Tag: Breast Implant Illness
When making any significant choice in life, it’s important to weigh the risks and rewards of your decision and find the safest path forward. This is especially true for women considering breast augmentation: Though silicone breast implants are safe for many patients, these devices have a history of causing adverse reactions in some individuals. Now, emerging evidence suggests that one type of silicone breast implant can cause a rare form of Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma known as BIA-ALCL.
What is BIA-ALCL?
BIA-ALCL is a very rare and highly treatable form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. BIA-ALCL is a not a type of breast cancer; instead, it’s a cancer that develops in the cells of the immune system.
Unlike many other forms of lymphoma, BIA-ALCL is not highly invasive. It usually develops in cells surrounding the patient’s implants (inside the capsule of scar tissue that forms around each implant) and it’s slow to spread to surrounding lymph nodes. However, like all cancers, BIA-ALCL does have the potential to spread throughout the body and produce serious illness. For this reason, it’s important to educate yourself about preventing, detecting, and treating BIA-ALCL if you’re considering breast augmentation.
How Prevalent is BIA-ALCL?
The vast majority of breast augmentation patients will never develop BIA-ALCL; to date, only just over 600 cases have been identified worldwide (out of the over 10 million women who have had breast augmentation). Your risk of developing this cancer is approximately 1 in 30,000.
Which Types of Implants are Associated with BIA-ALCL?
So far, only textured silicone gel implants have been associated with BIA-ALCL. Researchers believe that the textured surface of these implants may lead to bacterial overgrowth around the implant, increasing the patient’s risk of complications like BIA-ALCL.
Can BIA-ALCL be Prevented?
Right now, scientists aren’t sure how to completely prevent BIA-ALCL, but most cases can be avoided by choosing smooth silicone implants rather than textured implants. Saline implants also do not appear to be associated with any risk of this illness.
If you already have textured implants, the best way to protect yourself is to be aware of the early warning signs of BIA-ALCL. See your doctor or plastic surgeon as soon as you notice any unusual symptoms, including breast pain or skin irritation, swelling, breast asymmetry, lumps, or breast hardness.
How is BIA-ALCL Treated?
Most cases of BIA-ALCL are completely curable if caught early, but successful treatment requires a specialized form of breast implant removal surgery. To ensure that cancer cells remain contained and do not spread, surgeons must remove the patient’s implants. That is, they must remove the implants and the capsule of scar tissue around them at the same time, without cutting into the capsule. Breast implant removal surgery can prevent and cure BIA-ALCL for many patients, but in some cases, additional treatments may be necessary. Your doctor will let you know if you need to take any other steps to completely get rid of your illness.
If you’ve decided that the risk of BIA-ALCL outweighs the benefits of having breast implants, Dr. Florence Mussat can help. She’s one of the only female plastic surgeons in Chicago to offer breast implant removal, and she has extensive experience treating patients with various forms of breast implant illness. To learn more about how you can safeguard your health while also maintaining your appearance, contact Dr. Mussat to arrange a consultation.
Going to the doctor with a variety of debilitating, mysterious symptoms is difficult enough; being told those symptoms have no cause can be crushing, embarrassing, and hurtful. Unfortunately, this is the experience thousands of women suffering from breast implant illness are forced to endure. At this time, breast implant illness is not recognized by the scientific community. Still, Dr. Florence Mussat has personally treated numerous women who claim their symptoms were relieved after they underwent breast implant removal. In her view, it’s essential that medical practitioners retain an open mind and persist in trying to understand the causes of breast implant illness.
What is Breast Implant Illness?
“Breast implant illness” is an umbrella term that covers a wide range of symptoms believed to be related to silicone breast implants. Breast implant illness is different than having a ruptured implant. Ruptured silicone implants leak silicone gel into the body and usually cause the rapid onset of localized irritation (requiring immediate explant surgery). On the other hand, women with Breast implant illness complain their symptoms developed gradually after having undergone breast augmentation with implants. Patients with breast implant illness report experiencing fatigue, brain fog, chronic pain (either around the breasts or throughout the body), skin rashes, an irregular heart rate, anxiety, hair loss, and endocrine dysfunction, among other symptoms.
What Causes Breast Implant Illness?
The confusion over breast implant illness stems from the fact that silicone is thought to be a biocompatible material. Silicone is inert, meaning that it shouldn’t—in theory—react with human tissue or leach chemicals into the body. For this reason, silicone is used in a wide range of implantable medical devices, as well as being the material of choice for cosmetic implants.
This does not, of course, mean that silicone is guaranteed to be without risk. For many years, experts believed that the plastics used in baby bottles were safe; today, however, we know that the BPA they contained can cause a wide range of health problems. And silicone, while it appears to be inert, is not a completely natural substance. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not derived from sand alone; it’s actually a composite material that contains a number of synthetic additives. It’s, therefore, possible that silicone contains a compound we simply don’t yet realize can be harmful.
Furthermore, it’s important to remember that everyone’s body is different. Substances that don’t cause any adverse reaction in one individual can provoke a dramatic immune response in another; this is why allergies exist. It’s possible that some patients’ bodies identify silicone implants as “invaders,” and this sets off a cascade of troubling symptoms. Emerging evidence has already linked silicone breast implants to a slightly elevated risk of anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that begins in the immune system, lending credence to the idea that silicone implants can disrupt normal immune function. According to a large-scale study of 99,993 breast augmentation patients, silicone breast implants may be linked to an increase in the risk of developing other autoimmune diseases (Sjogren syndrome, scleroderma, and rheumatoid arthritis) and cancers (melanoma). This study, which was conducted by the Department of Plastic Surgery at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, also found that having breast implants can lead to reproductive challenges, notably stillbirth.
Bacteria may also play a role in the development of breast implant illness. Research has shown that most cases of breast implant illness occur in patients who have had textured (rather than smooth) silicone implants inserted. It is thought that the textured surface of these implants gives bacteria a better “foothold,” allowing it to proliferate. The patient’s immune system must then constantly fight back against this low-grade infection, giving rise to ongoing flu-like symptoms.
Regardless of what causes breast implant illness, it’s obvious that this condition is a genuine phenomenon. Many women complaining of breast implant illness who have undergone explant surgery report that their symptoms resolved shortly afterward. Clearly, more research needs to be done: Only when we understand this puzzling condition can we make breast augmentation safe for everybody.
