Busted
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| PIP silicone implant |
I can't summon words to express my anger and frustration over the latest silicone breast implant news, but Naomi Wolf can, in her February 15, 2012 Guardian article, "The Silicone Breast Implant Scandal".
Wolf writes (links provided by her): "Dr Edward Melmed, a plastic surgeon from Dallas, told an FDA panel in 2011 that the implants were an "industrial toxin".
"The symptoms, they are real," he said. "I answer five to seven emails a night from women all over the world, asking, 'What do I do about these symptoms?'" Melmed told the FDA that by 10 years after patients get them, 50% of silicone implants have ruptured; 72% by 15 years; and 94% rupture by 20 years:
"Why is the FDA continuing to allow a device to be placed in young women that is guaranteed to fail [in] 80% [of cases] in 10 years? Would they allow that in hip replacements? Would they allow it in men?"
"Why is the FDA continuing to allow a device to be placed in young women that is guaranteed to fail [in] 80% [of cases] in 10 years? Would they allow that in hip replacements? Would they allow it in men?"
What is our part in this?
Women who get implants seek larger, symmetrical, firm breasts. We want them because we hope to look ideal, especially concerning a visible, prized, fetishized body part.
Women who get implants seek larger, symmetrical, firm breasts. We want them because we hope to look ideal, especially concerning a visible, prized, fetishized body part.
"A" close call
At twenty, an A-cup on a good day, my self-consciousness could not be lifted by any amount of Twiggy comparison. I accompanied my roommate Bonnie, whose med-school boyfriend was a relative of a cosmetic surgeon who would give us a discount. Dr. L. handed translucent Dow Corning domes, squishy and warm, to each of us to hold. The material, he said, would last for life, top-ups unnecessary. He assured us there would be no problems if we "did our part", massaging our breasts every night at bedtime for ten minutes.
We could pay in two installments, like buying a stereo: 50% in advance and 50% at arrival for surgery. We should book then and there. "One day", he said, "you'll have husbands and you won't want to do it then."
My blood ran cold as he described the incisions. Besides, I couldn't raise the cash, and I knew my parents would never approve. Bonnie, flush from a summer waitress job and staked to one breast from her aunt (an odd 20th birthday gift if I ever saw one), got lushly pneumatic before the start of our senior year.
I envied her in the babydoll mini-dresses she bought to display her bounty. Within three years, though, no amount of massaging dispersed the hard lumps in both breasts, and she had them removed (by another doctor). Bonnie also removed the boyfriend who had enthusiastically championed them.
By the mid-1970s women knew that implants, especially silicone, were a significant risk. In the US in 2008, new silicone implant technology was approved by the FDA ending a nearly 15-year ban "thanks to industry lobbying", as Wolf's article says.
Forty years later
Why are we still doing this?
Comments
Ugh. Love how that places all of the responsibilty on you and your friend.
As for why women continue to get cosmetic implants I think that story is as old as time and I doubt it will ever change.
In any case, the real answer is obviously to eliminate the demand for these ridiculous, and as Pseu says, fetishistic, items. How can we convince girls that they are good enough as they are? Years of feminism count for nothing if a young woman feels she must insert plastic bags full of chemicals into her breasts to be loved.
C.
I do not understand it.
Perhaps Hugh Hefner could share some light on the topic.
It's different if one has a mastectomy and undergoes reconstructive surgery but they use the flesh from the stomach area not silicone implants...
My mother opted not to have the reconstruction...
but that's her choice...
I suppose in the end it's all a matter of personal choice.
Pseu - all surgery is not great - but this was easy (as they come) 4 days away from work, 6 weeks with no exercising and paid for by my insurance company.
Has anyone ever noticed that most photographic models have small breasts? They truly do look better in clothing when phtoographed.
chicatanyage: Very weird to see a woman with a 60 yr old face and 25 yr old breasts.
materfamilias: Well put, an invasion. And still the #1 cosmetic surgical procedure.
Jane W/ I found him patronizing even then and the part about no husband yet so get it done creeped me out.
M: I might take the time to read further how these implants ended up in women; your succinct summary just makes me more upset (in a good way), and thanks.
C: I had but a few years of feminist consciousness in me, but apparently just enough to be creeped out by the doctor. And I also agree. Some young women say they "are in control" b/c they make the decision, but I find that a facile argument.
M: I can't quite connect those dots of your comment with the foundational feminism I encountered in the late '60s/early. We would not have advocated "looking hot" as a primary goal. Is that goal that of more recent 4th(?)-wave? Men back then taunted women who did not wear makeup and shave their legs with "You must be one of those women's libbers."
