After a little persuasion from my husband and a few close family members, I finally decided to join Facebook last week.  Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

What I didn’t realize about Facebook before I signed up, was that it is much more then just putting up a profile, uploading pictures and getting back in touch with old friends.  Facebook includes hundreds if not thousands of “applications” that you actually “add” to your page. The applications are anything from adding “the quote of the day” to your page, to adding little “stickers,” various quizzes that you can take to test your knowledge on different subjects, to sending and receiving various “gifts” to and from your friends. The “gifts” include anything from flowers, to little hatching eggs, to drinks, to “karma.”

As I was learning the ins and outs of Facebook over the last two weeks, I was browsing the pages of my friends, and to my surprise and shock, one of my friends had received various “boobies” from her friends. I learned quickly that people are sending each other photos of different breasts and adding the photos straight to their page.  After my shock wore off a bit, I decided to take a closer look at this facebook “application.” In order to do this, I had to add the application to my page. So, I pressed the button to add the application, did my research, and quickly deleted the application before anyone noticed that I added it.  What I found through my five minutes of  research was that there were about 45 different types of “boobies” that you could send and receive. A few of the boobies included the following:

Motivational Boobies

Fake Boobies (though ALL of the boobies were fake, so I really didn’t get that one.)

Sporty Boobies

Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I found this particular application extremely annoying, to say the least. Who, but an immature teenager would think receiving and sending photos of fake breasts is interesting, cool, or “okay” for that matter? Aren’t we inundated with fake breasts ENOUGH? What is this teaching the millions of teenagers that are part of Facebook, that women’s bodies and breasts are just objects? Come on Facebook, you can do better.

I recently read this blog from Hilary Magazine regarding Karolina Kurkova being too fat!  I really looked at this picture and thought if she was any thinner, she would look anorexic. 

I’m reading words describing her body as ‘fat’, ‘chubby’, ‘love handles’ ‘cellulite’. 

Well, I looked and looked and I sure don’t see anything but a beautiful healthy looking woman.  Our society puts so much pressure on women in particular to look like sticks with big boobs.  Ewww, but that to me is just not attractive. 

Shame on you Brazil for putting so much pressure on women! 

Beth

I found this blog along with a You Tube video today that I thought everyone might find interesting. It is from a board certified plastic surgeon in Orange County by the name of John Di Saia. Dr. Di Saia explains why he does not prefer Silicone Breast Implants. He says

“I do not believe that silicone gel is dangerous per se, but local tissue reactions to silicone gel implants are not the same as with their saline counterparts. I have produced a few short videos to show what happens inside some patients with silicone gel implants over time. We just do not know to what extent this may happen with newer generation silicone gel implants. It has not in my experience happened to the same extent with saline-filled implants. Patients need to make a choice when they choose breast implants. The choice is really deciding on a level of comfort with silicone gel. It is the reason that in my practice many patients still choose saline.”

Here is one of the You Tube videos he is speaking of.

While I find it admirable that Dr. Di Saia is pointing out and admitting to one of the many many problems with silicone breast implants, I don’t believe he is correct in saying that these types of problems won’t happen with the saline implants. When my saline breast implants were removed, I had extensive scar tissue that had formed around my implant. My explanting surgeon had to scrape away the scar tissue which included my own natural breast tissue. Women need to understand that these problems do not just happen with the silicone breast implants, they happen universally with ALL breast implants. This is because the body is trying to protect itself from the foreign object that has invaded it. Saline breast implants are NO DIFFERENT then the silicone implants because the envelope of a saline breast implant is made from the the same materials as a silicone implant.

This article reported in the New York Times states that Plastic Surgeons are holding parties for women interested in any type of cosmetic surgery they desire. 

As quoted in the article:

‘The goal was to create “a fun night, an educational night” that “demystifies” cosmetic surgery, Dr. Greenberg said. In front of the audience, he asked a 28-year-old patient named Jennifer, who later identified herself as his front desk manager and would not disclose her last name, what had bothered her about her breasts and whether the procedure she had undergone to enlarge them had been painful. Meanwhile, Leeana Karlson, co-host of Dr. Greenberg’s show on KJOY radio, 98.3 FM, showed the crowd silicone gel implants like those the surgeon had used”.

