Despite risks, 300,000 women and teenagers underwent cosmetic breast augmentation surgery in 2008
Breast augmentation surgery---one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries performed in the United States---carries a number of risks, both during and after surgery. Despite these risks, the National Research Center for Women & Families (NRC) estimates 300,000 women and teenagers underwent cosmetic breast augmentation in 2008. Though much has been written about complications associated with these procedures, many people are unaware that these procedures can eventually lead to long-term complications affecting the respiratory system.
The Inevitability of Implant Rupture and Respiratory Disease
According to the NRC, implants used in breast augmentation generally remain intact for seven to 12 years, but all implants eventually rupture. The effects of the resulting leakage of saline or silicone into various parts of the body are not fully understood. However, statistical data gathered in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 2001 study, "Silicone Gel Breast Implant Rupture, Extracapsular Silicone, and Health Status in a Population of Women," suggests a definite link between the leakage and a number of respiratory diseases, including lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis.
Respiratory Cancers
Although researchers in a 2001 study by the National Cancer Institute found no increased risk for cancers of connective tissue or the immune system among recipients of breast implants as previous smaller studies had found, they did find an increased incidence in lung and brain cancers among these patients at two to three times that of other plastic surgery patients. In a comparison on the causes of death between implant and non-implant patients, researchers discovered breast augmentation patients were three times more likely to die from respiratory tract cancer. Of all the cancers studied, only the comparative rate of respiratory cancers reached statistical significance.
Pulmonary Fibrosis
The National Research Center for Women & Families reports that women who had silicone implants for at least seven years reported higher incidences of pulmonary fibrosis, a debilitating disease that causes scarring of the lung. The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation describes the disease's progression as the thickening of scar tissue, leading to the replacement of the lung's air sacs with fibrotic tissue, which causes irreversible damage to the lung's ability to transfer oxygen to the bloodstream.
Lupus
According to the Canadian Women's Health Network, recent studies examining both American and Canadian women found a higher incidence of autoimmune diseases among breast augmentation patients who have had their implants at least seven years. One of the reported diseases is the potentially debilitating lupus erythematosus, or SLE. According to the Lupus Foundation, this incurable disease may lead to pleuritis (inflammation of the sac around the lung), pneumitis (inflammation of the lung itself) and pulmonary emboli (blood clots in the lung).
Effects of Silicone Migration on the Lungs
Silicone gel used in breast implants can liquefy at normal body temperature. Though the effects of silicone migration are largely unknown, the National Research Center For Women & Families cites a study by The Royal Academy of Medicine in Scotland that features the case of a woman coughing up silicone from a ruptured implant in her calf. "This has potentially serious implications for women with breast implants, since silicone gel breast implants are considerably larger and closer to the lungs than calf implants," notes NRC.
Tags: breast implants, breast augmentation, Center Women, Center Women Families, National Research, National Research Center
