting cancer from implant is one in a million,and not worth the risk of having the implant removed. The health debate has centered on the effects

of silicone gel on the human immune system. Patients and their doctors

allege that silicone implants have caused serious autoimmune diseases. An

autoimmune disease is one in which the body?s immune system attacks its

own cells. The implants are alleged to have caused a number of illnesses,

including scleroderma (a hardening of the skin and inner organs,which can

be fatal),lupus erythematosus (a disease characerized by inflammation of skin,joint,lungs or kidneys),and rheumatoid arthritis (chronic joint inflammation). The symptoms described by affected women include fatigue,

aching joints,rashes and swollen lymph nodes. Some women who have had their implants removed say their symptoms have vanished and they feel perfectly healthy again,while others claim that the symptoms have not disappeared. Implant manufacturers and plastic surgeons insist that implants are safe. After several studies, the scientific establishment has found no connection between silicone-gel breast implants and these diseases,and even the American Medical Association (AMA) says it?s time the FDA lifted the ban. Those who belive that implants play a causative role in disease, such as Dr.Sidney M Wolfe of the advocacy organization Public Citizen Health Research Group,complain that the studies have been

flawed-they have not looked at the right indicators for disease,they have looked at too few women and they have been funded by partisan groups who could influence their outcomes. Wolfe and his supporters want the FDA ban to stay in place.

V.

In conclusion to if women should use breast implants I firmly belive

that women should decide if they want to use them or not. I mean they already know the consequences and dangers it might present so it?s thier decicion. I also think that they should work more on investigating all the risks that breast implants may cause because they are not totally sure of the dangers that these things might cause.