I believe the goal of the night is to pull in more women to have cosmetic surgery and to convince them this was all very safe.  I wonder if these women while drinking and eating and socializing have time to even ask what the risks are to such procedures like lipo and breast augmentation? 

Dr. Alan Gold, a Great Neck-based PS and President of the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, stated in the article that such events “have moved plastic surgery from an art and science to entertainment.”  Entertainment???  Are these Surgeon’s that hard up for money???  I know our economy is bad so I suppose this is how they are trying to pull more women into getting cosmetic surgery.  Sure, get them drunk and then they will feel like what they are doing is a safe thing to do to their body!

One doctor stated that after years of promotion and advertising, he had “more patients than I could ever want to operate on.” Still, he said, the event would lure new patients that he “may not have had otherwise.”

Point made I suppose after that last statement.  It seems to be all about ‘luring’ women into a false sense of security by have these types of parties.  I’m not against plastic surgery but I am against not informing women of all the risks involved in such procedures that are mentioned in the article. 

Buyer beware!

Beth

I read about a ‘new’ and I use that term loosely, breast implant called the Ideal Implant.  These implants are currently under clinical trials.   They are described as having an inner core or lumen similar to the double lumen implants that were essentially a silicone gel implant surround by a saline implant.   

The companies mission statement made me laugh a bit as I just thought this was another way of making women think they are doing something ’safe’.  Just like I was told when I had my saline implants 10 years ago.  The mission statement reads:

To offer women a breast implant that combines a natural, tissue-like feel with the safety of saline as the filler, for Peace of Mind.

Okay, for Peace of Mind?  I think not.  The company claims that they have used all the same materials for these implants that are in other implants.  If you remember from other posts those materials are TOXIC.  Really the only difference is a saline implant within a saline implant.  They also state that the implant is inserted empty and filled once placed inside the body with saline.  So I must ask myself what is so different other than having 4 saline implants in your body? 

Let me show you some pictures to show you just how UNSAFE saline implants are.  I had my implants for 8 years and was completely disabled just after 5 years.  Take a look at some of these so called safe saline implants.  No, these aren’t the ‘Ideal Implants’ but in my opinion there is no difference since the company claims that they used the same materials as in other saline implants. 

This first set almost killed the woman they were removed from.  She is still fighting to regain her health and yes, that is saline that you see in there.  Saline and a very toxic mix.

This set was removed from a lady that is also struggling with her health.  These implants made her very ill.  Yes, another set of saline implants.

Lastly, my implant, at least the worst one.  Keep in mind it looks not nearly as bad as the implants shown above.  However, after having them analyzed, my chemist said that there were chunks, yes chunks of bacteria and white mold growing inside.  These implants that are so commonly referred to as being safe changed my life forever.  Disabled at age 40 and explanted three years later because my doctors continued to mis-diagnose me.  Once I had the implants removed, my health started to improve and yes, these implants also came very close to taking my life.

I want to make it perfectly clear that saline implants are not safe.  Also, all these women used board certified Plastic surgeons.  

Anything having to do with saline breast implants do not give me ‘Peace of Mind’. 

I was listening to the radio this morning as I was getting ready for work and I was shocked to hear my favorite radio DJ’s talking about this story!! A man in Florida was arrested for holding “buttocks pumping parties” in various hotels around Florida. Anthony Solomon of Miami who is without any type of medical license was pumping women’s asses full of straight silicone!

Dr. Seth Thaller, chief of plastic surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine, said he often sees patients seeking relief for pain and infection and outright removal of silicone and other substances from such injections.

“Sometimes the silicone is industrial grade, from lubricants. Lord knows how much they put in or what they put in. It must be a good-sized needle.  Then it leaches. It spreads all over. It’s hard to get out.  In a few cases, such injections have spread through the bloodstream to the lungs, creating pulmonary embolisms and causing death. How can anybody let people without credentials inject something in them?” he said.

