Dr. Oliver is a plastic surgeon in Birmingham, Alabama. His diatribe against the FDA Scientific Fairness for Women Act, recently introduced to Congress by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), is not only childish but misleading. His argument is based on the assumption that silicone breast implants are safe. They most emphatically are not. The act would, among other things, hold manufacturers accountable for ensuring the safety of silicone breast implants.

Yes, the silicone breast implant is likely the “most extensively studied medical device in the history of the world,” and Dr. Oliver links to a few articles to prove this point, but that doesn’t mean that the body of research, though extensive, is anywhere near adequate. Research thus far has been problematic for various reasons, the main one being bad design, making conclusive results impossible. For example, the vast majority of studies looks at women for only two or three years, but many health issues attributed to implants –such as lupus and other autoimmune diseases – take years to emerge.

See here for a critique of the 1995 “Harvard Nurses Study,” one of the most highly regarded studies in the body of research around breast implants.

And Dr. Oliver is just plain wrong. He says, “What’s the rupture rate in modern implants beyond a decade? (we [sic] have a good idea at about 10-11 years where it’s ~ 6-8%).” Huh? A 2005 NY Times article entitled, “High Rate of Failure Estimated for Silicone Breast Implants,” gave rupture rates for implants around 10-years old that range anywhere from 21 percent to 93 percent, significantly higher than the comfortingly low figure put forward by Dr. Oliver. And the rupture data by the FDA (author: Lori Brown) shows that half of implants are ruptured at ten years and the majority by 15-20. Also, roughly half of women require re-operation due to their implants within three years, according to an FDA analysis of corporate data.

Finally, I have to say, Poor Dr. Oliver!!! Any man who professes to understand beauty and has to resort to presenting cartoon faces about a woman who just happens to have a different opinion than he does is at best immature and at worst reveals an inner revulsion for women. Here, he even exults that someone else joined his sandbox. It seems that if you are his patient or are thinking of becoming his patient, one might remember that he knows how to make a cartoon of a woman if she mentions something he doesn’t agree with. Beware of any man who denigrates women.

Poor Dr. Oliver? No, it’s really shame on Dr. Oliver.