Patients Continue to Report Problems With Breast Implants

Photo: DONNA MCWILLIAM/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Women with both silicone and saline implants have continued to report a range of illness they contribute to the devices. The device has reportedly given pain, weakness, fatigue, connective-tissue disease, and a rare type of cancer called anaplastic large-cell lymphoma.

After hearing testimonies from patients, Jamee Cook, the head of a woman's group called Breats Implant Victim Advocacy, shared her own personal story. Jamee was an active paramedic when she got breast implants in 1998. After getting her implants, she experienced chronic fatigue, numbness, and migraines, symptoms that were resolved once she took out her implants.

After the FDA pulled silicone breast implants off the U.S market, they were allowed back on the market three decades later; however, women are still continuously reporting variousconditions to the agency. With many reports, the FDA decided to revisit the issue this year to study the issue once again. After its analysis, the agency said that breast implants are not lifetime devices. Since they are not lifetime devices the FDA acknowledges that there will be local complications. The agency estimates the rare cancer occurs in between 1 in 3,00 and 1 in 30,000 cases.

Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Health and Research, has worked with 400 women who have had breast implants and experienced severe symptoms. Her research includes women that got the devices for cosmetic reasons. After getting the implants out, 61% said they were "much better" and 29% said they were "somewhat better". Although the FDA continues to say that there is not sufficient evidence to link the devices to connective-tissue diseases, many women with implants continue to insist that the symptoms they experience are due to breast implants.

I chose this article because as a woman living in the 21st century, breast implants are a reoccurring thing in many young women. As a woman that was intrigued by breast implants, there are many things I did not know about them, including the health risks related to them. This article relates to marketing because of the price and the company related to breast implants. This issue affects the price because if women continue to blame the breast implants for all the pain they experience, the companies will be forced to bring down the implant prices if women refuse to get implants. Also, many companies will be able to use this as a marketing strategy and tell the women that they will not get sick if they choose their specific implants.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/patients-continue-to-report-problems-with-breast-implants-11553533278