Many young women do not truly understand the risks associated with plastic surgery; I know I didn’t understand the severity of my breast augmentation. Doctors like to say that “all surgeries carry some risk,” which downplays what could actually happen. You may not wake up or your health might be forever affected. It’s one thing to have a necessary medical procedure and have the benefits outweigh the risks. But what about elective surgery? In the case of breast augmentation, the risks just DO NOT outweigh the benefits. Is your life or health truly worth sacrificing for the sake of higher self-esteem or looking better in a swim suit? I wish someone had asked me that very question when I walked into my plastic surgeon’s office at 19. Perhaps I would have started to be more aware of exactly how risky elective surgery can be.

Wednesday, an 18 year-old girl (after being a guest with me on the Mike and Juliet show on Fox) walked off the stage and commented, “They’re just breast implants. It’s just like getting your hair cut!” Now, how well do you think her potential surgeon conveyed the severity of an elective operation to her? He was also on the show by the way. And what does this say for the culture that is being created for our teens and women today? Apparently there is no hope that this 18 year-old even remotely paid attention to what I had to say. Maybe it’s because she’s already made up her mind and is a patient of that surgeon on the show who was so ready to say that he’s implanted thousands of 16-18 year-olds because “their mothers bring them in.” Well, if their mothers don’t have the sense to tell their daughters that they are beautiful the way they are, then at least the surgeon could keep the scalpel away and do both of them a favor.

I just got my hair cut - no scalpels, drains, anesthesia, surgeons or nurses necessary. I will never wonder if my hair cut will cause joint pain. Can anyone say the same about breast implants?

Here are some of pictures of me with my implants at age 20-21:

Here is me SICK with implants:

This picture shows the silicone that was found in my bloodstream:

The round cells are healthy red blood cells and the neon patch is silicone (which is rather large when compared to the red blood cells). The test was performed by Dr. John Gonino, M.D./D.O., of Rowlett, Texas. He was one of the first doctors to say that my implants could cause my illness.

And here I am just last week at the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on Fox:

To see just how dissimilar hair cuts are to breast augmentation, see my story at www.implantsout.com

If you’d like to view Wednesday’s (3-26-08) segment of the Mike and Juliet show click here.
~Kacey

Echidne of the Snakes An award-winning progressive feminist blog with enough good reads to keep you scrolling for hours. We particularly liked her take on single mothers, gender studies and the next generation’s My Little Pony.

Wall Street Journal Health Blog, As Botox Soars, Cosmetic Surgery Sags Never mind the “sagging” pun; the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has released new numbers on the types of cosmetic surgeries performed from 2000 to 2007. Note that breast augmentation is still going up.

Big Fat Deal, A Perfect Size 4 Sweet Valley High is getting an update, changing the clothing size of the teenage twin protagonists from “a perfect size 6″ to a “perfect size 4.” It’s ostensibly to update the books for the modern generation (check out the letter from the publisher posted at Gawker), and we don’t have to tell you why that’s infuriating.

Fametastic, Sarah Jessica Parker’s Surprise Over “Unsexiest Woman Alive” Title Parker is being characterized as “snitty” for a recent interview where she reacts in anger to Maxim’s disgusting poll. She’s not mad about being on the list, people; she’s mad (and rightly so) that this even exists!

The Vancouver Sun, Doctor Proposes Men’s Health Care Center Doctor Larry Goldenberg thinks men need specialized health care too, and (no giggling, please) refers to the penis as “the canary in the mineshaft” for male diseases. All jokes aside, it’s got to make you think: are women really that far ahead in terms of addressing their health concerns?

East Valley Tribune, No Taxation for Breast Augmentation Arizona senators decided to give a tax break to women with “non-original equipment,” bringing up a debate over the exact distinction between reconstructive and cosmetic surgery.

Oh my goodness … I had forgotten what REAL BREASTS look like!! We have been so wrapped up in implanted breasts for so long … you just start to think that the norm is the rock-hard round grapefruit. But then, I stumbled across these on the Female Intelligence Agency’s Normal Breasts Photos Gallery: 

Reading the comments, it was nice to see that the website is having a POSITIVE impact on a lot of the young women who were considering augmentation. From the site they have discovered that they have “normal” beautiful breasts!

Please visit the gallery. There are many other photos. 