Okay ladies, you know these comments are coming next. What in the world are these women thinking?!!!  Is “beauty” and “vanity” THAT important that you would let a strange man, without a medical license inject “whatever” into your ass in a hotel room! I am just beside myself on this!

On top of that…..if the medical community is acknoweding that pumping the ass full of straight silicone poses a serious health risk, then why do they refuse to admit that breast implants do the same? Saline breast implants are encased in a silicone shell, we all know full well that saline implants rupture…I know mine did (after only 3 years!) Doesn’t that silicone from the shell go straight into the body just like if you were injecting it into the body?! Silicone implants are even worse! Plastic surgeons and implant manufacturers would have you believe that the silicone stays within the implant, but it is simply not true. The body attacks the silicone implant, chipping off small pieces of silicone that are then taken all over the body! Breast implants are man-made! We all know that nothing man-made is perfect, these devices have serious flaws.  The rupture rate is astronomical and platic surgeons don’t think that is a big deal! How can it not be a big deal when silicone is seriously harmful to the human body!?

I was absolutely delighted to see this blog published in the OC Register today. The blog was written by Colin Stewart and is called “Breast Implants are like cell phones – much loved, but a problem.” Colin starts off his blog by pointing another interesting blog, which was written in the Freakonomics section of the NY Times on June 18th. He points out that it wasn’t so much the blog itself that was interesting, but the barrage of comments that came after the blog was published that struck everyone’s interest! Women were coming out of the “woodworks” to share their thoughts about breast implants, including their major life-altering health problems stemming from breast implants. I’m sure that the NY Times and Dr. Zenn (the plastic surgeon that was interviewed for the NY Times blog) had no idea what was to come after this blog was published. Women attacked Dr.Zenn’s comment on the safety level of breast implants. The author of the NY Times blog asked Dr. Zenn which implant is safer, silicone or saline, and if all of the concerns surrounding breast implants were all hoopla. Dr. Zenn answered that silicone and saline implant have the same level of safety, and that yes the concerns are all hoopla. Women who have actually had/have breast implants implanted into their bodies had quite the difference in opinion!

Colin then goes on to wittily point out the similarity in cell phones and breast implants. He points out that both are embraced by enthusiastic consumers who are willing to overlook the problems they cause. Colin says “With cell phones, the problems tend to be dropped calls and inaudible conversations. With breast implants, the problems range from minor flaws in breast appearance to major health crises that require medical intervention.”

Last year alone, 30,000 women removed their Breast Implants. To me, THAT alone is reason to be concerned over a “medical device.” There is a reason that these women removed their implants. I’d like to know when the medical community (independent from plastic surgeons and implant manufacturers) is going to start studying WHY so many women are removing their implants. I’d also like to see some long-term, independent studies on what the true health concerns are with breast implants. There are too many women who are having problems and serious health concerns. This issue simply cannot be over-looked, pushed aside and ignored any longer. Women deserve to know the truth. We deserve to know exactly what we are getting ourselves into when we choose to enlarge our breasts with silicone. 

Beauty and The Breast would like to thank Colin Stewart for giving both sides to this very controversial issue. All too many times, publications, websites and articles only share the opinions and beliefs of the plastic surgery community, and never bother sharing the opinions of the women who have been harmed by breast implants.

A spike in the unemployment rate - the biggest in more than two decades, oil prices up to nearly $150 a barrel, the dollar has lost tremendous value against the euro and the yen, homes in foreclosure crossing the 1 million mark during the first quarter of 2008, a record high. Yes yes, we all know by now that the current U.S economy has taken a terrible downturn and is headed for a possible recession. As Americans are “feeling in the pinch,” more and more are tightening their wallet strings and opting out of purchasing discretionary items.  Cosmetic surgery is like any other discretionary item. Because of that, cosmetic surgery along with everything else has declined along with the declining economy.

I read this article in the NY Times today which talks about how the “top” plastic surgeons in the US used to have waiting lists to come see them that were two years long, now the waiting list is only a month. Many of these surgeons contribute this to the growing concerns over the economy, some over the loss of interest in plastic surgery, some to the increasing numbers of people opting for non-surgical procedures—such as botox, instead of a face-lift. 

