Guest guest Posted May 28, 2005 Report Share Posted May 28, 2005 Fw: The Saline Solution ~ Excellent New Canadian Site Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 08:53:34 -0700 A while back a reporter, a Canadian reporter, Dunne, contacted us about a Saline Implant TV show he was doing. Many of you gave him input and he's done a super job of putting it together. Here's his site, and some of the written work. thanks to Tony & Micheline for working with him & forwarding this update to us. The site has some photos too ~ one of our own Anne ! ~~~ http://www.tv.cbc.ca/market/ The Saline Solution Aired on Market Place: November 24, 1998 We've explored the subject of breast implants before on Market Place. In 1988 we told you about the notorious Meme breast implant, the only one that was covered by polyurethane foam. It was subsequently taken off the market. Then in 1991 we looked at problems associated with silicone gel implants. They were withdrawn from the market in 1992. Since then, women have been turning to the only implant still available, the saline breast implant. But for many women, counting on the saline solution may be a mistake. The Saline Solution Possible Medical Complications For a while, breast augmentation surgery wasn't very popular. Silicone gel implants were taken off the market seven years ago because the manufacturers couldn't prove they were safe -- a major issue was the seeping of silicone gel out of the capsule and into women's bodies. There was concern that the gel made some women ill. Today's saline implants still have the silicone shell, but what's inside is nothing more than salt water. Health Canada went along with U.S. authorities and concluded saline poses fewer risks than silicone gel, and permitted their continued use. After a brief decline, the breast augmentation business has enjoyed a revival. Anne was one of many women who opted for the saline implants recently. She had her augmentation surgery in 1995. But less than two years later she was back in the operating room having her implants removed because she'd developed complications. " Over time I started noticing that the one, the left side wasn't moving like the one on the right side, " says. " It was just sort of becoming more solid. And I think it was a year later, it was so dense and hard that it wouldn't even move. " She also noticed lumps forming on the perimeter of her breast, so prominent that you could see them through her top. was experiencing what's known as capsular contracture, and it's a big problem that plastic surgeons like Dr. Rick Warren, head of plastic surgery at Vancouver Hospital and the University of British Columbia, would dearly like to solve. He holds an old gel implant for illustration: " The natural response of your body with any implant -- a metal implant or a rubber implant -- is to coat it with a layer of scar, " he says. Scar tissue can be as thin as paper or thick as cardboard, but any scar tissue can be a problem with breasts. Unlike implants in other areas of the body, it's important for breast implants to stay soft. " The scar just slowly squeezes [the implant] into the smallest possible shape, which is a sphere, " Warren continues. " And that sphere in the breast becomes like an orange or a baseball in there. " Warren thinks such severe contracture might happen in as much as 40% of all implant cases. That, he acknowledges, is a high number. " We wish it were lower, but it is simply not, and the public has to know this. This is the commonest problem and they need to understand this in detail before they jump into it because they really roll the dice on this one. " Severe contractures ultimately lead to more surgery, to break up the scar tissue capsule or to remove the implant and replace it. But it's not the only reason women can end up back on the operating table. This anonymous 23-year-old woman has already had three surgeries, including one to correct capsular contracture. She's encountered another problem. " For the first while everything seemed fine, " she says, " and then slowly my right breast started to shrink ... so I went back again and I said " something's wrong, one is deflating.' " Warren notes that saline implants can spring leaks " and if the thing goes flat it has to be replaced because it just seems to disappear. " And that's something that's unpredictable. Some time, any time in a person's life, this could happen. " Implants can get folded inside the breast, and after years of stress a weak spot can develop along the fold seam. Even an opening the size of a pinhole can allow all the saline to leak out over time. Some can deflate in a day, although Warren says most deflations take days or even weeks. So what's the risk of deflation? That's not easy to answer. Older saline implants leaked often, but doctors hope new implants will be more durable. So far, the best information comes from one study that followed women for about six years. In that time about 5% of the implants deflated. What happens to the implants after six years is an unknown. So the chances of something going wrong can be high. In addition to capsular contracture and deflation, there's nerve damage which can result in a loss of sensation. Hemorrhage can also occur in a small number of cases, and so can infection. They're two complications that can send a women back to the O.R. " I find myself trying to talk patients out of this operation, " says Warren. " I try to paint the picture as bleak as I've painted it [to Market Place]. If it's bleak, that's the way it is ... It would be really inappropriate to not tell these people about the complications that can occur because everybody knows they can occur and they're common. " The women Market Place talked to, though, either didn't get this message from their doctors, or they weren't disposed to hear it. " The odds of anything happening weren't that high, in my mind, at all, " says Anne . " It wasn't a big risk. So I thought, well, the benefits outweigh the risks. But the risks were pointed out as being very small. " According to the anonymous 23-year-old woman, the doctor " made it seem like it was very, very unlikely for anything to happen. " She adds that she didn't care anyway. " All I cared about was getting the operation, getting over it, starting sort of a new life with more self-esteem and being able to go out more and stuff. " Of more recent concern to some physicians is microbial growth inside implants. Former Health Canada researcher Dr. Pierre Blais has found such growth inside implants. It looks and sounds alarming but Blais says it shouldn't be surprising. " Bugs, micro-organisms, are natural things. We're full of them ... They get into implants and they do natural things. They just grow. All you have to do is to give them food. " Those micro-organisms get food from body fluids that pass through the shell, or through a faulty implant valve. Dr. Leroy Young, a researcher and plastic surgeon at Washington University in St. Louis, says such microbial growth shouldn't mean much to most implant recipients. " First of all, it's a very rare problem clinically