Search Here

Breast implants have been around the market for years now giving women the chance to boost their confidence and enhance their beauty. But are they really safe?

A recent report published on November 9 in the Annals of Internal Medicine states the newest findings on the debate considering the safety of the beauty surgery. And, the good thing is the research conducted by Dr Ethan Balk, of the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island confirmed that silicone breast implants are not linked to any long-term health effects, according to Web Md.

The product, which came in the US market in the 1960s, was questioned and had a moratorium in 1992, when the public raised concerns on the possibility of health risks (e.g. breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia) later on in case of a ruptured silicone implant.

However, they were reintroduced in the market in 2006.

"Owing to inconsistencies among the studies reviewed, further investigation is required to determine whether any true associations exist between silicone gel implants and long-term health outcomes," Dr. Ethan Balk said in a report by Mail Online.

The recent research made use of 5,000 studies investigating the health outcomes of breast augmentation surgery.

Women participants are from North America, Europe and Australia said to have gone under the knife between 1964 and 2003.

Meanwhile, the study did not include to consider other factors like alcohol consumption and smoking. Also, it is criticized for being too general as not to focus on the effects of silicone breast implants, HNGN said.

To answer this, upcoming studies planned to register patients who got the operation and record their health conditions the moment they had the surgery until they decide to replace the implants.

"Hopefully it'll show what the implants do in five, 10 or 15 years, because that's what's lacking in the current data," Dr. Rod Rohrich from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas said.

In 2014, a total of 286,000 women are recorded to have availed of the surgery in the United States according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons making the operation to be one of the most-common cosmetic surgery in the country.