The price of perfection
Bleeding, infection, permanent loss of feeling in the nipples and/or breasts, chest skin ripping, implant leakage or deflation ... Whoa, is my Ouch-o-Meter whistling off-scale! Still, those are only a few serious complications many women today are willing to risk when striving to attain a better body.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, in 1992 alone, 32,607 women underwent breast augmentation surgery.
Ten years later, the number nearly jumped 700 percent as 225,818 women went under the knife for the same procedure in 2002.
Even more significant, of the 187,755 breast augmentation patients in 2000, a whooping 58 percent of them were in the 19 to 34-year-old age group.
What may look like a rising trend in young adults is thanks to "Teen Dream" celebrities like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, who were both accused by the media of having breast augmentations as soon as they turned one. Both deny that surgical enhancement was the cause of their oddly area-specific sudden growth spurts. Older celebrities, such as Halle Berry and Salma Hayek, are known for their breasts... I mean their voluptuous bodies as well.
In an era where media exploits reality television shows such as MTV's "I Want a Famous Face" and Fox's "The Swan," patients go through extensive plastic surgery with the hope of improving their physical images.
"Breast augmentation can enhance your appearance and your self-confidence, but it won't necessarily change your looks to match your ideal, or cause other people to treat you differently," the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said.
"A breast implant is a silicone shell filled with either silicone gel or a salt-water solution known as saline," is the description of breast implants given by the society.
According to www.infoplasticsurgery.com, unfounded news reports in 1991 found that silicone gel breast implants were responsible for connective tissue diseases in some women.
CTD's can also cause the body to become disabled. Although many women with silicone implants had CTDs, so did many women without implants. "Furthermore, it was noted during the panel hearings that one legitimate cause of concern regarding silicone gel breast implants is that they have about an 85 percent risk of rupture during the first 10 years," according to the Web site.
Incidentally, an FDA panel is encouraging the pass for silicone gel breast implants to be approved in the market again.
If you are considering getting breast augmentation through saline implants, you risk getting the chance of supplying Barbie and friends their own waterbed, courtesy of your chest of course.This rippling effect of the skin is due to saline shifting around inside your implants.
When it comes to other risks that saline implants may bring, risk of deflation is about four percent during the first year following surgery, then about one percent per implant per year for each year.
The national risk of having permanently numb nipples is also about 15 percent. The risk of infection is about one percent and often requires removal of the involved implant and antibiotics, according to www.infoplasticsurgery.com.
While coconuts should be reserved for the dinner table and not on your body, this "hard, water balloon" image is called severe capsular contracture. Usually accompanied with silicone implants more than saline implants, they definitely look unnatural.
Placing the implant under the muscle has a lower risk of capsular contracture than placing the implant over the muscle.
Nonetheless, breast implants should serve the patient who decides to get them. Their friends, society or Tinseltown should not be a basis on why one chooses to undergo breast surgery.
By Leslie Casaje
http://www.lavozdeanza.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/05/02/4273f377ab47a
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น