FORBES: What to Do With Aging Breast Implants

[Guest guest]

Ladies,

Please go to the link for this article and tell them

what you think about breast implants - This article

makes it sound ever so easy! It sounds like the

plastic surgeon was pulling this author's leg! We need

to educate these people! - Rogene

http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2006/03/26/hscout531109.html

>

> Note from Ilena: I find this article misleading

> regarding the very real possibility of rupture with

> mammograms, their surety that leaked out silicone

> gel will all be contained in the capsule, and the

> delusion that leaking saline water poses 'no

> danger.' Our support group has many women's

> experiences that prove otherwise.

>

> What to Do With Aging Breast Implants

>

>

http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2006/03/26/hscout531109.html

> (please to leave comments at the link)

>

> 03.26.06, 12:00 AM ET

>

> SUNDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- For the

> estimated three million American women with breast

> implants, one thing remains certain: At some point,

> they will need to be replaced or removed.

>

> Breast implants do not last forever -- whether they

> are filled with silicone gel or saline, or whether

> they were done to reconstruct a breast after a

> mastectomy or to augment the size or shape of a

> breast.

>

> Knowing just when that time has come, however, and

> what to do if you suspect it has, is not always

> simple.

>

> Fuentes, 77, of Potomac, Md., a retired

> attorney and co-founder of the National Organization

> for Women, encountered that conundrum last year when

> she suspected problems with the silicone-gel implant

> she had gotten 15 years earlier after a mastectomy.

> She thought it had hardened and gotten smaller and

> feared it was leaking.

>

> She consulted her oncologist, the surgeon who had

> performed the mastectomy and the plastic surgeon who

> had performed the implant, and she also scrolled the

> Internet for background. But opinions and advice

> were conflicting:

>

> a.. Get a mammogram to see if the implant has

> ruptured, one doctor suggested.

> b.. Don't get a mammogram, a women's Web site

> warned, as the compression could cause the implant

> to break.

> c.. Have an MRI, the FDA urged on its site, noting

> that that's the best way to detect a rupture.

> d.. An MRI wasn't necessary, another doctor told

> her.

> " The quality of advice people get is very spotty, "

> said Dr. Spear, chief of plastic surgery at

> town University Hospital in Washington, D.C.,

> and immediate past president of the American Society

> of Plastic Surgeons.

>

> So what's a woman to do?

>

> Anyone concerned about an implant should " start off

> by seeing a doctor, a plastic surgeon " preferably,

> Spear said. If the original surgeon cannot be

> reached or the woman is uncomfortable with the

> surgeon's opinion, he recommended going to a clinic

> that specializes in implants or finding a plastic

> surgeon associated with a university.

>

> That's when Fuentes' saga really began. First she

> consulted the doctors who had treated her initially.

> " All of these doctors are top guys, " she said. " I

> had a lot of respect for them. " But, she said, two

> of them " said to me, 'Your breast hasn't changed,' "

> which she considered " a little presumptuous. "

>

> She also was not comfortable with their nudging her

> to have a mammogram, given what she had read on the

> Internet and heard from friends.

>

> " You've got to learn to go with your gut, " Fuentes

> said. " But so many women, if a doctor tells them

> something -- that's it. "

>

> Fuentes insisted on an MRI, her doctor relented, and

> the MRI revealed a ruptured implant.

>

> She asked a plastic surgeon in Cleveland to remove

> the implant, replace it with a saline version and

> reconfigure her breasts to ensure symmetry. But she

> said the surgeon insisted on an ultrasound of the

> implant beforehand, an option no one else had

> proposed. It, too, showed a rupture, and the surgery

> went on as planned.

>

> Dr. Michele Shermak, chief of plastic surgery at

> s Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore,

> said she also uses ultrasound to evaluate implants.

>

> " A mammogram, like any plain film X-ray, is not good

> at seeing soft-tissue problems, " Shermak explained.

>

> For detecting breast cancer, the American Cancer

> Society recommends regular mammograms, and Shermak

> indicated that advice should apply to women with and

> without implants. " Compression should not be a

> problem " for women with implants, she said. (Note

> from Ilena: ?????????)

>

> But for detecting possible rifts in an implant,

> " mammograms are really not the best way to go, " she

> said.

>

> " Ultrasound is usually the first test that I'll do, "

> Shermak said. She described it as " easy technology "

> and a test that most medical offices could perform.

>

> " MRI would be the next step, " she said. " The MRI is

> very good, very specific, very sensitive. " She

> described it as " almost too precise in some cases "

> as it tends to detect " any little thing that looks a

> little bit abnormal. "

>

> In Fuentes' case, however, the MRI and ultrasound

> were on target. Her surgery took 4-1/2 hours, in

> part because " the implant had collapsed and had

> silicone all over it, so it was difficult to

> remove, " Fuentes said she was told by the surgeon.

>

> Saline leaking from a broken implant appears to pose

> no danger, but opinions differ on the effect of

> escaping silicone. (Note from Ilena: ?????????)

>

> If silicone leaks, " the body walls it off, " Shermak

> explained. " The body normally develops scar tissue

> to things it doesn't see as itself. The scar tissue

> effectively becomes a shell around the implant. "

> (Note from Ilena: ?????????)

>

> However, Spear said that " the risk of it even

> locally causing mischief is pretty low. " (Note from

> Ilena: ?????????)

>

> Both surgeons said that for any woman unnerved by

> those thoughts or having other fears about an

> implant, removing the implant is usually the

> appropriate option.

>

> " You only need to treat or remove the implant if the

> patient is symptomatic, " Shermak said. " But I would

> never say 'don't do it,' if that's what the woman

> wants. "

>

> More information

>

> To learn more about breast implants, check the U.S.

> Food and Drug Administration's Breast Implant and

> Consumer Handbook.

>

>

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> www.BreastImplantAwareness.org

>

> www.BreastImplantInfo.org Dr. Zuckerman's fine

> site

>