Plastic Surgery
Abdominoplasty
Augmentation Mammaplasty
Blepharoplasty
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Breast Implants
Breast Reconstruction
Breast Reduction
Chemical Peel
Facial Feminization Surgery
Foreskin Restoration
Lipectomy
Mastopexy
Otoplasty
Rhinoplasty
Rhytidectomy
Sex Reassignment

Breast Implants

History of Breast Implants

Breast implants have been used at least since 1865 to augment the size of women's breasts. The earliest known implant occurred in Germany in which fat from a benign tumor was removed from a woman's back and implanted in her breast. In following years the medical community experimented with implants of various materials, most commonly paraffin. The first use of silicone as breast-implant material may have been by Japanese prostitutes in the period immediately following World War II.

Houston plastic surgeons Thomas Cronin and Frank Gerow developed the first silicone breast prosthesis with the Dow Corning Corporation in 1961 and the first woman was implanted in 1962. The implant was made of a silicone rubber envelope or sac filled with a thick, viscous silicone gel.

Hazards of Breast Implants

In the United States, implants from silicone gel were banned by the Food and Drug Administration because of growing concerns about the safety of such implants. More than one million women had availed themselves of the implants at the time of the ban, and the subsequent litigation led manufacturers to agree to a settlement of USD$4.25billion. The degree of risk associated with silicone-gel breast implants is still a matter of debate within the scientific community.

The health hazards of breast implants have been debated greatly in recent years. Some people believe that breast implants cause such illnesses as autoimmune disease, although both the AMA and FDA have found there to be no evidence of this. [1]. However, documented problems with breast implants include rupture, deflation, infection, scarring and hardening of the implants. [2]

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, breast augmentation is the most commonly performed cosmetic surgical procedure on women in the United States. In 2002, 236,888 women in the U.S. underwent breast augmentation. [3] According to the National Institute for Women, one in four silicone implant recipients must undergo surgery, within 5 years, to correct implant problems.