Breast implants are like cell phones – much loved, but a problem

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Note From Health Lover, Ilena Rosenthalhttp://ilenarose.blogspot.comInteresting Blog! Also important to note ... that the cell phone &

vaccination & breast implant industries all paid the junksciencePR teams to keep their hallucination of 'safety' going for as long aspossible. Places on this blog to vote & comment.

Breast implants are like cell phones – much loved, but a problemhttp://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 Survey: Are breast implants a health hazard?Breast implants are the nation's No. 1 plastic surgery procedure forwomen despite their long-term record of ruptures, pain and other

failures.They also remain a sore subject for many women, as Duke Universityplastic surgeon Dr. Zenn learned last week when he describedsilicone 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 — embracedby enthusiastic consumers who are willing to overlook the problemsthey cause.With cell phones, the problems tend to be dropped calls and inaudible

conversations. With breast implants, the problems range from minorflaws in breast appearance to major health crises that require medicalintervention.Also like cell phones, breast implants routinely need to be replaced,

as "Real Housewife of Orange County" Tamra Barney (pictured) did lastyear, 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 alifetime, says the Food and Drug Administration.The FDA tells women with silicone implants they need to have an MRIscan every two to three years to make sure the implants haven't

ruptured, spilling the silicone gel into the body. The agency has alsorequired implant makers Allergan and Mentor to conduct 10-year studiesof 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 oneswith new implants. Women don't simply remove them, says Dr.

Altman, chief of plastic surgery at Irvine Regional Hospital andMedical Center. Most would find their chest unattractive afterremoving 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 Timesblog where he answered various questions, including one about thesafety 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, andinfection. Most plastic surgeons and patients will tell you siliconejust feels better. Implants are replaced when one of the aboveproblems occurs.

The provoked a barrage of critical comments, amid some supportiveones. For example, one woman wrote:How long will it be before the medical profession finally realizesthat breast implants are toxic to the human body???? It infuriates me

to read doctors that are not willing to admit that silicone is a toxicsubstance. How many women have to suffer needlessly, and spendthousands of dollars trying to get well, and all because implants aredeemed "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 ofevery 6 comments are by breast implant "survivors" wailing alternatelyon 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 implantsiliconistas come off looking out of touch with such reflexive outrage

on command, particularly when you recognize the kind of heavy dutymicrosurgical and reconstructive surgery practice that Dr. Zenn isknown 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 horsethat's been buried several times over!Oliver provides links to many studies about implant safety. Hissummary from last year, after the FDA lifted its ban on silicone

implants, stated:The body of literature continues to be remarkably consistent in thatthe weight of the epidemiological evidence does not support a causalassociation between breast implants and breast or any other type of

cancer, definite or atypical connective tissue disease, adverseoffspring effects, or neurological diseases.He also states:There are, to be fair, some competing studies which are smaller thanthese 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 inflatereported connection, while studies with preferredunselected/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 commentedabout 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 intoimplants," or "I went to my plastic surgeon to have my implantsremoved and my he/she told me that I would look terrible and tried totalk me into just having them replaced," or "my plastic surgeon told

me implants are perfectly safe and I believe him because he does thisevery day."Well, ladies, this article and these reasons are why your plasticsurgeon says these things. As we have already pointed out here at

Beauty and the Breast, breast plants are an annuity medicine, you haveto keep coming back for more and more. More and more money out of yourpocket and into the plastic surgeon's bank account.Plastic surgeons will do anything to keep their schedule full,

especially during these difficult economic times.