from what we have seen, " he says. " And if a fungus or a [bacterium] was making a hormone or a toxin that might be toxic to a patient, we don't believe that could get out of an intact implant. " If the implant ruptures or leaks, though, it's possible that could produce an infection, which could require antibiotic therapy, or even the removal of the implant, Young says. Dr. Urve Kuusk, a Vancouver breast surgeon, has seen such infections, and has removed implants from patients who have developed medical problems. " An intact saline implant that's brand new or within the last five years, often it has no problems at all, " Kuusk says, noting it's usually older implants that can be trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Lea, The way I do it is to copy it to a Word processing program . . . It all ends up in one paragraph. I look for long strings of >>>>>'s, and put paragraph returns there. Then I do a search for groupings of >>>>'s, and replace them with a space. When all the >>>>'s are gone, I do a search for double spaces and replace with a single space. . . when there are no more double spaces to replace, I'm done. It really doesn't take very long! . . . The computer does most of the work! Love, Rogene --- Lea <devans@...> wrote: > You little Monkey, I would have done this. How did > you do this so fast? > > Thank you sweet Rogene..........Lea > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~```` > Fw: The Saline Solution ~ Excellent New > > Canadian Site > > Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 08:53:34 -0700 > ~~~ > > > > A while back a reporter, a Canadian reporter, > > > Dunne, contacted us about a Saline Implant TV show > he > > was doing. Many of us gave him input and he's done > a > > super job of putting it together. Here's his site, > and > > some of the written work. thanks to tony & > micheline > > for working with him & forwarding this update to > us. > > the site has some photos too ~ one of our own Anne > > ! ~~~ http://www.tv.cbc.ca/market/ > > > > The Saline Solution > > Aired on Market Place: November 24, 1998 > > > > We've explored the subject of breast implants > before > > on Market Place. In 1988 we told you about the > > notorious Meme breast implant, the only one that > was > > covered by polyurethane foam. It was subsequently > > taken off the market. > > > > Then in 1991 we looked at problems associated with > > silicone gel implants. They were withdrawn from > the > > market in 1992. > > > > Since then, women have been turning to the only > > implant still available, the saline breast > implant. > > But for many women, counting on the saline > solution > > may be a mistake. > > > > The Saline Solution > > > > Possible Medical Complications > > > > For a while, breast augmentation surgery wasn't > very > > popular. Silicone gel implants were taken off the > > market seven years ago because the manufacturers > > couldn't prove they were safe -- a major issue was > the > > seeping of silicone gel out of the capsule and > into > > women's bodies. There was concern that the gel > made > > some women ill. > > > > Today's saline implants still have the silicone > shell, > > but what's inside is nothing more than salt water. > > Health Canada went along with U.S. authorities and > > concluded saline poses fewer risks than silicone > gel, > > and permitted their continued use. > > > > After a brief decline, the breast augmentation > > business has enjoyed a revival. > > > > Anne was one of many women who opted for > the > > saline implants recently. She had her augmentation > > surgery in 1995. > > > > But less than two years later she was back in the > > operating room having her implants removed because > > she'd developed complications. > > > > " Over time I started noticing that the one, the > left > > side wasn't moving like the one on the right > side, " > > says. " It was just sort of becoming more > > solid. And I think it was a year later, it was so > > dense and hard that it wouldn't even move. " > > > > She also noticed lumps forming on the perimeter of > her > > breast, so prominent that you could see them > through > > her top. > > > > was experiencing what's known as capsular > > contracture, and it's a big problem that plastic > > surgeons like Dr. Rick Warren, head of plastic > surgery > > at Vancouver Hospital and the University of > British > > Columbia, would dearly like to solve. > > > > He holds an old gel implant for illustration: " The > > natural response of your body with any implant -- > a > > metal implant or a rubber implant -- is to coat it > > with a layer of scar, " he says. > > > > Scar tissue can be as thin as paper or thick as > > cardboard, but any scar tissue can be a problem > with > > breasts. Unlike implants in other areas of the > body, > > it's important for breast implants to stay soft. > > > > " The scar just slowly squeezes [the implant] into > the > > smallest possible shape, which is a sphere, " > Warren > > continues. " And that sphere in the breast becomes > like > > an orange or a baseball in there. " > > > > Warren thinks such severe contracture might happen > in > > as much as 40% of all implant cases. That, he > > acknowledges, is a high number. > > > > " We wish it were lower, but it is simply not, and > the > > public has to know this. This is the commonest > problem > > and they need to understand this in detail before > they > > jump into it because they really roll the dice on > this > > one. " > > > > Severe contractures ultimately lead to more > surgery, > > to break up the scar tissue capsule or to remove > the > > implant and replace it. But it's not the only > reason > > women can end up back on the operating table. > > > > This anonymous 23-year-old woman has already had > three > > surgeries, including one to correct capsular > > contracture. She's encountered another problem. > > > > " For the first while everything seemed fine, " she > > says, " and then slowly my right breast started to > > shrink ... so I went back again and I said > > 'something's wrong, one is deflating.' " > > > > Warren notes that saline implants can spring leaks > > " and if the thing goes flat it has to be replaced > > because it just seems to disappear. > > > > " And that's something that's unpredictable. Some > time, > > any time in a person's life, this could happen. " > > > > Implants can get folded inside the breast, and > after > > years of stress a weak spot can develop along the > fold > > seam. Even an opening the size of a pinhole can > allow > > all the saline to leak out over time. Some can > deflate > > in a day, although Warren says most deflations > take > > days or even weeks. So what's the risk of > deflation? > > That's not easy to answer. > > > > Older saline implants leaked often, but doctors > hope > > new implants will be more durable. So far, the > best > > information comes from one study that followed > women > > for about six years. In that time about 5% of the > === message truncated === Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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