The other evening I was lamenting with another woman the fate of the second generation of women who will become ill from silicone implants. It wasn’t a question of “if” – it was a question of “when.” Definitely, we agreed, it’s going to be déjà vu all over again.
Since the FDA allowed silicone breast implants to return to the marketplace last November after a 13-year moratorium, the clock has begun ticking for the arrival of a second wave – women who will begin to report illness and ill effects from the new generation of marketed implants.
In past years, the first wave women organized and became the catalyst for action, educating the public, important panels, government and the media, about the perils of this product. As these earlier victims of silicone implants begin to age, become ill, and voices become silent in that process, who will the new faces be? Who will take up the gauntlet to educate the public about the dangers of silicone?
The FDA hasn’t demonstrated the will to protect the public from many products from the implant industry. At one notable FDA hearing leading up to the re-approval of silicone implants, panel member Dr. Barbara Manno said, “I think we have got enough to approve this and that the recipients of the device will have a choice. And it isn’t to have a choice, they can make a choice and it’s tough luck if it doesn’t work.”
(more…)
Barry Meier’s article today in the NY Times, “Participants Left Uninformed In Some Halted Medical Trials,” has touched a raw nerve, and our community is buzzing about this story.
At the time of the FDA hearings, the manufacturers of implants couldn’t provide long-term data because of a 90 percent loss of follow-up with patients with implants. This is all part of the bad behavior of manufacturers and the weak FDA who allowed silicone implants to be approved.
This story does not stand alone. Are there other people who want to tell us what happened to them? We welcome you.
I remember back in 1996 when I had my breast augmentation, the only risk I was informed about was rupture. I was told that this was pretty rare and could easily be remedied in the plastic surgeon’s office.
Do most of you believe that rupture is a rare occurrence? And do most women think this is the only risk of having implants?
My question was answered when I started a support group and read so many stories from women who were experiencing health-related issues. Their posts were fairly similar, and it didn’t seem to matter if they had saline-filled or silicone-gel implants. I read comments like: “My joints are achy,” “I’m so severely fatigued,” “I feel like I’m in a fog,” “I’m experiencing tingling and numbness in the extremities.” And the symptoms went on and on. The most common question was, “Could my implants possibly be causing these problems?” The answer is YES.
I find it so disturbing that there are so few women who really know the health risks. I was one of them. In September 2001, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I couldn’t even pronounce the word let alone know exactly what it was. I surely had no idea that the implants in my body had caused it. When I asked my doctor what causes fibromyalgia, she had a number of reasons, everything from it being hereditary to stress-related. Well I certainly had no one in my family that had fibromyalgia, so stress was my answer. I had been under stress for many years working hard and trying to advance in my career.
(more…)
Jennifer Cognard-Black, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Program at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and a member of the Ms. Magazine Committee of Scholars. Her work centers on issues of women and identity.
In the past few months, alongside grocery-store check-out aisles, inTouch magazine has proclaimed “Ashlee’s Had More Surgery!” while Star has revealed “Hollywood’s Secret Surgeries!” Despite the mock horror suggested by furtive procedures and exclamation points, plastic surgery isn’t really terrible or secret. It’s a happening thing. Reality TV confirms this trend. Producers of recent shows such as Extreme Makeover and I Want a Famous Face assume that consumers already desire cosmetic surgery or that their shows will ignite such desire. Coupled with the new, middle-class chic of Flaunt It parties, surgeon safaris, and plastic pageants, it’s apparent that the latest tyranny in the North American cult of beauty is the presentation of plastic surgery as a safe, egalitarian option for women (and some men) to better themselves. (Although some media sources contend that men are outstripping women as nip-tuck consumers, it just isn’t so. Last year in the US, 9 million procedures were performed on women—a 42 percent increase from 2000—and women exceed men almost 4 to 1 in opting for the surgical “fix.” In other words, plastic surgery is still a woman’s issue.)
Not only is elective surgery touted as an acceptable way for women to take control of their lives, but it’s becoming an expected rite of passage, akin to teenage braces or middle-age hair dye. It’s no surprise that Extreme Makeover has a Home Edition. Just as the home improver is encouraged to give her kitchen or bedroom a “face-lift” every few years, now she can subscribe to continuous bodily improvement as well, as long as she selects the right fix-it procedure for the right problem at the right age.
(more…)
Vanderbilt University News carried this headline yesterday: “New review clears silicone gel breast implants of serious health risks; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers find no cancer link.”
