Dear Dr. Fritz,
I hope you are doing great. Please call me Arianna. I have breast implants for about 5 years now. But, I have heard lately that breast implants are linked with cancer. This sent me chills. How true is this? Please enlighten me.
I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you very much.
Worried Arianna
Dear Worried Arianna,
I think you have heard it right as there has been an increase in the number of American women diagnosed lately with a deadly cancer caused by textured breast implants as claimed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As a matter of fact, the number of women with breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) now stands at 457, compared with 414 in the last report, as stated by FDA's Dr. Binita Ashar.
If we look at this worldwide, there have been more than 600 documented cases of BIA-ALCL, which is a cancer of the immune system. There were 16 deaths attributed to this with nine of them in the United States.
Textured breast implants develop scar tissue to stick to the implant, making them less likely to move around inside of the breast and become repositioned. I don’t know what type of breast implants you have right now. So, I cannot tell right now, if you have the risk. But, one thing is for sure. This breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is not rare and it is emerging and health care providers and women all around the globe should be alerted about this.
I hope this helps.
Dr. Fritz
(Dr. Fritz Legarde Espedilla is an aesthetic dermatologist and surgeon and a clinical sexologist. She is also trained in hypnotherapy and Medical Acupuncture. She has been in the broadcast media for more than a decade and has written a book based on her 15 year stint with her radio program, “Healthy is Sexy Secrets ni Dr. Fritz.” She is a program host of Hugyaw.com. For your questions, you may e-mail them to dokfritz@yahoo.com. If you don’t wish your letter to be published, we regret that we cannot answer them. Thank you for your understanding.)