WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced the agency’s opinion regarding textured breast implants and the link to cancer. The FDA said the threat posed to the safety of women in the United States who have textured breast implants is very small, despite other countries, including France and Canada, banning textured […]
Breast implants linked to cancer
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced the agency’s opinion regarding textured breast implants and the link to cancer. The FDA said the threat posed to the safety of women in the United States who have textured breast implants is very small, despite other countries, including France and Canada, banning textured breast implants. The FDA reiterated its opinion that the current state of the science does not mandate banning textured implants according to the standard outlined in the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act according to a report appearing on FoxNews.com. Plastic surgeons and other medical professionals counter that textured breast implants not only cause cancer but can cause a host of other severe health problems.
The FDA recently broached the subject whether textured breast implants must be banned from sale and use in the U.S. because of the link between the medical device and cancer. Foreign governments have banned the use and sale of textured breast implants after determining that the majority of women in their respective countries who fell ill from anaplastic large cell lymphoma, which is a scarce form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma had the textured implants.
The trend is much different in the U.S. Nearly all women who have had breast augmentation or reconstruction surgery have smooth breast implant devices. There is no connection between smooth breast implant surfaces and anaplastic large cell lymphoma.
The FDA says the connection other countries have made between textured breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma is not rooted in science but anecdote. Some anecdotes are compelling cautionary tales. Women with textured implants are suffering from inexplicable health problems that can be attributed to no other source. Considering the state of the science on that score, the FDA is urging women who have textured implants not to rush into decisions to remove textured implants. The FDA reiterated that more study is required and will conduct necessary research to devise a plant to combat the issue.
