About the recent news coverage on the safety of breast implants

Many news reports have recently appeared in the media about the safety of breast implants, including a broadcast by Radar. We understand that this may raise questions. At Boerhaave, the patient comes first. That is why, in this article, we want to inform you as well as we can, based on information from the NVPC, the scientific association for plastic surgery in the Netherlands.

Research by Henry Dijkman

During the Radar broadcast on Monday 20 September 2021, attention was paid to the research by Henry Dijkman. The research concludes that all breast implants can release silicone particles. The researchers searched the Radboudumc database for the records of patients with breast implants whose capsules had been removed and examined over the past 34 years (1986 to the present). In total, the capsules of 389 women were examined. Silicone particles could be detected in and just outside the capsule in a large majority. 46 women had implants with a cohesive gel (the standard for breast implants since 1996) and 343 had old-fashioned implants, which are much more fluid and more prone to leakage. In both groups, the same amount of silicone particles was found in the tissue directly around the implant.

Conclusion

The broadcast drew the conclusion that all implants would be unsafe. However, Henry Dijkman’s research is not a representative sample of society. The research only looked at the capsules that had been sent in. Capsules are only sent in when something unusual is going on, such as a severe thickening of the capsule or someone with complaints. It is also not known how many implants were broken or intact on removal, what the health background of the women involved was, or whether they smoked, for example (which has an adverse effect on recovery). This gives a distorted picture of the scale of the problem. All patients who have no complaints and whose implants were not sent in were not included in the research. On the basis of this research, therefore, it is not possible to say how often and how many silicone particles are released, or whether they come from cohesive gel implants at all. The researchers themselves also state that they do not know whether the women with cohesive gel implants had old-fashioned implants in the past.

Silicone particles are also found in women without breast implants

Various studies have shown that silicone particles occur in the blood and even in the breast tissue of women without breast implants. This is partly due to consuming certain foods and drinks that also contain these particles. Cosmetic products also contain a lot of silicones.

This research only looked at the presence of silicone particles in the capsules examined. It did not look at complaints from the presence of silicone particles and how likely these are. The conclusions based on this specific research are therefore premature and ill-considered.

Are breast implants safe or not?

For decades, large groups of women with breast implants have been followed and compared with women without breast implants. These studies found no clear differences in complaints between the groups with and without implants, and no danger to public health has been demonstrated. After 14 years of research, the FDA (the American public health authority) stated in 2006 that there was no evidence that silicone breast implants were unsafe. The Dutch Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) also states that there are no reasons to ban the use of silicone breast implants.

Would you like to read more about the safety of breast implants? Read more here on the IGJ website.

How common is BII (breast implant illness)?

Despite the fact that a lot of research is being done into what is also known as breast implant illness (BII), BII is not (yet) a recognised illness. It is suspected that the risk of developing complaints is less than 1%. The complaints described with BII are atypical complaints such as fatigue, forgetfulness, hair loss, muscle pain and brain fog. The complaints are so general and broad that they can have all kinds of causes that have nothing to do with breast implants, which also makes this very difficult to research. This year, a study by Maastricht UMC was published which shows that these complaints occur just as often in women with silicone implants as in women without.

Would you like more information? Read more here on the NVPC website. Together with the RIVM and NIVEL (Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research), the NVPC is involved in several studies.

Questions?

At Boerhaave, the patient always comes first. To this day, we follow every development and every study closely. This is because we want to offer you, as a patient, the best care, with health as the top priority. If you still have questions after reading this information, you can always contact us. We are happy to answer all your questions and can always be reached on 088 – 40 00 200. If you would like to speak to one of our plastic surgeons in person, you can of course also use the contact button below to schedule a consultation for a personal conversation.