http://www.todaytonightadelaide.com.au/stories/breast-implant-business
The above information while extensive, is not an exact ingredient listing for a silicone breast implant. Manufactures have provided this information in confidence under the Medical Devices Regulations, but it cannot be considered for release without an Access to Information request. If there is a particular chemical component you are looking for, perhaps you could send me additional details, and I could further review the files to see exactly what information we may have.
There is a common misconception that with modern implants women are not at risk for complications around device failure. I hear the belief expressed that ‘they wouldn’t let that happen now’. This is a dangerous and erroneous belief.
There are many thousands of women globally who have experienced rupture, gel bleeds, and other health-busting complications with contemporary models of breast implants. The P.I.P. scandal alone is estimated to have impacted 300,000 women globally.
Let me reiterate (from an earlier FYI), Health Canada and the FDA have assigned breast implants their highest risk rating because they have known issues and a high incidence of device failure. In conversations with Health Canada they have openly conceded this truth.
Let me also reiterate that EVERY woman implanted since 2006, when Breast Implants were ‘conditionally’ approved for use in Canada and the U.S.A., is a GUINEA PIG. They are part of a 10-year study to determine IF breast implants are safe. There are countless women who have experienced device failure.
And worse, the actual follow-up rate of women implanted since 2006, till now (and supposedly included in the studies), is *very low* beyond the first year. As in past studies, the results will be skewed and not at all reflective of the actual degree of device failure and breast implant related illness.
The FDA and manufacturers recommend that women with breast implants have an MRI after 3 years, and every two years subsequently. The outside ‘life’ of an implanted breast implant is 8-10 years; but, it is noted *even on the Mentor website* that devices can fail earlier. I know women who have experienced problems within months of being implanted. Complications within the first 2-6 years are common.
If any woman is going to be implanted in the future I hope it would not be a result of the erroneous belief that ‘they wouldn’t let that happen now’. Oh, believe me, they would, and it does!
The day the photograph wearing clothes was taken I was already very ill. In the photo (a friend cropped out) I struck a playful pose feigning energy and vitality that had long ago left me. I could barely function. I was still trying to push through the illness that would eventually become too much to pretend through.
The photo with my ruptured implant superimposed was taken during my ‘BEFORE’ photo shoot for an upcoming gallery project.
When we see images of implanted women we see only the exterior. Inside, long before the women themselves are aware, their chest wall is undergoing destructive changes. Even if there is not yet ‘gel bleed’ or rupture; the body’s immune system is working hard from the time of implant.
Inevitably there will be leaching of silicone and chemicals, which the immune system tries to wall off, forming a protective capsule around the implant. It works for a while, but then the silicone and chemicals breach the capsule exterior and the immune system creates another layer. This process will repeat until the time of explant, with the capsule becoming ever thicker. If there is rupture the response is greater. The capsule can eventually become hard and painful; this is called capsular contracture. It can cause the breasts to become misshapen.
In time calcification, acute inflammation, necrotized tissue, infection (fungal and/or bacterial), granulomas and other complications can develop in the chest wall. Out of sight, out of mind.
When the immune system has to fight too hard, for too long, it fatigues and becomes confused; this is the point where autoimmune illness happens. The immune system attacks everything, including the woman’s own body.
We are bombarded with media images glamorizing breast implants with no real dialogue around consequence. Considering that breast augmentation has become alarmingly prevalent, especially with young women, I feel we need to create some awareness around it. The implications and potential consequences beyond what implanted women can even imagine.
The next time you see an image of an implanted woman I hope you will ‘see’ with awareness and imagine what her chest wall looks like, instead of just seeing the exterior.
Yesterday anger welled within me seeing myself with the RECALLED, ruptured implants superimposed over my implanted breasts in the image I posted, but then deleted. SEEING IT really impacted me. It touched anger around nobody having had the decency to tell me I had recalled devices in me.
They notify people of recalled vehicle parts and other devices with issues. I’ve had the same address and phone number since before my augmentation date. I wasn’t hard to find. Nobody tried.
I tend to keep my anger contained within. When it does surface I acknowledge it, feel it, and try to quickly move into a place of using my anger as energy to make things better. I so rarely allow myself to express anger and when I do I feel the need to qualify it.
It is always my ultimate intention to build bridges and make things better even when addressing a grievously injurious circumstance. That I doubt will ever change, but as I heal I have to allow myself room to feel, express and process whatever surfaces. Yesterday it was anger.
A letter or phone call would have prevented this. It was an unthinkable oversight.
I just deleted an earlier post from today. I flinched.
I wanted to address that we’re so bombarded with images in the media of women with augmented breasts. We see only the exterior, detached from what’s going on inside their bodies. I wanted to push buttons and provoke thought and dialogue around seeing an implanted woman with implants superimposed over her breasts. Mine were all I had to work with. I still want to figure out how to do it … I’m just not ready YET.
When we just see the exterior without connecting there’s TOXIC SILICONE-OR-SALINE-FILLED SACS inside the woman’s chest there is a troubling disconnect.
The photo I posted also expressed the ANGER I feel that I had such badly ruptured implants in me for the better part of 20 years (16). The photo depicted silicone spilling out of the implants into my chest wall, the consequences of which have devastated my health and quality of life.
So, for now the post with the photo is deleted, but I’m certain I’ll post it, or another version of it, down the road a bit.
FYI:
Health Canada’s stamp of approval does not necessarily mean something is actually SAFE!
In conversations with Health Canada where I posed tough questions to them, and countered every ‘standard party line’ they threw at me with facts they could not dispute, they eventually stressed that Breast Implants have the highest risk rating they assign. They are known to be high risk devices with high complication rates.
