SOS

.If you are thinking about getting saline breast implants, or have them and are sick, you should read this...

Many people are still unaware that saline implants have a silicone shell, and have their own particular hazards associated with the saline.

IAs you may know, limited research has been done in this area, and most doctors tell their patients that saline breast implants are safe.

Go to the Index page, and read why this may not be true. You might want to start by learning about sterile saline (which does not remain sterile), or the silicone shell.

Local complications may begin soon after surgery, or may take years, and include deflation, pain, infections, wrinkling of the implant shell, and capsular contracture. Capsular contracture occurs when the scar tissue capsule which forms around an implant tightens, causing the breast to become firm and misshapen. According to new studies by the Mentor Corporation, complications occur in 43% of augmentation patients, and 73% of reconstruction patients! IN ONLY THREE YEARS!

Up until now, we have not had a common voice to present to the medical community, or to women who are being implanted with saline-filled silicone implants in ever-increasing numbers. I hope you will join me in that effort.

When members of the American Legion were having a conference in Philadelphia more than 2 decades ago, many became seriously ill, some died. The Center for Disease Control did not hesitate to go to Philadelphia and run tests to find out what was wrong. They found a new bacterium which was causing the illness.

This has not been done with those who are sick following breast implantation. Why? Perhaps the truth might become known. Breast implants are not the only thing with silicone in them. It is in our food, our medications, our cosmetics, even baby food.

You may have found SOS in an effort to discover whether symptoms you are experiencing may be related to your saline implants. If so, here are some common symptoms:

Overwhelming, abnormal fatigue

Widespread pain, can't always discern if it is muscles, joints, or both

Morning stiffness (in other words, it hurts even MORE in the morning)

Digestive problems (frequent nausea, acid indigestion, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps)

Irritable bowel - alternating constipation/diarrhea

Sleep disorder (do you have trouble getting to sleep, or remaining asleep?)

Hair loss

Blurred vision

Numbness, tingling, or sharp shooting pains in legs, arms, face

Mouth sores

Dry eyes, nose, mouth

Muscular weakness

Difficulty concentrating (having to read everything twice before it sinks in!)

Short term memory loss (frequently forgetting what people say to you, what you read, what you ate for lunch, or where you left your keys...)

Chest pain

Unexplained rashes or other skin anomaly

Low grade, frequent fevers

Many healthy people experience some of these symptoms occasionally. Only you can determine whether a particular symptom is a distinctive change from normal, or if you have had many of these symptoms for a period of time, or if something is acute and alarming.

Please see your doctor! I cannot give you medical advice, I can only tell you what other survivors are experiencing.

Many women with saline implants have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, undifferentiated connective tissue disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, celiac disease, hydradenitis, peripheral neuropathy... others have bizarre and diverse symptoms which seem unrelated to each other.

In 1994, nearly 250,000 disease claims were estimated approved by the global class action, based on a random sampling of claims. At that time, the manufacturers agreed that one million women had been implanted. That is an approximate 25% rate of systemic illness. (These figures included both silicone gel and saline filled implant recipients.) Note: There were so many approved claims, the class action failed.

Check out the many medical journal, FDA, government, and media articles by clicking on Index.