Dr. Anthony Giffin a popular plastic surgeon in Los Angelos said “I think it’s related to the economy.  We had people refinancing their homes and using them as A.T.M.s to pay for procedures like liposuction and breast augmentation.” Dr. Linda Li, another popular surgeon in Beverly Hills said  “If it’s a choice between putting food on the table or gas in the car or surgery, the choice is obvious.”  Lei Huang, a senior analyst for Summer Street Research Partners said “There is definitely a trading down from big-ticket procedures.  People considering entire face-lifts may hold off on that for a few years and tell themselves, ‘I might go in for a little bit of botox in the forehead and a little filler around the mouth because that may be all I can afford right now.’ ”  “I think it is due to nonplastic surgeons getting a bigger piece of the pie,” Dr. Michael Kane, a plastic surgeon in Manhattan said.  When it comes to facial procedures, plastic surgeons are experiencing increased competition from other doctors (such as facial surgeons, eye surgeons and dermatologists), according to a new economic forecast published this month in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

What I found interesting was that this article also points out what two plastic surgeons said in a journal article. “It is clear that plastic surgeons continue to dominate cosmetic surgery of the breast and abdomen but are battling increased competition and even falling behind in the area of facial cosmetic surgery.”

So, how I read is that is that plastic surgeons are losing ground in the area of facial cosmetic surgery as more women are opting for procedures that cost less and do not require surgery, but that they will not have to “share their piece of the pie” when it comes to breast implants.  What that tells me is that plastic surgeons are going to be pushing this procedure even harder now because…well, they don’t have a choice. If they want to keep their practice and keep the patients coming through their door….drastic times call for drastic measures.

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard a woman say “I went to my plastic surgeon to get a breast lift and he/she talked me into implants,” or “I went to my plastic surgeon to have my implants removed and my he/she told me that I would look terrible and tried to talk me into just having them replaced,” or “my plastic surgeon told me implants are perfectly safe and I believe him because he does this every day.”  Well ladies, this article and these reasons are why your plastic surgeon says these things. As we have already pointed out here at Beauty and The Breast, breast implants are an annuity medicine, you have to keep coming back for more and more. More and more money out of your pocket and into the plastic surgeon’s bank account.  Plastic surgeons will do anything to keep their schedule full, especially during these difficult economic times.

Alright everyone, I’m hoping this post is going to strike up some interesting comments and opinions. This is something that I hear over and over again from the “pro-implant” and “pro-plastic surgery” people. They seem to think that if women are against breast implants and plastic surgery then that automatically makes them against using sunscreens, anti-aging lotions, hair dyes, braces, make-up and other “products” to help them look their best and assist them in keeping their youthful appearances.

I recently read this blog where it talks about how actress and mother, Cate Blanchett openly “poo poos” plastic surgery. Cate says that she doesn’t find it attractive when people get work done and that their motivation is “self obsession” and “fear.” She also said: “For me, I think what will be sexy in 50 years time will be wrinkles. Look at a man or a woman in their 50s and all I see when they have brushed their years away with surgery is self-obsession and fear. That’s not particularly attractive.”

What I found most interesting was that in this same blog, as well as this one and this one, people were actually condemning Cate for endorsing and being a spokesperson for a skincare line called, SK-II. Cate says she uses one of their products, a moisturizing skin mask made of cotton, every morning while she makes her sons’ breakfast. Many people seem to think that Cate is being a hypocrite for saying she is against plastic surgery, but then at the same time she is using an expensive anti-wrinkle cream on her face every day.

For the life of me I cannot figure out how the two things are connected. Plastic surgery is trying to be something you are not, completely changing a body part (or multiple body parts for some people.) Using a wrinkle cream is only putting in the effort to “look your best.” I don’t know about the rest of you, but just because I am not a big fan of breast implants and plastic surgery in general doesn’t automatically mean that I don’t try and look my best everyday. But, the biggest difference in those who go under the knife to look their best; is that I am using what I was born with to look my best, just putting my best foot forward everyday. Yes, I wear make-up, I put lotion with sunscreen on my face everyday, I use hair styling products and I exercise regularly. Does that make me a hypocrite? Should I walk out of the house everyday only wearing a paper bag, with my hair disheveled, zero make-up on, and never use sunscreen just because I am not a fan of plastic surgery? I’d love to hear what others have to say on this topic.

