On the safety of breast implants.

A great deal of recent safety research combined with over 30 years of clinical experience has proven the value and relative safety of these devices. Aside from the side effect of capsular contracture, the complication rate of this surgery approaches that of any clean elective procedure. There is no convincing evidence to date of any systemic disorder that can be attributed to the silicone. Because these are man-made devices they do have a failure rate and in some women can require a significant amount of maintenance. As with all natural body parts these artificial substitutes may be subject to injury or disease and when viewed from that perspective do have very favorable risk benefit characteristics.