Breast Implants Essay -- essays research papers

Breast ImplantsOne of the first uses of silicone in a medical implant came in the form oflifesaving tubes insert into teenage children to funnel excess fluid from thebrain into the chest cavity, where the fluid could be safely metabolized andexcreted. Since these "shunts" were first used, in the late 1950s, silicone invarious forms has pass to be an important part of many implants. "It is used intracheotomy tubes, in artificial lenses for the eye, in artificial heart valvesand in facial implants for sustain defects or re-constructive surgery aftercancer" (Ames 1).     The most widely used implementation of silicone is through breast re-constructive surgery through elective surgery of an individual, or re-constructive surgery to replace breasts due to women recovering frommastectomies from breast cancer or miscellaneous types of accidents.     The early history and use of implants showed no ill effects of the useof paraffin or silicone. Because of this newly developed surgical process andrelatively little use of FDA guidelines there was no all-inclusive testing doneto ensure the utmost safety of a silicone recipient.     By this time the millions of women throughout the world who already hadDows silicone prosthesis implanted into their breasts had no idea of thedramatic health risks. Because of these potential health risks, women shouldavoid the use of breast implants.          In 1976, Congress gave the FDA authority to regulate breastimplants. By this time breast implants had been in use for a          significant amount of time and were considered "grandfathered."This means that they were allowed to remain on the market, even though theyhave not gone through stringent testing. The FDA felt there was no evidence tosubstantiate that the implants were harmful. Furthermore Congress also gave theF DA the power to go back and get hold of manufactures to provide proof that theimplants were indeed safe and effective, if it was felt that there was a reasonto do so. (Bruning 7)     "In 1977, Richard Mithoff, a Houston attorney, wins the first lawsuitfor a Cleveland adult female who claims that her ruptured impla... ...s      internal memos, thousands of these memos revealed lack of long termtesting, complaints from doctors, and leakage of silicone from the implants.The most outrageous incident discovered was complaints from surgeons ofimplants rupturing in the operating room, as they tried to launch them intowomens breasts (Byrne 98).Pathology reports indicate considerable silicone reaction to the extrudedmaterial can cause severe foreign body reaction in susceptible individuals. A garner written to Dow Corning from Charles A. Vinnick a predominant cosmeticsurgeon in California wrote " I am loathe to publish my series of cases as I looking that it may open Pandoras box. I do feel, however, that rapiddissemination of this information is very necessary to protect your comapny andmy colleagues" (Bryne 98). Vinnick complained to Dow about an incident when heremoved a pair of silicone implants, the gel in a ruptured implant was terriblyrunny while the gel inside the other implant was of ideal cohesion. This discrepancy led him and some others to believe that when silicone gel came intocontact with tissue fluids and fat the gels consistency changed.