Thank you, Echidne of the Snakes, for showing me this! 

Lorelai Kluever works at Our Bodies, Ourselves.

The recent announcement of Kelly Rowland’s breast augmentation can be understood as another prime example of the media’s failure to properly address the issue of breast implant safety. Though I do not watch MTV or any of the plastic surgery reality TV shows that seem to attract substantial audiences these days, I would assume that CNN would provide a more objective perspective on this subject. This recent five minute CNN segment invited E! TV host Ashlan Gorse, as well as self-esteem expert Jessica Weiner, to lead the conversation. Although Jessica Weiner mentions that breast implant surgery can be deadly, she fails to ask Weiner to elaborate on safety issues, or to discuss whether or not Kelly Rowland was adequately informed of the health risks prior to her surgery. Instead, she turns the conversation back to Kelly’s personal reasoning for breast implants (to fill out a top) and the influence that Kelly Rowland’s surgery has on young girls in general.

Though I see the importance of analyzing the impact of celebrities’ plastic surgery choices on young women, I think that it’s also necessary to go beyond the harm of imposing unrealistic beauty standards. Breast implant surgery poses substantial threats to physical health and well-being, and the failure of many plastic surgeons to fully inform women of these risks only underscores the need for more responsible media coverage of this topic. The absence of adequate discussion of breast implant safety in the media and elsewhere has resulted in many poorly-informed college-age women. After speaking with several friends and college students who had the opportunity to see Carol Ciancutti-Leyva’s amazing documentary, Absolutely Safe, I was struck by their similar reactions: utter astonishment at how little they had heard previously about these safety concerns.

I recently developed and distributed an informal survey that was filled out by 18 college students, the majority of whom are students at UMass Boston. The first section asked students where they have seen ads for breast implants, whether the ads gave them any sense of the risks involved in the surgery, and if they know anyone who had breast implant surgery. The majority of students (13 out of 18) had seen ads for breast implants, most often in magazines/ newspapers, on television, and on billboards. Two students mentioned seeing ads in their doctor’s office. Not a single student who had seen these ads for implants felt that they offered some sense of the risks involved with this surgery. Four students said that they knew a friend who has implants, and two wrote further that their friends were happy with them and haven’t experienced any problems yet. (Many health problems associated with breast implants can develop further down the road.)

For the second half of the survey, students checked off which risks they were aware of from a list of 13 potential breast implant surgery complications. Only three students were aware of more than half of these risks, and the majority were aware of only a few. The most frequently reported were: capsular contraction, infection, rupture, migration, problems with breastfeeding, and loss of sensitivity.This informal survey suggests that unbalanced and sensationalized media coverage of breast implant surgery as well as irresponsible breast implant advertising will encourage many women to make choices that could seriously affect their well-being.

God bless Stephanie Kuleba. I saw her story in the news today – she passed away during a breast correction surgery – and it touched me in so many ways, because I got very sick last year from breast implants.

I had the same exact surgery as Stephanie on December 26, 2006, when I was only 26-years old. She was undergoing surgery to correct asymmetrical breasts and inverted areolas – which were the same procedures I had. From what I have read today on the Internet and in the news, the surgery was very personal to her, just like it was to me. Stephanie was a happy girl who had a lot to look forward to in life. She had wanted to pursue a career in medicine and she died tragically yesterday from breast surgery. Why is life so ironic and sad sometimes?

Even if she had been older and been able to study more medicine, she still may not have learned the real risks involved in cosmetic procedures. None of us think it will happen to us and I have talked to several medical professionals who are still not convinced that the dangers of surgery are real. Kanye West’s mom didn’t deserve to die from plastic surgery and neither did this beautiful 18-year old girl, who was a cheerleader and was getting ready for her prom.

I was a fitness lover and competitor and breast implants made me fatally ill. I had a seizure and went into a coma; my family thought they might lose me completely. I lost my job, my memory, and for a long time I could barely walk or talk. After I removed my implants, all of my symptoms started disappearing. Every day, women are getting breast implants all over the world and having numerous procedures done to their bodies – in the “pursuit of physical perfection,” I call it. My story is online here at My Implant Story, along with other women’s stories about how the decision to undergo surgery changed their lives. We suffer everything from arthritis to heart conditions, and to memory problems, disabilities, and deformities – the list goes on. Please check it out.

