FREE ESSAY ON BREAST IMPANTS

BREAST IMPANTS

Breast Implants
I.
Should breast implants be concidered dangerous or are they safe for women to use?
Small-breasted women in America say that they feel inferior or unfeminine in a culture
where breast size is a major issue. Popular fashion models today are usually thin,but
large-breasted,especially those who model lingerie,evening wear and swimsuits. With
American culture seeming to equate cleavage with sexiness,it is no wonder that some
smaller-breasted women doubt their attractiveness and recive implants that make their
breasts larger.The explosive popularity of breast implants over the past three decades
has waned recently,however,as a result of a growing controversy over their safety. Are
breast implants dangerous? Do they cause
otherwise healthy women to become ill? Or are they a safe option for women who either
lose a breast to cancer or simply want to change the way
they look? There are two main kinds of breast implants-those filled with silicone gel and
those filled with saline (a salt-water solution) enclosed in a hard silicone shell. While
critics contend that implants pose a threat to women's health,defenders insist that that
no cause and effect relationship
has been established between implants and disease. 
II. Why Women Want Breast Implants 
A 1986 Psychology Today survey found that one-third of American women were unhappy with
the size of their breasts. For many reasons,personal body image and self-esteem are
closely interwined. Young
women are bombarded with images of the "Perfect" female body-often the sort of body they
feel that men most admire and covet,and a standard that is nearly impossible to meet.
Many girls first become body-conscious during adolescence,when they notice changes in
their breast sizes;some women remain determined,often because of a lingering lack of
self-esteem or confidence,to seek through breast augmentation what they consider to be
perfection. Eighty percent of women who seek breast implants do so for cosmetic
reasons-they want to have larger breasts. The remaining 20% seek breast reconstruction
after they have had a mastectomy (breast removal) due to cancer. Many breast-cancer
survivors suffer significant psychological trauma at the loss of a breast,and breast
implants are a crucial element in making the women feel whole again. Despite the
thousands of women who say they have encountered problems with implants,90% of women who
have had breast-augmentation surgery are satisfied with the results,according to a 1990
survey conducted by the American Society of Plastic and Reconstuctive Surgeons (ASPRS).
III. History of Implants 
1962- Researchers invent first silicone-gel breast implants;it goes on
the market. 
1969- Saline breast implants introduced.
1976- Food and Drug Administration (FDA) given authority to 
regulate breast implants. 
1978- Dow Corning Corp.scientists tells FDA that studies are 
necessary to determine risks of implants. 
1988- FDA decides to consider breast implants as Class III devices;
manufacturers are required to submit data on their safety.
1991- FDA notifies implant manufacturers that they must submit
safety data. 
1992- FDA imposes voluntary ban on sale of silicone-gel implants,
citing lack of safety data;allows limited use of that type of 
implant if recipients participate in studies. 
1994- FDA notifies makers of saline implants that they must submit
data on safety.
1994- Mayo Clinic study finds no link between silicone-gel 
implants and connective-tissue diseases.
1994- U.S. District Judge Sam C. Pointer approves largest product
liability settlement in U.S. history:implant makers are to
pay out $4.25 billion over 30 years to women who say 
implants made them sick. 
1995- Dow Corning,the country's largest implant manufacturer 
until it ceased production of implants in 1992,declares 
bankruptcy in May,citing soaring litigation costs. 
1995- Harvard University study reports no link found between 
silicone-gel implants and connective-tissue disease.
IV. What Are the Dangers
There are certain undisputed hazards associated with breast 
implants,and manufacturers say they have been clear about them. Among
the risks outlined by implant makers:implants can rupture or leak,tissue around implants
can harden,cause pain and change the breast's appearance (a condition called "capsular
contracture"),and implants can 
interfere with doctors' ability to detect tumors. In addition to these dangers,there has
been fear-although unsubstaintiated to date-that breast implants can cause cancer. In
fact,only one type of implant,formerly made
by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.,has been linked to cancer,and that implant was withdrawn from
the market in 1991. The FDA now says the risk of 
getting cancer from implant is one in a million,and not worth the risk of having the
implant removed. The health debate has centered on the effects
of silicone gel on the human immune system. Patients and their doctors
allege that silicone implants have caused serious autoimmune diseases. An
autoimmune disease is one in which the body's immune system attacks its 
own cells. The implants are alleged to have caused a number of illnesses,
including scleroderma (a hardening of the skin and inner organs,which can
be fatal),lupus erythematosus (a disease characerized by inflammation of skin,joint,lungs
or kidneys),and rheumatoid arthritis (chronic joint inflammation). The symptoms described
by affected women include fatigue,
aching joints,rashes and swollen lymph nodes. Some women who have had their implants
removed say their symptoms have vanished and they feel perfectly healthy again,while
others claim that the symptoms have not disappeared. Implant manufacturers and plastic
surgeons insist that implants are safe. After several studies, the scientific
establishment has found no connection between silicone-gel breast implants and these
diseases,and even the American Medical Association (AMA) says it's time the FDA lifted
the ban. Those who belive that implants play a causative role in disease, such as
Dr.Sidney M Wolfe of the advocacy organization Public Citizen Health Research
Group,complain that the studies have been
flawed-they have not looked at the right indicators for disease,they have looked at too
few women and they have been funded by partisan groups who could influence their
outcomes. Wolfe and his supporters want the FDA ban to stay in place. 
V. 
In conclusion to if women should use breast implants I firmly belive 
that women should decide if they want to use them or not. I mean they already know the
consequences and dangers it might present so it's thier decicion. I also think that they
should work more on investigating all the risks that breast implants may cause because
they are not totally sure of the dangers that these things might cause.