Huge rupture rate in breast implants Almost seven out of ten silicone-gel breast implants scanned by researchers had developed a leak. Many women claim that leaking silicone-gel has sparked serious illness, including chronic autoimmune disease. The FDA team used MRI scans too look at 344 women with implants. One-third of these had felt it necessary to have at least one operation to either remove or replace an implant.
Breast enhancement is one of the more common operations carried out by cosmetic surgeons.
Hundreds of thousands of women in the UK have silicone implants. However, doctors studying the health effects of silicone maintain that that there is no evidence of any link between the implants and the diseases reported by the women. They say that silicone is inert - it does not produce any chemical reactions in the body. However, they did find that women undergoing breast enhancement surgery were running extra risks - but mainly associated with the operation itself. Dow Corning, once the world's biggest makers of silicone gel implants, filed for protection from creditors in May 1995 after lawsuits from thousands of women were filed alleging health problems caused by the implants.