Breast Augmentation – History, Breast Implants

Efforts to augment the breast’s shape or size go back to the late nineteenth century. Materials such as ivory, ox cartilage, ground rubber, and glass balls were used as implants. These and other early methods of breast augmentation, including synthetic substances such as rubber, Teflon, and silicone, led to injectables, including paraffin and petroleum jellies. Not too long ago, unlicensed practitioners started injecting industrial silicone fluid and medical-grade silicones into breasts, causing an array of side effects ranging from pain to disfigurement, breast loss, liver problems, respiratory distress and pulmonary embolism, and even coma and death.

Modern day Breast Augmentation Toronto breast implants were introduced in the 1960s. First, in 1963 silicone gel-filled implants were introduced, followed by saline-filled implants in 1968. Through the latter half of the twentieth century, breast augmentation breast implants underwent many scientific evolutions in efforts to create implants that were not only safe but versatile in their use for breast reconstruction and Toronto breast augmentation.

Although studies showed that nearly two-thirds of women who underwent breast augmentation, even those who had experienced postoperative issues, were very satisfied with their implants, some patients claimed that silicone implants potentially caused autoimmune diseases. This movement, along with other complex factors, including numerous lawsuits, prompted the US Food and Drug Administration’s 1992 moratorium on silicone gel breast implants until the manufacturers could prove their safety. Saline-filled implants were left as the only choice available for cosmetic breast enhancement (as breast augmentation) in the United States. In Europe and Asia, however, silicone-breast filled implants were never taken off the market. Recently, after years of thorough studies, FDA has come to the conclusion that there is no evidence of any harm associated with silicone implants and silicone implants are now once again available in the US as they are in the rest of the world. In Canada Silicone implants are available without any restrictions for procedures as breast augmentation Toronto.