The other thing that concerned me about this, other than the inherent risks of surgery, is that we all have daughters. What kind of example are we setting for them (I asked). So far, none of their daughters have had implants, although I suspect it's just a matter of time as they are only in their teens and very early 20s. I am the only one with any feminist views, and as it happens, my two daughters are the only busty ones of the group! So no surgery for the three of us! Quite honestly, I would really like an eye job, but doubt I will ever do it. Surgery!
For years too many feminists refused to acknowledge that men & women are by nature different & that has resulted in a sad need by some woman to prove that there is no difference in how women and men feel about sex.
Look at at the hook- up culture on college campuses. If you're not having sex by the third date you're considered some kind of prude. It's a man's paradise. So to stay in the game you've got to stay competitive.
It's depressing really & the good news is I think many young woman are starting to question this whole paradigm.
hostess: Breast reconstruction uses various methods, some women do get implants. That of course is an entirely different matter.
Monkey: From what I hear many partners are turned off by fake breasts.
Jill Ann: Oh would I get myself in trouble with them! And I hope those daughters "rebel" and have noting to do with implants.
M: "Actually years of feminism has probably contributed to the problem" was your premise, and I'm distressed to see what I long worked for has (in your opinion) led to the hookup culture. Feminism as I came to it was, and still is, about self-respect and autonomy.
Just as certain politicians promote the current erosion of women's reproductive rights (in the US) as the "return to family values" or the even scarier vague reason that it's "just not natural", so have some women justified some behaviour under the banner of "freedom". One can stick almost any behaviour under some self-justifying banner, if one wants to.
As far as denying differences between men and women, the groups I belonged to did not, although they did view women as victims of a patriarchy. Many came to see that victim stance as limiting.
Terri: I wish her, and any woman with them a safe experience. I've heard of a few doctors who refuse to do them unless it's reconstructive after disease or an accident.
Digs: Wolf has links in her article to the Melmed research and yes, stats are current. The males in my household (a small sample, admittedly) endorse your poll results :)
As for the hook-up culture, for years feminists insisted that woman should be able to have as much "no strings attached" sex as men and this is the result. But, it is a fallacy to believe that do so has no consequences, and yet this idea has been propagated by feminists for years and I think woman are suffering for it emotionally.
So here we are, stuffing implants into our bodies & injecting toxins into our faces in some attempt to make ourselves more appealing to the opposite sex and all the men have to do is pick and choose. That doesn't represent a cultural leap forward in my mind.
Some of the mind-boggling discussions taking place in our presidential primary campaigns might be a rich topic for a future post. I think that most women my age are astonished to find birth control--BIRTH CONTROL!--made a political issue in 2012, and the limiting of access to it described as the protection of religious freedom. Sorry to go off-topic here, but M.'s comments remind me that the puritanical strain is never too far beneath the surface of American life, and that we remain a society very confused and conflicted about sex.
Back to the subject of breasts: I once heard a plastic surgeon say that his most satisfied patients were unquestionably those who had had breast reduction surgery, rather than any perfection-seeking "enhancement." Makes sense to me.
C.
I would also bet that the breast implanted, face lifted, heavily botoxed, promiscuous women you are concerned about probably do not self-identify as feminists, for the most part. That stereotype of woman clearly doesn't value herself as a person independent of male approval; ergo, not a feminist.
That's not to say that I wouldn't mind getting rid of the "poof" on my tummy, but only if it wouldn't hurt at all. I'm too much of a owie-baby.
Spain is a paradise of plastic surgery; it's #10 in the top 25. Our neighbors, Portugal, are at #25. (The top three, in order, are the U.S., China, and Brazil.)
Btw I probably would get implants if I'd had a mastectomy. That's a whole different issue than wanting to look like a celebrity, I believe.
As for your attempt to portray me as a puritan nothing could be further from the truth. Woman should having ad my h sex with whomever they want. My point us that young woman often don't consider the emotional consequences of this & I find it very sad.
Jill Ann: It's been confusing, educational, and sometimes puzzling to see how women claim, reject or ignore the term "feminist" over the last 40-odd years I have paid attention. As with any movement, there is a range of belief, so I'm always listening to what people *do* with that identity.
Yes, this sounds very similar to the recent French implants scandal.
Anonymous C.March 22, 2012 10:51, your reference is to plastic, not cosmetic surgery. It is a shame that surgeons who could be making the victims of birth defects, accidents, diseases and even maiming liveable are making far higher salaries installing these things and injecting botulism toxin (yecch).
