Are Silicone breast implants dangerous?

Q. Are Silicone breast implants dangerous?

A. Gel breast implants are safe and have met the FDA’s health standards for medical devices used in the USA. Silicone breast implants are the most studied medical device in the history of medicine. On April 14, 2005, the Mentor Corporation, a leading manufacturer and supplier of medical products in the United States and internationally, announced that an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that the Company's silicone gel-filled breast implants are safe and effective for use in breast reconstruction and breast augmentation patients. This 7-2 recommendation for approval, along with a series of conditions stipulated by the FDA's General and Plastic Surgery Advisory Panel, represented a significant step towards the current FDA’s approval of Mentor's silicone gel-filled breast implants in the United States. Silicone implants are preferred and used regularly in other countries but were under major scrutiny in the USA after the moratorium in 1992.

On November 17, 2006 the FDA announced that silicone breast implants are safe and once again available for cosmetic use in patients over the age of 22 in the USA. After years of medical studies including information from doctors and patients using Silicone breast implants submitted to the IRB (Institutional Review Board) there is no medical evidence linking silicone breast implants to auto immune diseases or breast cancer. Silicone breast implants are considered safe.