I wish I had heard more horror stories before deciding to get surgery in 2006. I wish I had been Stephanie’s “friend” on Facebook so I could have warned her or influenced someone close to her. I wish that she had seen my story or other young women’s stories, like Kacey Long, a 19-year old woman who got sick from saline implants and was featured on MTV – all of these stories that are out there, but that I only discovered after getting sick from implants.

Young women should not be dying for beauty. They should be properly warned that very scary things can happen as a result of cosmetic procedures. This girl from Florida did not deserve to die and her family and friends do not deserve to suffer at the hands of the people who are not properly warning women what can really happen.

They tell you when you are signing those forms at the doctor, “Well, you could have reactions to surgery, there are risks – but it is so rare – we just have to tell you that.” So, you think – every celebrity is doing it, my friends and peers are doing it – why shouldn’t I? But when the “I” turns into a tragedy for someone you know or know of – that is the person you should be looking at and saying to yourself, “Hey, something bad happened to them and, yes, it could happen to me, too, so I don’t want to take that risk. I am thankful for what I was born with.”

I wish Stephanie still had her whole life ahead of her, but I hope that her story will help tons of other women in the world make healthier decisions and choose not undergo dangerous surgeries. She was so young and didn’t think anything could go wrong. I hope that other women resist the seductive advertising for cosmetic surgeries, ignore the success stories, and really start becoming smart, smart women by doing their research and learning that this is a very real, untold story that is happening more and more every day.

Seems as though there are people out there who believe it is a good thing to teach our children that breast implants and being materialistic is okay. Not to mention teaching them to watch their weight and being rewarded for all of this. Children as young as seven years of age are playing a Web-based game called Miss Bimbo. When will the craziness stop?

I certainly hope that parents will do all they can to keep their children from this website. We just can’t raise our children thinking that this is okay!

This site has also taken off in France, where it is called Ma Bimbo. The creator is quoted as saying that he thinks this is all harmless fun.

I don’t have children but if I did, I sure would be monitoring their Internet usage.

This is just the absolute wrong message to be teaching girls who are already struggling with body image issues. Also, it is so dangerous to be teaching a child that breast implants are something that every woman should have.

When I was a kid I played Chutes and Ladders and Mouse Trap. I can’t even imagine this type of game. At seven years of age, I didn’t even know what a breast implant was nor was I concerned with my weight. This sends a very bad message to children.

The terrific video is from The Feminist Majority in honor of Women’s History Month.

And Sybil says, “A feminist is someone who can expect medical care that doesn’t prey on her sense of self. “

“My friends have done it and rave about it.”

“My friends look great, and it looks so easy.”

“Everyone is doing it, so it MUST BE SAFE.”

“I’m going to get it done too…”

This is the thinking process for so many people when it comes to cosmetic surgery. It leaves a lot of room for terrible things to happen. Case in point is Priscilla Presley, who ended up with with industrial-grade silicone in her face.

Priscilla, like so many of her social set, was taken in by Daniel Serrano, a handsome Argentinian who had somehow plugged into the Hollywood elite. Serrano, who turns out wasn’t even licensed to practice medicine in the US, provided what he claimed were miracle injections that worked better than Botox. According to TMZ,

Serrano was injecting industrial, low-grade silicone similar to what’s used to lubricate auto parts in Argentina into the faces of these women. Several women, including Shawn King, Larry’s wife, and Diane Richie, Lionel’s wife at the time, held injection parties in their homes, with Serrano needling them with the non-FDA approved drug that he had smuggled in to the U.S. He charged between $300 and $500 a pop.

The injections caused lumps, paralysis and even holes in the face. Serrano, subsequently dubbed “Dr. Jiffy Lube,” ended up in jail, but not before disfiguring many women.

What this story perfectly illustrates is how a herd mentality can take over when a cosmetic medical procedure that can have very serious side effects loses its social stigma. It can become widespread, and finally “fashionable and trendy.” I feel so much sympathy for Priscilla – it’s so hard to exercise your own judgment when the people around you and your social environment urge you to rush in. Under this kind of pressure, any thought of caution and due diligence very easily falls to the wayside.

That’s why the FDA’s decision to put silicone breast implants back on the market, charging women with informed consent, is such a crime. These days, if it were possible to have house parties for breast implants, believe me, they would be happening! In such an atmosphere, how many women, like Serrano’s poor victims, are falling into the herd mentality and consenting to this surgery with only their friends’ or doctors’ safety assurances? Too many, I’m afraid.

