This also happened to Ancilla van de Leest. She had implants for fourteen years, until she became very ill. “I was always cold, I was constantly dehydrated and I started to get aches everywhere from my teeth to my foot,” she tells EditieNL.
These side effects made life miserable for Ancilla. “In the end I had to go to the toilet every 15 minutes.” She is therefore very happy with the news about how harmful the implants can be. “I also didn’t know getting sick from your implants was a thing.”
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HAN University’s research was published in the medical journal JAMA, reports the AVROTROS consumer program Radar. 400 women were studied with solid or liquid breast implants. In 87 percent of these women, particles of the implant were found elsewhere in the body, including the brain. In 92.5 percent of the women, inflammatory reactions were found in the body.
body fat
To qualify for a breast augmentation, there are two options: “Your own body fat, of which you must of course have enough, and silicone,” explains plastic surgeon Ali Pirayesh to EditieNL. “If you’re very skinny and you’re barely fat, that’s not an option.”
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This fat must be properly harvested and purified before it can be used. “In all those facets, there is also a chance that it will not go well and it can be less beautiful. It is still possible with breast reconstructions after cancer or a small cup.”
Alternatives
But should we now completely move away from silicone implants? “All prostheses sweat, we have always known that. A very small percentage of women have certain complaints and it has never been shown that this has to do with the silicone in particular.”
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This new research shows that the new silicone prostheses also sweat. “But we don’t see such a large number of women who have complaints from this. You have to replace them every ten years. And if you suffer so much psychologically that you have small breasts, then you want that risk of so many in a million to be take it.”
According to Pirayesh, we cannot avoid the risks. “If you never want to have side effects from something, then you shouldn’t take them. It’s that simple, if you never want to fall, you shouldn’t ride a bike.”
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And unfortunately switching to a different material does not seem to be the solution either. “Over the years, many materials have been tested. Unfortunately, but also fortunately, silicone is the most favorable material.” For example, tests have been carried out with prostheses filled with soy. “But that didn’t work.”
Still, research is still being done to find an alternative. “But they don’t exist yet. For a lot of ladies, especially ladies who have had breast cancer, or ladies who really have almost no breasts, silicone is the solution.”
self love
Ancilla hopes that people will now think more carefully about taking breast implants. “I hope we can move to a society where we accept ourselves, that we start to embrace ourselves more as we are.”
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