I was told that when Health Canada gives their stamp of approval it doesn’t necessarily mean they feel the product is ‘safe’. They approve some products identified to be high risk because if they ban them people will get them in other countries where there are ZERO safety protocols in place, as was the case when breast implants were temporarily banned in Canada and the U.S. in the 1990s.
*I personally don’t buy that explanation; I believe the ultimate criteria is PROFIT*
Health Canada has banned sale of products that were previously available in health food stores (IMHO so that BIG PHARMA can profit from them), but they approve these devices (breast implants) that once implanted, immediately and irreversibly, have consequence in a woman’s body.
I am currently pursuing, demanding, that Health Canada disclose a list of ingredients used in ALL breast implants currently sold in Canada. They have been resistant to say the least. I was told they may have to consult their legal department, but ultimately they may not be able to disclose this information.
I intend to pursue this in the political arena also. Women have a right to know what’s being put in their bodies. They have a right to know so they can make an informed decision on *IF* they want to be implanted. I suspect if there was full disclosure many women would not have chosen not to be implanted.
This topic is TO BE CONTINUED. If there is further resistance for FULL DISCLOSURE I intend to start a petition demanding it.
FYI:
If you have breast implants don’t count on your doctor … even specialists … to have a clue about the signs & symptoms of rupture, or for them to demonstrate due diligence on your behalf. Sadly, too many don’t. My goal is to help educate doctors and front line workers in the medical field. Too many women globally are falling through the cracks and becoming ill from their breast implants. Too many are told their symptoms are ‘in their heads’.
My goal is also to educate implanted women so they will be aware when something has gone wrong with their implants. Until my rupture was diagnosed I was clueless about breast implants and signs of rupture! Most women with undiagnosed ruptured implants have no idea its their implants that are making them ill, but even worse their doctors don’t realize it either.
In marketing they advertise products, often spinning them as something that will make you more beautiful; happier; more desirable; sexier; and younger looking.
Then as a competitor product hits the market, or sales slump and design flaws become evident, original products are tweaked and an updated sales pitch hails the revamped product as ‘new & improved.’ Better than the previous version and better than the competitor.
Their goal is to convince you that you simply can’t live without their product because there’s something lacking in you if you don’t have it. They make you believe if you don’t fit the media’s representation of what people, especially women, should look like you fall short.
Breast implants have sales pitches also.
You may have guessed where I’m going with this …
Breast implants in the 50’s, 60’s, & 70’s had pretty big problems, though women were told they were safe.
Though there was no real public admission of problems, behind the scenes they knew all too well that the devices were failing, so they tweaked the implants and changed the sales pitch.
There has been a long history of problems in the breast implant industry. Decades of device failure, revamped implant models, and new sales pitches … and we’ve bought it all. Hook, line, and sinker. Through the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s it’s been the same scenario playing out.
The ‘new’ allegedly ‘safe’ implants are actually based on the same 60-70 year old technology as the ‘old’ implants, but some features and the sales pitches have been tweaked.
The breast implants I got in the early 90’s were touted as the ‘latest and greatest’.
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Actual catalogue sales pitch for the implants I had:
The SILASTIC II Mammary Implant. High Performance, in a direct comparison with current competitive ‘low bleed’ products. Superior Low Bleed characteristics and Greatly Enhanced Physical Properties.
Independent testing to be the Superior Implant in the marketplace today! SILASTIC II Mammary Implant, High Performance, represents years of research by Dow Corning, the recognized leader in silicone technology, to produce a ‘State of the Art’ mammary implant. The SILASTIC II Mammary Implant, High Performance, is the best product to meet today’s needs!
* Superior Low Bleed Characteristics
* Greatly Enhanced Physical Properties
* Available only from Dow Corning Wright
* High Performance Medical Grade Silicone Elastomer is available only from Dow Corning Wright.
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THE REALITY:
SILASTIC II implants became the object of an international recall on September 13, 1991. In a class action lawsuit it was revealed that Dow Corning had falsified key fabrication data concerning these implants.
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Key players in Dow Corning breast implant manufacturing who purposely concealed damning information about their breast implants went on to start new companies that manufacture breast implants. So there is still a very dangerous thread from the early days to current!
Fast forward to 2017 and we see that there is a new sales pitch for the ‘Ideal Implant’. A breast implant touted as the most ideal implant ever. The best of both worlds – the feel of silicone with the safety of saline.
Of course this ‘ideal’ implant was developed because of the failures of the ‘safe new ones that won’t rupture’. I’d laugh if so many millions more women didn’t stand to lose their health from these also.
Multiple baffles are touted as a major selling feature, but in reality it’s just more compartments for mold and bacteria to grow. More ways for women to be used as human guinea pigs. More ways for manufacturers, regulating bodies and doctors to get rich as women become ill.
Silicone breast implants are not safe. Saline breast implants are not safe. PERIOD.
Please don’t fall for this new sales pitch! It all part of the continuing experiment using women as the lab rats.
FYI:
I read an article from The Huffington Post stating ‘Kaley Cuoco’ says getting breast implants in 2004 was ‘the best decision of her life’.
2004-2014
After ten years she might be loving what she sees on the outside, but her chest wall no doubt isn’t doing so great by now! Women who haven’t yet developed complications telling other women how wonderful breast implants are is part of what’s feeding the current trend … (NOT blaming anyone for saying they love their implants because they just don’t know yet what lies ahead … just saying that this unfortunately is part of what’s feeding the trend).
There’s a chain effect happening. THIS in a nutshell is why I’m speaking out – women just have no clue what can lie ahead – what they’re loving in the moment just might come with a price way higher than they’d have agreed to pay IF THEY’D KNOWN THE TRUTH OF BREAST IMPLANTS.
Breast Implant Failure & Illness 
