A population-based study of breast implant illness
Background Despite evidence supporting the safety of breast implants, some women associate their implants with adverse health effects and have called this syndrome “breast implant illness.” We sought to characterize breast implant illness symptoms and to report how implant removal affects their symp...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
2021-07-01
|
| Series: | Archives of Plastic Surgery |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.5999/aps.2020.02117 |
| _version_ | 1818039696398221312 |
|---|---|
| author | David A. Magno-Padron Jessica Luo Terry C. Jessop Jared W. Garlick Joanna S. Manum Gentry C. Carter Jayant P. Agarwal Alvin C. Kwok |
| author_facet | David A. Magno-Padron Jessica Luo Terry C. Jessop Jared W. Garlick Joanna S. Manum Gentry C. Carter Jayant P. Agarwal Alvin C. Kwok |
| author_sort | David A. Magno-Padron |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Despite evidence supporting the safety of breast implants, some women associate their implants with adverse health effects and have called this syndrome “breast implant illness.” We sought to characterize breast implant illness symptoms and to report how implant removal affects their symptoms.
Methods An anonymous 20 question survey was administered to the Facebook group: “UTAH Breast Implant Illness” to characterize the symptoms these women attributed to their breast implants. Several questions allowed us to evaluate how implant removal affected women’s symptoms.
Results Of the 182 respondents, 97% report that implants negatively affect their health and 95% identify these symptoms with breast implant illness. Ninety-six percent of respondents had implants placed for cosmetic reasons and 51% had silicone implants. The most common symptoms associated with breast implant illness are brain fog (95%), fatigue (92%), joint pain (80%), and hair loss (74%). Sixty percent of respondents learned about breast implant illness from family/friends and/or social media platforms (56%), 40% of respondents had their implants removed, and 97% report relief of their symptoms post-removal (23% complete, 74% partial). Following explantation, there was a significant improvement in all but one reported symptom. An association was found between the number of symptoms reported prior to explantation and the number of symptoms resolving following explantation.
Conclusions Breast implant illness is a syndrome characterized by fatigue, decreased focus, hair loss, and joint pain after the placement of breast implants. Nearly all patients report improvement of symptoms after implant removal. Significant efforts should be made to better understand breast implant illness and its etiology. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T08:02:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1c998f2d1c0d4c74a188f34dab9168b0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2234-6163 2234-6171 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T08:02:44Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Archives of Plastic Surgery |
| spelling | doaj.art-1c998f2d1c0d4c74a188f34dab9168b02022-12-22T01:56:44ZengThieme Medical Publishers, Inc.Archives of Plastic Surgery2234-61632234-61712021-07-01480435336010.5999/aps.2020.021173866A population-based study of breast implant illnessDavid A. Magno-Padron0Jessica Luo1Terry C. Jessop2Jared W. Garlick3Joanna S. Manum4Gentry C. Carter5Jayant P. Agarwal6Alvin C. Kwok7Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USADivision of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USAUniversity of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USADivision of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USADivision of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USADepartment of Population Health Sciences, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USADivision of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USADivision of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USABackground Despite evidence supporting the safety of breast implants, some women associate their implants with adverse health effects and have called this syndrome “breast implant illness.” We sought to characterize breast implant illness symptoms and to report how implant removal affects their symptoms. Methods An anonymous 20 question survey was administered to the Facebook group: “UTAH Breast Implant Illness” to characterize the symptoms these women attributed to their breast implants. Several questions allowed us to evaluate how implant removal affected women’s symptoms. Results Of the 182 respondents, 97% report that implants negatively affect their health and 95% identify these symptoms with breast implant illness. Ninety-six percent of respondents had implants placed for cosmetic reasons and 51% had silicone implants. The most common symptoms associated with breast implant illness are brain fog (95%), fatigue (92%), joint pain (80%), and hair loss (74%). Sixty percent of respondents learned about breast implant illness from family/friends and/or social media platforms (56%), 40% of respondents had their implants removed, and 97% report relief of their symptoms post-removal (23% complete, 74% partial). Following explantation, there was a significant improvement in all but one reported symptom. An association was found between the number of symptoms reported prior to explantation and the number of symptoms resolving following explantation. Conclusions Breast implant illness is a syndrome characterized by fatigue, decreased focus, hair loss, and joint pain after the placement of breast implants. Nearly all patients report improvement of symptoms after implant removal. Significant efforts should be made to better understand breast implant illness and its etiology.http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.5999/aps.2020.02117breast prosthesis implantationcosmetic surgerysurgery, plasticadverse effects |
| spellingShingle | David A. Magno-Padron Jessica Luo Terry C. Jessop Jared W. Garlick Joanna S. Manum Gentry C. Carter Jayant P. Agarwal Alvin C. Kwok A population-based study of breast implant illness Archives of Plastic Surgery breast prosthesis implantation cosmetic surgery surgery, plastic adverse effects |
| title | A population-based study of breast implant illness |
| title_full | A population-based study of breast implant illness |
| title_fullStr | A population-based study of breast implant illness |
| title_full_unstemmed | A population-based study of breast implant illness |
| title_short | A population-based study of breast implant illness |
| title_sort | population based study of breast implant illness |
| topic | breast prosthesis implantation cosmetic surgery surgery, plastic adverse effects |
| url | http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.5999/aps.2020.02117 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidamagnopadron apopulationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT jessicaluo apopulationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT terrycjessop apopulationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT jaredwgarlick apopulationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT joannasmanum apopulationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT gentryccarter apopulationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT jayantpagarwal apopulationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT alvinckwok apopulationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT davidamagnopadron populationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT jessicaluo populationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT terrycjessop populationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT jaredwgarlick populationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT joannasmanum populationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT gentryccarter populationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT jayantpagarwal populationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness AT alvinckwok populationbasedstudyofbreastimplantillness |