Silicone safety and silicone breast implants

By alikidd on 12 Mar 2010

if silicone injections into the breast are not allowed because they are unsafe why would silicone implants be considered safe. if an implant breaks, then you would possibly have silicone in and around the breast area. wouldnt this be the same as having the silicone injected into the breast area. wouldnt it be the same end result? and thus a dangerous one?

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Comments (1)

Randy J. Buckspan, MD 28 Apr 2010

Silicone by itself is very safe. All research and medical evidence supports this conclusion. Silicone is a molecule that the body responds to by forming scar tissue around the substance - in effect to "wall it off", since it is not biodegradable. In the form of a silicone breast implant, the scar that completely surrounds each implant is called a capsule. This capsule remains forever, as all scars do. Pure silicone injections are also medically safe, but injections are really made of multiple lumps of silicone. Each individual lump will become encapsulated and because of their small size, can clump or migrated creating distortion. The result may not be satisfactory or the multiple lumps may make mammograms difficult to interpret. Unfortunately, there are lay people who have obtained industrial-grade silicone, used as lubricants for machinery, and illegally injected it into wary individuals. This substance is not pure or sterile and thus quite dangerous.

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