Most women who come to see me in consultation for breast augmentation have one major question: "Is silicone safe???"
I spend a great deal of time and effort in my practice educating women about their options for surgery, and when discussing breast augmentation, I emphasize that all implants, both saline- and silicone-filled, are
SAFE.
In fact, silicone breast implants are the most extensively studied implantable medical device in the history of medical devices!
All breast implants have a silicone shell; the fill material is what differs. For most of my patients, I recommend silicone specifically, because it can have a more natural look and feel.
The website
breastimplantanswers.com is an excellent resource for women to learn all about breast implants. I send each woman I see in consultation to this site to do some "homework" and to learn more about this medical device.
Here are some excerpts from the site (I encourage you to also visit the website for additional information):
Silicone is a highly versatile substance that has many medical uses. Different types of silicone have been used for decades in a variety of medical devices, such as pacemakers and artificial joints.
Silicone gel-filled breast implants are among the
most extensively studied FDA-approved medical devices in existence. In the United States alone, Allergan has examined the safety of silicone gel-filled breast implants in more than 80,000 women.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved silicone gel-filled breast implants after reviewing a vast amount of scientific data. These data consisted of results from extensive preclinical testing, four years of data on 715 women from Allergan's Core Clinical Study, and a European study that evaluated implant rupture prevalence rates beyond 10 years
1. In addition, countless published, peer-reviewed studies and research support the safety of silicone and silicone gel-filled breast implants. The FDA also considered in their decision the opinions of advisory panels made up of outside experts.
Breast augmentation is a personal decision for a woman, and one that should not be taken lightly. I encourage all women to educate themselves about the safety and science of breast implants before considering any surgical procedure.
