Well, this is quite a kick in the pants for silicone breast implant patients, if you ask me. The FDA is recommending that any patient that chooses to get silicone, as opposed to the safer and less interfering saline implant, get an MRI, which is a full body scan, every two years to ensure that there are no leaks. The reason for this on the silicone implants only, and not the saline implants, is because of the nature of leaking and the difference between the two.
When saline implants leak, they leak out a harmless salt sort of solution into the body. It absorbs harmlessly into the tissues, and is removed from the body via natural waste eliminations processes. Silicone on the other hand, is different when it leaks. When silicone leaks out into the body, it usually goes undetected unless there is an MRI, because the implant does not deflate like a saline one does, signaling to the doctor and the patient that there is a leaking problem.
The silicone just kind of “sits there” outside of the breast implant, and any damage it might do is really still largely unknown, although like I discussed in the previous post, there have been no 100% conclusive studies that it does harm to the body or causes any type of disease. Of course, lots of people take that news with a grain of salt, including me.
Now here’s the really bad part. MRI’s should really be sparingly used. This is my personal opinion, and I’m sure that there are a hundred different conflicting views to mine. MRI’s are generally considered by the medical establishment to be safe, however, every two years is too much. Why? Because each time you have an MRI, your body is often exposed to a chemical that is injected for enhanced imaging that contains metal and can be toxic to the body, especially the kidneys, and especially in those that have pre existing kidney problems.
Not to mention, I don’t like the idea of getting a metal injected into me just so that a magnetic scan can pick up more information. To me, this seems a bit much. It’s enough to make anyone concerned about their health in the years after getting implants reconsider not getting them. Not to mention, this is usually not going to be covered by your health provider since it’s medically not necessary, since you have the breast implants for cosmetic purposes, not health.
