Information on Silicone

So is silicone safe?

In 1990 in the US lawcourts, a global lawsuit was brought against the biggest silicone implant manufacturer, Dow Corning, alleging that silicone was responsible for causing 154 separate symptoms ranging from tiredness to joint pains to breast cancer. Understandably this caused a huge concern amongst the hundreds of thousands of women who had or were considering having silicone implants. The company was, at that time, unable to prove that silicone was safe and settled for $4 billion. Since that time many investigators have studied large groups of women with silicone implants and compared them to well matched groups of women without silicone implants. They found that the same numbers of women in each group experienced tiredness, joint pains, breast cancer etc. They concluded that a certain number of women will suffer from tiredness, joint pains, breast cancer etc, and that this will happen regardless of whether they have silicone implants or not. As a result of these studies we now believe that silicone implants do not affect your general health. In 1999 the Independent Review Group concluded that silicone implants are safe to use.

Silicone Register
We now believe silicone implants to be safe and they are fully licensed for use in the UK. However, as a matter of proper record, all patients receiving silicone implants are encourage to give their voluntary consent to have their names held on a central database so that should any future allegations about the safety of silicone arise those women can be contacted directly for questioning and so that they can be given accurate, validated information, rather than reading sensationalised headlines in the tabloid press!

Longevity of Implants
The first silicone implants were inserted by Cronin and Gerow in 1962, and the vast majority of these are still in place and doing well. The implant manufacturers at that time decided however that the implants felt a little firm and changed the design to make the shell thinner so that the implants would feel softer. Unfortunately, the liquid silicone gel could “bleed” through this thinner shell and this caused lots of scarring and distortion in the breasts. The implant designs have subsequently changed several times over the following forty years; the shell is now thicker again, textured not smooth (to reduce capsular contracture) and the gel within it is thicker (to feel better, maintain a better shape and result in less leakage). As a result of these changes the current generation of implants have only been around for eight years or so and we do not know how long they will last. The manufacturers advise us that they may need to be changed at some stage in the future and some sources are stating that they may last 10 years. The truth is, we really don’t know how long they will last, and some will last a lot longer than others.

When will I know if it is time to change my implant?
Essentially, there is no fixed time after which you should consider changing your implant. If your breast remains soft and symptom free then the implant is doing well and there is no need to interfere with it. If the implant does start to “perish”, the outer shell may split but the cohesive gel will remain contained within the wall of scar your body will have made around the implant. In this eventuality, the breast may remain soft and symptom free and again there is no need to interfere with it. If the implant does perish and split, the exposed silicone may irritate the wall of scar and cause it to thicken and shrink down on the implant, causing a capsule. As the capsule thickens and shrinks the breast will start to feel firm, may change shape and may, ultimately become painful. If this happens you should report it to your surgeon who will probably organise for a special X ray (MRI scan) before advising whether or not you should have your implant removed or replaced.

Will silicone implants prevent me from detecting a cancer in my breast?
Breast implants are inserted behind your breast tissue and push the breast tissue forward, actually making it easier to feel the breast tissue and any possible lumps that may develop in it.
From the age of 50 you will join the Government Breast Cancer Screening Programme and undergo mammography on a three yearly basis. Having silicone implants may obscure your breast tissue a little, but if you tell your mammographer that you have implants, they can do special views which can enable them to x ray almost all of your breast tissue.

Financial commitment
By having a breast enlargement you are making a commitment that at some stage in the future you may need further surgery to have that implant exchanged or removed. If you are having this operation done in the private sector and you develop problems with the implant in the future you will have to pay for surgery to replace the implant. If you have had your implant done in the private sector and seek replacement on the NHS, the surgeon will only be able to remove your old implant, we cannot put a new implant in.