24. I have heard that the silicone shell of a saline implant can cause silicone toxicity or silicosis, is this true?
This has never been proven. This subject is very controversial at best and there are many scare tactics used by anti-breast augmentation advocates and this may be one of them. There are no certifiable cases of silicone toxicity caused directly and solely from the silicone shell or gel/oil of a prosthetic mammary implant, it is still unproven, either way. All implants (with the exception of polypropylene strings) are silicone shelled. Surgeons would not be placing breast implants in their loved ones if they thought they were a threat to one's health.
On the subject of silicosis. You may have heard a lot of anti-implant websites state that their patrons have silicosis from the silica in silicone breast implants. This is what silicosis is technically and medically...
From "Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene" (Fourth Edition): Silica
"The term silicon dioxide usually refers to amorphous silica (noncrystalline), crystallized silica such as sand (quartz), and silicates such as clay (aluminum silicate). Only the crystalline (free silica) material found in quartz, tridymite, cristobalite, and a few other non-silicate materials cause silicosis."
"Silicosis is a lung disease caused by the inhalation of free silica particulates. The risk of silicosis is present in industries and occupation where the crystalline form of the free silica particulates is found, as in foundries, glass manufacturing facilities, granite-cutting operations, and mining and tunneling sites in quartz rock."
"Pnuemoconiosis comes from the Greek word for dusty lung."
"Silicosis is caused by the crystalline, not the amorphous, form of silica. Additionally, the silica must be introduced via the inhalation route. QED. As a historical aside, it was not uncommon for women of mining areas of Carpathia to have multiple husbands (6+), since the husbands usually worked in the high silica-bearing mines of the region, rapidly developed silicosis and died young."
In conclusion this means that the amorphous silica in silicone elastomer must selectively detach itself out of its solid form and must somehow miraculously transform in a crystalline form and then incredibly travel through the chest wall and lungs and specifically plant itself on the alveoli of the lungs. Which translates into = impossible.
And for the record, sand is made from silica and if you were to inhale sand during a sandstorm in the middle of the Mojave desert - you still couldn't get silicosis. The particulate size is still too large. In fact, read below:
Robbins & Cotrans Pathologic Basis of Disease:
"It is estimated that a man may work for his entire life in an environment containing 5 x 10 to the 6th particles of quartz (silica) per cubic foot of air without developing silicosis..."
This does not mean I do not feel that patients who have implants are faking their illnesses. I do believe that persons who are prone to lupus (In other words their lupus is dormant) can be triggered by an implant of any kind, an operation of any kind, a car accident, stress, a high grade fever or infection. This has been apparent in subjects who don't even have breast implants. One case in particular was of a small boy who had appendix removal surgery. A few months later he developed extreme behavioral problems. The problems were a direct result of the lupus which was beginning to affect his brain. The doctors believe the lupus was dormant and triggered by the operation.
Case after case of lupus being triggered by high levels of stress, sicknesses, and operations, as well as any type of surgery, has been well-documented. None which involved breast implants. This has documented by the European Lupus Erythematosus Federation, Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. and Lupus Canada. However, this does not mean silicone breast implants cause silicosis Sorry, but they chose the wrong word to describe it.
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