Pamela Lee 's honesty?

[Guest guest]

I found this article recently in a letter from Ilena, and thought I would post it before I deleted it. I don't have an internet reference, but the source is listed. By the way, I don't believe for a moment that Pamela went "natural". It is very obvious that she has re-implanted.

Patty

FITNESS FILE / LESS IS More / Wanting a natural look is one of thereasons some women are having their breast implannts removed.By Barbara . Barbara wrote this story for the LosAngeles Times. THE IDEA of beautiful breasts has changed over time. In the 1950s, the ideal was pointy; for the next two decades it wassmall and free; in the 1980s and '90s, big and round, and now fromPamela Lee, an unlikely role model, comes the message thatnatural is beautiful. The 31-year-old actress recently announced that she had her implantsremoved to return to a more natural state. Lee, who declined a requestfor an interview, said on "Entertainment Tonight" that she did it forpersonal, not health, reasons. Beyond the snickers and late- night TV jokes about Lee lie a seriousmedical procedure and psychological adjustment for women who elect toreverse their breast augmentations. Lee's decision to go public brings anew aware ness about breast reduction. Although there are no data on the number who have removed implants,more women may one day grapple with such a decision. The AmericanSociety of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons reported that 132,378women underwent breast augmentation last year, a 306 percent increasefrom 1992. Dr. P. , assistant professor of plastic surgery at theSchool of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, says,"As of today, the American Society for Plastic and ReconstructiveSurgeons, the FDA and most other medical societies such as the\[American Medical Association\] state the only medical reason to havean implant removed is if you have a ruptured implant. If it is notruptured, it does not have to be removed." Most people who come to UCLAfor implant removal, says, are suffering from pain or have aruptured implant. Sometimes, a woman who has had two or three implantreplacements will decide to have them taken out. The decision to remove implants is as personal as, and perhaps moredifficult than, choosing breast augmentation in the first place. Thereasons range from health concerns to just wanting a more natural shape.Lee told "ET" that she was tired of looking "like Dolly Parton." Lee'scandor may be earning her new fans. "I think she has an incredible chance to be such an amazing rolemodel for women," says actress McDonough, who played on the TVseries "The Waltons." "The fact that if she owns her natural body, sheis still beautiful ... helps women embrace their own bodies." McDonough,37, is one of several celebrities who have had their implants removed.Singer Love says she had her implants removed. Mariel Hemingwayand Sally Kirkland did so as well. For McDonough, getting implants at age 22 "was partially a young,foolish decision; the other half of it was a career decision." Shethought that as she moved out of the child-acting niche into mainstreamHollywood, bigger breasts would help her get more work. "That's what I thought sexy was," she says. Since having her implants removed three years ago, she says, "I'vegotten healthier. I have smaller breasts than I ever had before. I'mworking more than I have in 10 years." McDonough, who has made recentguest appearances on "Diagnosis Murder," "Ally McBeal," "ER" and "ThePretender," says, "I think that there's enormous pressure on women andhow they look, and it's not just in Hollywood. It goes into every highschool and every junior high." Research has found no connection betweensilicone gel-filled breast implants and health problems. (The mostrecent study, reported June 21 by the Institute of Medicine, found thatimplants don't cause major illnesses but do frequently break open andleak, which can result in pain, disfigurement and repeat surgery.)Still, McDonough says she thinks she was allergic to the silicone geland attributes her problems with lupus to that. When she wanted to havethe implants removed, her surgeon advised her to have them replaced withsaline-filled ones. She told him, "I'm over the big boob thing. Justtake them out." Her breasts are much smaller than they were originally,but she is happy with them, saying it was all about "finding my ownsense of being female and being a woman, and it had nothing to do withmy breasts." Breast augmentation is a fairly simple procedure. Asilicone bag is inserted, in most procedures, behind the main chest wallmuscle (pectoralis major) and then filled with saline. The FDA no longerpermits silicone gel-filled implants except in certain trial situations. Most women are happy with their breast implants, says Dr. Malcolm D., a Newport Beach, Calif., plastic surgeon who has done more than1,000 breast implants in his 24-year career. Of those, only 10 have comeback to have their implants removed. discourages women from takingthem out unless an internist has recommended it for medical reasons. When an implant is removed, a cavity results, which, depending onthe woman, can leave the breast looking hollow and wrinkled. UCLA's says a woman has five options: implant removal alone; removal ofthe implant and surrounding scar tissue (capsulectomy); implant removaland breast tuck (mastopexy, which McDonough selected); implantreplacement, or reconstructing the breast with a woman's own tissue fromher back or abdomen. Reconstruction, the most radical surgery, is usually performed oncancer patients who had implants after mastectomies and later wanted theimplants removed, says. It is a complicated, long surgery withmajor anesthesia, and it involves more medical risks and costs than asimple implant replacement. Whether a breast change is done for self-esteem or medicalnecessity, it makes an indelible mark on a woman's psyche. "Women undergoing cancer treatment really have been assaulted fromall levels," says Dr. Anne Coscarelli, director of the Rhonda FlemingMann Resource Center for Women With Cancer at UCLA. "It's not just beauty, it's self-image and our image as a woman,"she says. "The breast has many different meanings in our culture. We come froma society where we put great value on women's breasts." Women who haveundergone cancer treatment have probably lost a breast to surgery ortheir hair to chemotherapy. Any decision a woman makes to regain heroriginal beauty should be supported in a "nonjudgmental way," Coscarellisays. "I don't think any of us can judge what's right for anyone else."For Anne Stansell, what was right at age 39 was to take her doctor'sadvice and have reconstructive surgery with implants one year after shelost both breasts to cancer. A photographer in Los Lunas, N.M., Stanselllater decided the implants were jeopardizing her health, so she had themremoved and returned to a chest without breasts in 1995. "I felt more natural than before," she says. "The implants don'tfeel natural at all." Since then, the 51-year-old has devoted her workto photographing women around the country who have had implants removed. Married with two grown children whom she breast-fed, Stansell saysher ideas about her breasts have changed throughout the years, as havethose of most of the women she has photographed. In fact, after theirimplants were removed, most of her subjects said they felt they hadregained their beauty. Perhaps that's why Pamela Lee's honesty strikes a chord with otherwomen. As Coscarelli says, "It opens up the discussion for other peopleand it puts that discussion on the table, and I think she has done thatfor many women. Whenever you discuss those things, it's a good thing."Barbara wrote this story for the Los Angeles Times.