Objective researchers will disagree with those conclusions. Here are some problems with the review.
The review article’s four authors all have financial ties to the breast implant industry. Two are stock-owning employees of Allergan,which makes breast implants. The main author, Joseph McLaughlin, has been a consultant to the same implant company (Inamed, beforeAllergan bought the company), and he and the fourth author, Loren Lipworth, have received millions of dollars from Dow Corning for their research on breast implants. In fact, McLaughlin is an author of almost every study on breast implants of the last 10 years, all funded by Dow Corning, all concluding that implants are safe. (Lipworth and their colleagues at the International EpidemiologyInstituteare co-authors of many of the same studies). With few exceptions, the only studies that McLaughlin hasn’t co-authored are ones by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The NCI and FDA studies are among the best designed and most objective studies, because they focused on women who had breast implants for at least seven years. Those studies found significant increases in several illnesses and symptoms among women with implants.
(more…)
October is officially Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the publications and media have had a field day with articles. The feedback on the blogs and letters to the editors has been phenomenal.
Being a 29-year breast cancer survivor, all this hype has me flooded with reactions, good, bad and indifferent.
One recent article, “Breast Cancer Sells,” had me hanging on every word and struck more than one raw nerve.
Here is a women’s disease that seems to be providing a way for EVERYONE to make money. T-shirt sales, magazine sales, pink clothing, purses, and pink ribbon jewelry are all playing on the sympathy of the public that has been touched at one time or another by breast cancer. Even the breast cancer awareness groups are profiting by all the media hype.
(more…)
Dear Ms. Howell,
As ombudsman of The Washington Post, we depend on you to be concerned about tastefulness and accuracy. I therefore turn to you to protest an ad that appeared on the inside back cover of yesterday’s Washington Post Sunday magazine.
A plastic surgery group placed the ad to promote cosmetic breast augmentation.
The ad’s headline says: “Natural Stunning Results: We Are About Empowering Women…”
The image is of very large breasts, modestly covered with some fabric. There is also a “before” photo of small breasts, with a thick line across the nipples for modesty.
The ad says:
Our philosophy at the Austin-Westin Center is centered upon the well-being of our patients – not only upon how you look, but how you feel. We take pride in empowering people and seeing their self-esteem soar. Our physicians…are dedicated to upholding the highest standards in patient safety and improving quality of life.
(more…)
A woman I know once told me that when she acquires a pocketbook, no matter how expensive or luxurious it is, she doesn’t particularly go out of her way to keep it pristine. Why? Because when pristine, the pocketbook will continue to look like all the others still sitting on store shelves or rolling off assembly lines. It’s those scuffs and fingerprints and stains that come from ownership that will finally make the item personally and uniquely hers. Wouldn’t we all be better off if we could approach our physical imperfections in the same way?
In “Real Woman, Real Beauty: Why Our Flaws Are Beautiful,” Fitness magazine has put together a slide show of six gorgeous women who do just that:
**Padma Lakshmi, the model, cook-book author and host of Bravo’s Top Chef, says of the terrible scarring on her right arm, the result of a serious car accident when she was a young girl, “Guys seem to love it. It makes me seem fleshy and rugged and human to them… And women respond to it too: It shows that not everything is perfect.”
(more…)
In Dr. Joyce Brother’s advice column a few days ago, a reader writes, “I’m going to be able to afford all the plastic surgery I need in order to make me beautiful.” In her response, Dr. Joyce Brothers says, “There’s little question that good plastic surgery can help many people’s self-image, but it also is true that an intense need for physical perfection can indicate underlying personality flaws that no amount of surgery can alleviate. This is, apparently, especially true of those who seek breast implants.”
Bravo, Dr. Joyce Brothers! It seems the good doctor has some insight to the deep issues concerning the psychological reasons a woman would want to change herself so drastically. Maybe she read the suicide and implant reports.
That she made a point of singling out breast implants is particularly interesting. I think the whole makeover procedure would indicate there is something up with the person. You so totally dislike yourself that you want a complete makeover? My old friend used to say to me, “No matter where you go…there you are.” This is also true about unresolved emotional issues. I can speak from experience on this one. You take all the baggage with you to the new surgical procedure or diet or relationship … UNLESS you addresses the underlying issues.
Thank goodness someone with obvious self-esteem issues has Dr. Joyce to point her in the right direction. Hopefully she will listen.
