garysher

Breast implants linked with suicide in study
Wed Aug 8, 2007 7:10PM EDT
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women who get cosmetic breast implants are nearly three times as likely to commit suicide as other women, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

The study, published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery, reinforces several others that have shown women who have breast enlargements have higher suicide risks.

Loren Lipworth of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee and colleagues followed up on 3,527 Swedish women who had cosmetic breast implant surgery between 1965 and 1993. They looked at death certificates to analyze causes of death among women with breast implants.

Only 24 of the women had committed suicide after an average of 19 years, but this worked out to triple the risk compared to the average population, they reported. Doctors who perform cosmetic breast surgery may want to monitor patients closely or screen them for suicide risk, Lipworth said.

Lipworth said she believes that some women who get implants may have psychiatric problems to start with, perhaps linked with lower self-esteem or body image disorders.

Women with breast implants also had a tripled risk of death from alcohol and drug use.

"Thus, at least 38 deaths (22 percent of all deaths) in this implant cohort were associated with suicide, psychological disorders and/or drug and alcohol abuse/dependence," the researchers wrote.

NO RISE IN CANCER DEATH RISK

They found no increase in the risk of death from cancer, including breast cancer. Women with implants were more likely to die from lung cancer and respiratory diseases, such as emphysema, but this is probably because they were more likely to smoke, the researchers said.

In November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration okayed the sale of silicone breast implants for the first time in 14 years, after years of hearings on their safety.

While silicone implants were banned, women could only use saline-filled breast implants. Plastic surgeons say women prefer the silicone ones, and Lipworth said most of the women in her study had silicone implants.

In 2006, 383,886 U.S. women had breast augmentation, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. It was the second-most common surgical cosmetic procedure, after liposuction.

Breast implants linked with suicide in study | Health | Reuters

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fxashun

Might be more related to the type of personality it takes to get the breast implants rather than the implants themselves. You have to have serious issues to want to go under the knife for such a poor reason.

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bethtaylor

I believe that the reason women are more likely to commit suicide that have implants is because there is some 37 chemicals in them. These chemicals affect each person differently. Usually not favorably. I suffered from depression all my life but never would have thought of committing suicide. I became very ill from my implants and started to think differently and even felt like a completely different person. I did attempt suicide. I'm glad to be here today to tell my story.

People must understand that these chemicals reach the brain and just wreak havoc! I should know as I experienced it. I had my implants removed and I would never even consider committing suicide now. You can read my story at toxicbreastimplants.org

Hio

My thoughts exactly

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What Profit Is It To A Man...If He Gains The World But Loses His Own Soul {Matthew 16:26}

droliver

Your own narrative gives an explanation more likely to explain your issues then the presence of breast implants. There has never been either a statistical trend or any plausible mechanism demonstrated for the assertion of implants causing systemic disease.

It's also interesting that when you extrapolate the expected suicide rate with the risk factors that breast augmentation patients bring to the table (or at least brought in the groups being reported on from the mid 1960'2 to the late 1980's) that the observed suicide rate may be 50% less then predicted.

This study does little more then tell us that groups with higher psychopathology will predictably demonstrate higher suicide rates. Breast augmentation is really a marker for increased risk of that, rather then as a direct proxy for suicide.

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Blogging on the web at Plastic Surgery 101

bethtaylor

I've always wondered why there are so many people out there defending breast implants and more likely to blame any problems associated with them on the person that has them. My mind continues over and over again to think that this is all money motivated.

I had saline implants. My plastic surgeon told me they were completely safe. They were the safe alternative to silicone gel. I researched and found nothing indicating anything different. Maybe because of people like you.

It really is such a shame since I have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, Ms, epstein barr and peripheral neuropathy. My PS convenently forgot to tell me of the autoimmune diseases associated with breast implants and any other dangers. I was told they would last a lifetime. We know now that no implant will last a lifetime. Yet, there are many, many PS's out there telling their patients just that. 'They will last a lifetime!'

I was lucky enough to find two doctors that told me that the implants were the cause of my illness.

If you research these diseases, you will find that all of them can make you depressed. Hmmmmm, food for thought.

droliver

First off, there is currently unanimous international consensus that there is NO demonstratable link between breast implants any identifiable autoimmune process. As science is always evolving, our understanding of this could change but there are now several dozen major studies consistant in not correlating this relationship you are assuming. While you can't prove something didn't cause your health problems, no patterns emerge from studying hundreds of thousands of such patients making this cause & effect unlikely.

Second, no one has told patients an implant lasts forever in decades. While they have indefinate lifespans in the body (we explant some 25-30 years old that are intact not infrequently), it has long been printed in informed consents and the literature from manufacturers and the FDA in this regards.

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Blogging on the web at Plastic Surgery 101

bethtaylor

I can tell that you must be a PS. You are so wrong that doctors don't tell women that implants last a lifetime. I was told that mine would last a lifetime back in 1996. I also have a support forum that is just over a year old. We have 800 members. I can tell you without a doubt that 95% of the women were told that their breast implants would last a lifetime. So you are very misinformed. VERY!

We also have new members that sign up and have saline implants that were implanted a year ago. Most are in shock that they are sick and think that the only thing that could be causing the illness is the implants since that is when their life changed for them. They too were told that the implants would last a lifetime. Not all but the majority. These are board certified plastic surgeons.

Once they have their implants removed, they start feeling so much better.

Implants are dangerous no doubt about it. After all the FDA has lifted the ban on silicone gel saying that they are 'reasonably safe'. They also have to be replaced after 10 years and an MRI must be done every 2 years. Who in hell would have implants knowing that information? This should have been disclosed to women years ago not just back in November of '05. I think the same kind of restrictions should be put on saline filled.

I really think all should be taken off the market but after seeing that the FDA lifted the ban with those kind of restrictions, I know this will never happen. They are a huge money maker for people like you.

If you don't believe me that there are so many women ill, check out Breast Implant Support Forum. 800 members in less than a year. Think of all the women that are ill that have no idea or the ladies that don't get on a computer and search for a support group? They continue to believe their doctor. Much like I did. Each doctor I saw told me that saline implants don't make you ill. WRONG!

garysher

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menaresavages

ALL men are lecherous. We need to stop being politically correct and hiding the fact that men are severely lacking in restraint, morals, and human empathy. Men are psychopathic savages who need to be kept out of normal society. Women should never pander to a man, and that includes getting implants, wearing makeup, high heels, etc. Any man who needs these things is a sicko and should be put in prison.