Breast Implants Essay -- essays research papers

Breast ImplantsOne of the number one use ups of silicone polymer in a aesculapian implant came in the form oflifesaving tubes implanted into young children to funnel tautological fluid from thebrain into the chest cavity, where the fluid could be safely metabolized andexcreted. Since these "shunts" were first utilize, in the late 1950s, silicone invarious forms has come to be an important part of many implants. "It is used intracheotomy tubes, in artificial lenses for the eye, in artificial heart valvesand in facial implants for rescue defects or re-constructive surgery aftercancer" (Ames 1).     The most widely used implementation of silicone is finished pinhead re-constructive surgery through elective surgery of an individual, or re-constructive surgery to replace breasts imputable to women recovering frommastectomies from breast cancer or miscellaneous types of accidents.     The early recital and use of implants s howed no ill effects of the useof paraffin or silicone. Because of this newly developed surgical process andrelatively little use of FDA guidelines there was no comprehensive testing doneto ensure the effect safety of a silicone recipient.     By this time the millions of women throughout the area who already hadDows silicone prosthesis implanted into their breasts had no idea of the hammy health risks. Because of these potential health risks, women shouldavoid the use of breast implants.          In 1976, Congress gave the FDA authority to regulate breastimplants. By this time breast implants had been in use for a          significant amount of time and were considered "grand risquehered."This content that they were allowed to remain on the market, even though theyhave not kaput(p) through stringent testing. The FDA felt there was no evidence to underpin that the implants were harmful. Furthermore Congress also gave theFDA the power to go back and get manufactures to provide proof that theimplants were indeed safe and effective, if it was felt that there was a reasonto do so. (Bruning 7)     "In 1977, Richard Mithoff, a Houston attorney, wins the first lawsuitfor a Cleveland woman who claims that her ruptured impla... ...s      internal memos, thousands of these memos revea guide lack of long termtesting, complaints from doctors, and leakage of silicone from the implants.The most outrageous incident discovered was complaints from surgeons ofimplants rupturing in the operating room, as they tried to install them intowomens breasts (Byrne 98).Pathology reports indicate considerable silicone reaction to the extruded significant can cause severe foreign body reaction in susceptible individuals. Aletter written to Dow Corning from Charles A. Vinnick a predominant enhancivesurgeon in California wrote " I am loathe to hold out my series of cases as Ifeel that it may open Pandoras box. I do feel, however, that rapiddissemination of this information is very necessary to protect your comapny andmy colleagues" (Bryne 98). Vinnick complained to Dow about an incident when heremoved a pair of silicone implants, the gel in a ruptured implant was terriblyrunny bit the gel inside the other implant was of ideal cohesion. Thisdifference led him and some others to believe that when silicone gel came intocontact with tissue fluids and fat the gels consistency changed.