I've been very busty since puberty, and would have preferred more modest breasts as it is easier to move about and do exercise, but like pseu, I'm terrified of surgery - and would also fear a loss of sensitivity that would adversely affect libido.
In terms of funding, breast reductions are covered under National Health Insurance, if there is a serious functional reason for them, as are breast reconstructions for women who have had to undergo mastectomy. A friend had one done, but with tummy fat, and it is of course no larger than her original size.
I'm on a weightloss website and it kind of shocks me how many women there have or want to have breast implants. I wouldn't do it (and my husband wouldn't like it at all). I *might* if I felt very strongly, have a breast lift, but really I think I'd be fine with a good bra.
Cheers,
Eleanorjane
Back to the question "Why are we still doing this?" Regarding enhancements, I believe the answer is called body dysmorphic disorder in which the person has a very distorted view of their own body. Regarding reductions, having watched my lovely mother struggle with breasts that pulled her spine out of line, I know this is a health issue not a beauty one.
I had silicone breast implants as my reconstructive surgery choice after a double mastectomy, and to many of you, that gives me a free pass. Not sure it should, but I'll take it. Women with mastectomies are just pushed into an extreme calculus of weighing the value of breasts as an important part of our body image and identity. It was a difficult decision to make at age 52. In fact, it was much harder to decide what if any type of reconstruction to have than the decision to have a double mastectomy. They aren't perfect and I'm still a little shy about anyone seeing me naked, but I know I wasn't ready to go breast-free. The only thing that would have made it easier would have been living in a breast-neutral society. Don't think we are close to that. So I'm glad I had a couple of imperfect choices and for me it came down to saline implants or silicone. By the way, autologous breast resconstruction using one's own body tissue is MAJOR surgery. I rejected (no pun intended) that immediately because I felt the cost, the medical risk, recovery, and invasiveness put this in a whole different category of "Not Worth It."
I believe that the experience of silicone implants varies by manufacturer. My breast reconstruction surgeon (a lovely woman) counseled me carefully and steered me towards silicone rather than saline whose rupture rates were not as good. No promises were made to me that this is a forever and ever implanted device and I might have to make another hard decision in the future. At some point I think I'll be ready to go breast-free, but of course wish I didn't have to think about this at all. All I know is that I had to spend a lot of time over 15 years thinking about the role of breasts in my life, whether I should keep them, whether I should allow substitutes, and all of those decisions were in part bound up with the image and idea of myself as a woman. It's just hard, and I feel a little more open-minded about others' decision to have cosmetic breast surgery. Mine are cosmetic too.
I do NOT see reconstructive surgery after any form of mutilation, (even medically necessary), trauma or birth defect as "cosmetic". Neither do the surgeons I know. It is a question of feelings of bodily integrity.
There was no personal cost to my friend, except of course that all our taxes pay into the national/provincial health system. And she is fine.
I hope you will be, too!
According to this site (http://www.breastimplantinfo.org/what_know/bihlthcomp.html), 80% of implants are for cosmetic reasons, not reconstructive. those are the cases I question, and I hope your new breasts are deeply satisfying and restorative for you.
While I would never presume to know how your experience has been, I think I'd get them too.
I fight with my boobs they are in the way and make me wear larger than I would like tops but... they are God given and I decided not to make an art project out of them. At this point in my life if I develop breast cancer off they will come with no replacements.. I want to experience life with or without boobs.
Women who feel differently than me are entitled to make up their own minds and I wish that there were always safe options for them. I want my fellow females to be happy with themselves whether God given or surgeon enhanced.
I nursed my three children for three years each, and loved every minute of it. However, after nearly a decade's worth of nursing, my formerly "just right" breasts have deflated. The issue isnt that they are small, which wouldn't bother me, but that the fat has disappeared, leaving an empty pouch. Although my husband has never complained, and never would, I don't like how they look. My goal would not to have larger breasts, but to restore the way they looked before. If implants are safe, I would not hesitate to get this taken care of...to me it's not fundamentally different then wearing beautiful clothing or jewelry, or anything else that we do to look beautiful to the one we love.
So I've been looking into the safety issues again, especially after reading your post. As far as I can tell, the problems with silicone implants date from the time in which the silicone was liquid, and therefore could seep out into the rest of the body. The FDA-approved implants used today are a solid gel that, in the event of rupture, remain solid and don't (can't) travel to other parts of the body. I'd appreciate it if you have information about health risks for implants, you could please post.
re "if implants are safe": "safety" is a term loaded with bias. Your assessment of safety will depend on how much risk, from both the surgery and implant, you are willing to accept.