The availability of modern, safe, silicone gel implants has not come without a fight. The debate in the United States over the long term safety of silicone breast implants went on between breast implant manufacturers, plastic surgeons, patients, and advocacy groups for over two decades.
In a related story, Jean-Claude Mas, the founder and long-time CEO of Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), has been prosecuted and sentenced to four years in a French prison. For almost ten years PIP breast implants, manufactured in France, substituted the medical grade silicone used to fill their devices with a cheaper industrial grade silicone. Although, to date these implants have not been found to be toxic, they have had a much higher rupture rate than other silicone gel implants, prompting the worldwide investigation.
Dr. Glicksman discusses the PIP controversy in an article on the Plastic Surgery Channel.
Read more about this at The Plastic Surgery Channel.
