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Thousands of women claim their breast implants are making them sick
LOS ANGELES - Breast implants are now required to come with a boxed warning. That is the strongest form of warning by the Food and Drug Administration, as thousands of women claim their implants are making them sick and want their implants out.
Tiffany Pollard became a reality star as Miss New York on VH1's Flavor of Love, but her latest reality TV stint was for a very serious issue. On this season's premiere of E!'s "Botched," Pollard went back under the knife to get her breast implants removed for good.
Dr. Terry Dubrow, based out of Newport Beach, tries to fix patients with botched surgeries on the TV show.
Dubrow says, “She had the full constellation of signs and symptoms that can be associated with that problem.”
That problem is Breast Implant Illness, or BII. Dubrow says symptoms can be fatigue, rash, joint pain and a generalized feeling of unwellness. BII affects both silicone and saline implants.
Although there’s not much medical literature on BII, it has been an issue for many years. Dubrow says taking breast implants out is a definite growing trend in plastic surgery. He says it’s also the biggest procedure of complication.
About 400,000 women in the U.S. get breast implants each year. According to the Mayo Clinic, 20 percent of them have had their implants removed within 8 to 10 years due to complications, and many of them reporting similar symptoms to BII.
Dubrow says, “If enough people are complaining about something, it may actually be something significant and real.”
After so much outcry and reported cases of BII, the Food and Drug Administration stepped in. In October, the agency released an updated warning for breast implants. The FDA even went as far to say breast implants have been linked to a rare type of cancer of the immune system: Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The agency writes, “An individual’s risk of developing cancer is considered to be low, however this cancer is serious and can lead to death.”
“So, if you can take your breast implants out and have acceptable cosmetic results, that’s a really good thing,” says Dubrow.
Months later, Pollard’s health issues are gone and so are the implants.
The FDA wants breast implant makers to warn women that breast implants are not lifetime devices, and that the risk of complications rises the longer a patient has the implant. They also add that if you have implants and are not experiencing any symptoms, you do not have to take them out. However, they do recommend getting screened by ultrasound or MRI 5-6 years following surgery and then two years thereafter.