Dear Mr. Savage,

I read your response to I Miss Her Boobs with dismay. You were honest in your inability to give good advice, but your answer rested on the assumption that this is just a sexual/cosmetic/emotional issue, when in fact it could be one of pure survival - the wife not wanting to extend the life-and-death struggle that all cancer patients go through.

The fact is, getting implants after a mastectomy is highly risky; complication rates for mastectomy patients are very high. One study shows that 46 percent of patients getting implants will need more surgery within three years of their reconstruction; numbers from similar reports (here and here, to start) show the same. Rather than bitterness towards the idea of breasts, I bet Mrs. I Miss Her Breasts is just happy to be alive and hopes never to see the inside of an operating room again.

Mr. Savage, I do feel sympathy for both husband and wife in this situation. Both are in mourning: he for her breasts and she for the security of a life without the specter of cancer. His wife has obviously been through some trauma and pain, and so has he. After something like cancer, both would want to be able to get their lives back on the track to normalcy, and of course that includes their sex lives. Now, however, both halves of this couple are in a different place than they were before, and dealing with this transition is never easy.

My personal experience underscores how difficult it is to get to a win-win situation out of something like this. As I underwent surgery after surgery to get breast implants that didn’t work, time after time, my husband felt my pain and discomfort to such an extent that he begged me not to try again after the second implant failure, the third implant failure and then the fourth implant failure. Yes, I had used eight implants. It was terribly upsetting to him that I was so sick because he thought I was only getting implants to please him. As we talked about it – and we talked a lot over that year and a half of constant surgery – breast implants were my way of trying to triumph over a disease that left me disfigured. Breast implants to him represented one step after another of chronic illness and he wanted me any way I was, as long as I was alive and not ill from implants and surgery.

Ultimately, I stopped trying implants and had natural tissue transfer surgery, which provided me with breasts I was pretty happy with. Perfecting nipple reconstruction and shape adjusting took a few more surgeries and with each surgery I could see that my relationship with my husband had become more strained. All he wanted was the security of my having a long life to share with him and he was offended that I thought that breasts were so important to him that I would risk so much discomfort and our relationship just to have them. It took a lot of time for us to heal our differences. And during that time we enjoyed finding other ways to please each other. That part was a wonderful journey for both of us and ultimately led to a complete recovery of our relationship. We’ve been married for over 46 years.

I hope that this couple talks to each other more so that the husband can fully understand why his wife doesn’t want to reconstruct. Whether this man likes it or not, breast cancer is now a part of this marriage. The compromise here shouldn’t be to accept a non-existent sex life but to embrace a new one. In time, exploring newer, more creative sexual activities may help him not miss those breasts so much. I know how possible this is, because I’ve been there.

Sincerely,

Sybil Goldrich

The reading list is long today, ladies and gents… there’s a lot to talk about!

FOX, Woman Claims Police Caused Breast Implant to Burst While we won’t comment on if this woman instigated her scuffle with a North Carolina police officer, we’re curious to see how her ruptured implant will affect her case in court.

Guanabee, “Spanx” Now Hold In Your Unsightly Boobies as well as Your Hideous, Mutant Gut Guanabee has a different take on the Bra-lellujah by Spanx (remember their fat-sucking, butt-shaping panties?) Yes, it’s just a bra, but it’s one more sign that people are forgetting (or refusing to remember) what natural bodies look like.

University of Florida News, Is Bigger Better? Breast Surgery Linked to Boost in Self-Esteem and Sexuality When we found this article popping up on Google recently, we also found this one from Associated Content: Complications from Breast Implants Lead to Low Self-Esteem, Problems with Sex Life.

The Canadian Press, Behind the Beauties, Nips and Tucks: A Look Inside the Beauty Pageant Universe This beauty contestant trainer doesn’t “coax” the future Ms. Universe to get plastic surgery, but if she does it on her own, she deserves a pat on the back. Um… does anyone else think that’s a little off?

Feministing, Dainty Ladies Don’t Menstruate My, how advertising has changed…

The Body Image Project As if we haven’t given you enough to chew on this week, here is a compelling read: women post anonymously about their body image perceptions. Feel free to post your own.