Big Boob Culture and the Dangers of Implants

Many of you went home this past week for Thanksgiving and were able to see your entire family. For me, I am lucky enough just to have my father. My mother is no longer living. However, I was able to visit her this past break at the cemetery, but it just isn’t the same as it used to be…The psychological need for women getting larger breasts has been around for ages. A main reason is the need to fit in with societies ideals on how a woman should look. Some women say, “I just don’t feel like a woman.” Some may even get implants because they feel they will be found unattractive, due to the stereotypical thought that men only like women with a 32DD bust size. This need of “perfection” by many women has had devastating effects on many of their futures. All too many of these cases have ended fatally. According to Garry Brody, doctor at the University of Southern California, more than 1 percent of the female population currently have implants. Breast augmentation has been performed since the late 1960’s and has been used for the same reasons that many women are getting them today. There have been several different ways that breast augmentation has been done. A few of these methods are by injections of paraffin (hot wax) or silicone (a poisonous element) into gel balloons. According to eMedicine.com, both of these methods had short and long-term “disastrous effects” on the patients. During the 1970’s, doctors switched to saline and silicone gel implants. Although many of the methods for enlarging bust size have drastically improved, the risk of illness, or even death, is still prevalent. The FDA approves all the products that are on today’s market, but still have many warnings about each method. This information can all be found at www.fda.gov. The risk of being poisoned by the chemicals that implants contain is still a great risk. According to the book, Silicone Breast Implant Controversy, by Catherine Baase, the manufacturers of these implants sent a warning with the Latin words, “Caveat emptor”. This phrase translates to “let the buyer beware.” Implants can have a drastic effect not only the on recipient, but also the family. In numerous cases, women have died due to the different poisons that are introduced to their bodies through the implants. In general, there is no safe implant. Although saline implants are the safer of the two, there is still a risk of physical scars as well as fatal outcomes. If the saline leaks from the gel casing, the body will absorb it. Any of the particles from the silicone gel casing that holds the saline liquid could be introduced into the blood stream. This can cause silicone poisoning by affecting organs in such a way that they become swollen and eventually shut off. In time, they could kill the patient. Leaks are due to manufacture defects, or even from the way the body naturally compresses it. Silicone implants are constructed in such a way that they are made not to break, but they are still man made, which leaves room for error. Many people that have silicone poisoning feel that they have the flu, and are hospitalized because they don’t realize it is more serious. For some, by the time they get to this point, it is too late. This again not only affects the recipient, but also the patient’s family and friends. Family and friends may feel awkward when a woman gets implants, and not know how to react. Young children may be particularly prone to these feelings, especially if there is a drastic increase in bust size. One woman has spent many hours researching, as well as traveling to see as many doctors as possible, just to heed their warning about the complicated surgery. Many women still decide to have the surgery, and are even aware of these warnings when she decides to tell, or not to tell, her friends and family. After all the research and time spent learning about these foreign objects being placed into her body, she still wants to get implants. She says it isn’t because of all the celebrities in the media who are portrayed in such a manner that suggest, “I look how a woman should look.” This “let the buyer beware” warning is even more heightened when celebrities who have had the surgery are publicized, and often glorified, by the media. This is a pretty effective scare tactic, only to some extent. Some women are completely disgusted to find out that some celebrities, maybe even their role models, have implants, while others couldn’t care less. What the media doesn’t want women who get implants to see is the aftermath of the surgery. What they don’t want you to know is that there is severe bruising after surgery that doesn’t go away for weeks. They also don’t want you to know that you may or may not loose all sensitivity in the nipple region as well. In healthy patients, “infection, bleeding, change in nipple sensation, poor healing, anesthetic accidents, and other complications can occur,” reports the site. Also, the younger the woman getting the implants, the higher risk she runs for disfigurement and discoloration, not just in the area of the implant, but all around the torso area, where the veins run to and from the chest section. Also, the younger the woman is, the less likely it is that she has even finished developing. Implants also affect mammograms. It is important to get a mammogram specifically for women with implants, which moves the implant, as tumors can hide behind it. It could delay detection of the mass until it is palpable. There is currently no documented evidence of this happening, but there is no doubt that it could. There is also little evidence that implants will contaminate milk. Only minimal amounts have been found in the breast milk of some women with implants. Supposedly, there isn’t a high enough concentration to harm a baby, but is it worth the risk? Forty-two percent of augmented women reported inadequate milk supply, due to smaller glands from smaller original breast size, as well as harm done to ducts during the procedure. The changing of the scar is known as “capsular contracture”. Ideally, the wound heals and the breast returns to its original dimensions. Scars can shrink and squeeze the implant, affecting firmness, sometimes causing pain or leaks. Twenty percent of women with implants need repeat surgeries. Difficulties can occur throughout life. The only time women find out about these things is either when something like this happens to someone they know, or there is some “in-depth” exposition. Their surgeon will tell them that there are some side effects, but if the woman is headstrong about getting them, she is merely going to shrug them off and think that nothing will happen to her. The surgeon has an obligation to let the patient know of these warnings, especially if she is young and still developing. The surgeon rarely turns a patient away, because this is their job, as well as their method of getting paid. Regardless, the media is doing a good job of hiding the gruesome side-effects. Within today’s popular culture, many women have had breast implants to improve their chances at winning a spot in TV or magazines. The TV show Baywatch had numerous females that publicized the fact that they had breast implants. People that look up to them, especially young and impressionable girls, may feel that this is the ideal woman, thus making the idea of implants more appealing to the younger generation that watches the TV shows and reads the women’s magazines. The media has, for the most part, employed the idea that a woman is only worth something because she has a large chest. Breast implants are safer than they were thirty years ago, but still have the same risk. As long as breast implants are made with anything that is foreign to the human body, there will always be the same possibility of sickness or death. There are safe alternatives; research and time must be spent in finding these alternatives. Without a doubt, people just have to learn to be happy with who they are. If you are emotionally unstable, breast implants are not for you. You may decide later in life that you don’t want them anymore, especially when pursuing a professional career. While it may seem like a good way to get boyfriends and attention at parties, the novelty will soon wear off. Most men will tell you that chest size really doesn’t matter that much in the long run. It’s what in your mind, and not in your shirt, that truly matters.