Breast Implants
In 1997, the United States had 101,176 people that went through surgery for breast implants and in 2000 that number more than doubled to 203,310; just in those 3 years. The first surgery that was ever performed was in the late nineteenth century; breast implant devices have been used to surgically enhance the size, adjust the shape and enrich the feel of a woman’s breasts. In 1889, the first breast implant surgery was done by Dr. Robert Gersuny, who experimented with paraffin injections, but ended with catastrophic results. In 1930, silicone, a synthetic plastic, was invented for use as a breast implant filler. In 1940’s, Japanese prostitutes had their breasts injected with substances such as paraffin, sponges and non-medical grade silicone to enlarge their breasts, believing that American men favored large breasts sizes. Silicone is a metal-like substance that’s found in nature when it is combined with oxygen which creates silica. Ordinarily beach on the sand and crystals are the real silica. For the silica to turn into silicone it will have to combined with carbon, which will form silicon. It is put though further process, which then becomes polymerized; this process combines the more complex molecules. That’s the method on how they make silicone. There are three ways in which silicone can be processed: A fluid, a gel, and a solid rubber which is known as elastomer. Silicone can even be found in regular everyday items like chewing gum, cleansers, suntan lotion, processed foods, even baby food and nonprescription drugs that aid digestion. Breast implants are clearly unnatural because of the risk of endangering the human body and high cost, I am against breast augmentation for the recreational use of them.
There is not just one reason women receive breast implants they could have lost their own breast to cancer or just want a self-esteem boost by going up two bra sizes. Even today women aren’t the only ones getting breast implants men are getting pectoral muscles. Another reason that is there are people who are called transsexuals, which mean a person who has a gender identity that does match his or her biological sex. In this case when a man wants to become a woman, the man would have receive a sex change surgery and open his chest area to insert his new set of silicone or saline breasts. Though women are generally the ones to receive this cosmetic surgery the most out of the two sexes.
There is age limit of having breast implants. The age of people that have breast implant surgery can range from earlier twenties to 50 and older. I can understand the reasons of an older women going for breast implants, but with older people there is going to be higher risk of them not making it through the surgery. It can start earlier, girls at eighteen are receiving implants, “Although, some surgeries may be appropriate, augmentation is not recommended for young girls. It is best to wait until the breast have reached their full development- usually at about eighteen years of age. Some would argue that even eighteen is too young, and a women should wait until she is in her twenties. Physical maturity is only one side of the coin-a certain amount of emotional maturity is needed, too.” (Bruning109) I dislike that implants are inside mostly young women and some haven’t yet experienced pregnancy; most women said there breast grew bigger and stayed that way.
Women are breastfeeding with their silicone implants, “Silicone implants covered with polyurethane foam may pose a risk to nursing infants if the carcinogen TDA enter the breast milk” (Bruning119). It’s a risk for both mother and child. There could be one day a silent rupture, slowly leaking, if the mother doesn’t have any knowledge of it, she will be putting her child’s health in danger. I can understand the reasons of an older woman going for breast implants, but with older people there is going to be higher risk of them not making it through the surgery.
The negative effect of breast implant surgery are: Rupture of the breast implant, Asymmetry (when breasts are uneven), breast tissue could get infected, and many say implants cause late detection of breast cancer. “The longer a woman has them, the greater the chances that she will develop complications, some of which will require more surgery.” (FDA) The most common complications in breast augmentation is when the implant explodes or leaks, which would cause the women to get them surgically removed. Breast implants are not lifetime devices which when woman get implants, the odds are she will need to have surgery to remove or replace them. If there is pressure applied to a silicone implants, the silicone could extrude through the surgical scar, than through patient’s tissues planes, which could lead to the armpit, then the silicone is in the groin, the legs and even the nerves in one’s arm – these are super serious compilations of a ruptured implant. Also, patients over time will have pain from the implants pressing on the chest cavity. What’s even worse than chest pain is having the chest collapse and become deformed. Another factor of things going wrong is getting an infection from the implants “Some studies suggest that some women sustain “subclinical” infections around the implants, which are unable to be detached or reached by antibiotics. The implants, which are the source of the infection, must be removed before these women can be treated successfully” (Bruning79). The local infection could spread throughout the body, and experts think this could be one of the factors in systemic disease that causes women with implants to suffer. Also, women may have a low but still a risk of developing a rare type of cancer called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) in the breast tissue surrounding the implant ( ALCL is not breast cancer) Women diagnosed with ALCL in the breast may need to be treated with surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. “It’s a big expensive surgery that could also cost your life. The normal cost range percent increased risk of cancer over all – mainly brain cancer , respiratory-tract cancer, cervical cancer, leukemia, and vulvar cancer- and the number of certain cancers were twice as high” (bruning102)” Such a gamble of one’s life for a body enhancement.
It’s a big expensive surgery that could also cost your life. The normal cost range for implants is 5,000 – 10,000 dollars, but it varies in every case according to the breast size. Most of the nation thinks this cosmetic surgery could be paid through your insurance. This is not true. This cosmetic surgery is not usually covered under most insurance plans. (Though reconstruction after breast cancer treatment is most likely to be paid by insurance.) Also, while in treatment, if there are complications, it may not be covered by most health insurance. Characteristically, insurance companies will not cover breast augmentation or any reoperations and added doctor visits following augmentation. An insurance company could even increase premiums or they could drop a person’s coverage.
There been a trend that’s been sticking to breast implants, in which bigger apportioned breasts are found to be seen as more sexy. Most women want to be seen as sexy in men’s eye, but not all women should go to the extreme and implant rubber into their bodies. Though more and more women are getting enlarged breasts. They don’t know how dangerous it can be. Even after surgery some patients were unsatisfied with their results. The implants could wrinkle, be place inaccurately (too high, too low, or too much to one sided), or implants could have a sloshing sound. “In the three years McGhan studies, 6 to 11 percent of the augmentations patients experienced problems with appearance due to wrinkling, asymmetry, ability to feel or see the implants in the wrong position, and scarring. Reconstruction patients fared worse: 33 percent experienced moderate, sever, or very severe asymmetry; 23 percent experienced wrinkling, or the ability to see or feel implant; 12 percent experienced improper positioning of the implant; and 6 percent had bad scarring” (Bruning78-79) These problems could be corrected by going through additional surgeries but also could be adding even more problems and making the patients spend more money.
Overall breast implants can cause high risk for woman’s health. If someone is still interested in implants, they should consider doing their own research, and ask for their doctor’s medical advice. Though I believe that breast implants aren’t worth the possibility of losing prefect health over. People shouldn’t be surgically changing the way they look by adding more, instead should be working with what they have. The media is a big offender of shaping this idea of a perfect women; big boobs, small waist, and a beautiful face. Women go through so much to try standing up to these high standards set by our own society. Human beings have for centuries come in all different shapes and sizes and also with unique looks. We shouldn’t be the ones change in what society wants. We must changing the way society wants us to look.