I remember that towards the end of high school, in the throws of a burgeoning sexual identity, I started shaving my pubic hair.  In retrospect, I think peer pressure and an adolescent phobia of sticking out ultimately led me to believe that less hair was the paradigm of pubic beauty.  And I didn’t just trim up around the edges of my garden;  no, every two days or so I made sure that not a pube could be found on my external vagina.  By process of elimination, I know that my mother had no influence on my hair removal rituals.  My opinion of my mother during high school was that she knew nothing about being sexy.  She also definitely did not shave her pubic hair (which crept out of her swimsuit during family vacations), providing all the more reason for me to eliminate mine.  In my limited exposure to erotica I determined that most porn stars shave their pubic hair or sport the “landing strip.” Still, having little interest in emulating porn stars, I doubt that my exposure to porn had a significant bearing on my decision.  It was definitely the girls at my (wealthy, private) high school, particularly the older girls, who influenced my pubic practices.  Remarks they made in the bathroom about what their boyfriends enjoyed, how much cleaner they felt, yet how painful waxing was, and “Oh nasty! Did you see Claire’s bush in gym today!” All these comments formed notions in my head about a socially accepted pubic appearance:  hairless or, at least, minimal hair.

So, obediently, I accepted the hair removal rituals of my high school peers, who were themselves trying to impress their boyfriends.  And then it happened that my first boyfriend shattered my world and my silly notion of pubic beauty.  Confident in the growing physical and emotional intimacy of our young relationship, he had the audacity to ask me “Why do you shave off your pubic hair?”  I remember that initially I felt completely exposed.  He was challenging me in an area where I had complete domain but virtually no understanding.  I mean, no one had ever told me that a hairless vagina was desirable except the older girls at my high school, and half the time I didn’t even care what they thought.  Why had I cared about this?  My vulnerability morphed into anger.  I thought, “What! I do this for you, all the razor burn and itchy re-growth, I do it because that’s the way you want it!”  My anger calmed and the emotional hurricane was over in a matter of micro-seconds.  What came out of my mouth was “Oh, I thought you would like it.”  What came out of his was “Oh.  You don’t have to.” 

Such was my first exposure to the social reality of some women (myself included).  We accept ideals of beauty that are themselves silly for arguably silly reasons:  men will like us and women won’t hate us.  Pubic hair removal is but my personal experience in a host of examples ranging from arm-pit hair elimination to breast augmentation to preposterously thin waistlines, where as a woman I felt pressured to conform to unrealistic physical ideals.  Ultimately, de gustibus non est disputandum, that is, in matters of taste, there is no dispute and if a woman thinks that it’s beautiful to have a hairless vagina, for example, shave away!  Certainly, women who subscribe to impossible standards of beauty - like the ridiculously skinny 5’5” woman at 115 lbs, or the Barbie-model with a 25” waist and double-D bust-line, or the 50-year-old actress who looks 30 - should not be criticized if their appearance reflects their personal beauty ideal.  That being said, all women must critically examine to whom their standards of beauty really belong.  At 22, the thing I most emphatically believe is that a woman’s actions must result from her will, not the influence of someone else, otherwise she will never be comfortable with who she is.  If you aren’t being thin for you, if you aren’t being hairless for you, like I wasn’t being hairless for me, it’s time to majorly overhaul your priorities.  Too many women spend their whole lives being who and what they believe their family, their friends, their lovers, their society want and need them to be.  How unfair!  Take back your life, women!  While it’s crude that I began to learn this lesson from a mindless hair removal practice, I am grateful to be learning it now.  In fact, the autonomous woman makes beauty decisions to fulfill her personal ideal of beauty, and no one else’s.  My ideal of beauty is an autonomous woman.