Breast Implant claims Helpline is  for women in the U.S. who have filed MDL-926 claims, or Dow Trust settlement facility breast implant claims before 1994 and are registered with Dow Corning  and have diseases from silicone breast Implants. Diseases from silicone toxicity and disfigurement from the breast implant are a huge portion of the claims filed. To be part of this litigation you must have filed a claim.

"As  female Medical social worker I am extemely concerned about the Breast Implant Claimants and the  diseases faulty implants have effected  both the Medical and Psychological  wel being of women." Call us to  learn  about your rights under the Dow and other manufacturers  claimant trusts and the MDL- 926. We have female breast Implant lawyers ready to help you. Again you must have filed a claim with proof of muanufacturer and a disease diagnosis.

Psychological Effects of faulty Breast Implants can  last many years

Any dramatic life change impacts your body on a physical, emotional and psychological level. Breast implant surgery takes a huge amount of trust in the doctor. Breast implants gone wrong has severe psychological ramifications especially when you consider how the desire for a better physical appearence has resulted in disease or deformity. Many women who choose breast implantation are very happy with the results of their surgery. They report psychological and emotional benefits from their new found body image. However, many women report side-effects and feel that their short-term and long-term health has been compromised. When breast implants rupture the leaking silicone can cause severe immune deficiency dieases such as Lupus. This is causes additonal trauma to the emotional and physical health of the implanted female.

Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter your sense of security, making you feel helpless and vulnerable in a dangerous world. The awareness of having something dangerous put into your body that may rupture or cause asever debiltiating disease, in my opinion, is emotional and Psychological trauma.                                                                         
Since many studies suggest that cosmetic surgery in general leads to immediate post-operative improvements in body image, quality of life and depressive symptoms then what does breast implant failure with severe side effects lead to? I would suggest a feeling of vulnerability and depression.If Breast implants boost self-esteem for many women then finding out that breast implants come with severe warnings and silicone causes immune system dysfunctions and toxiciity would certainly make women feel " let down." and tricked by docotors into believing they were doing something that would enhance their lifestyle and self image.

Physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown, using magnetic resonance imaging, found that a significant amount of free siliconehad migrated from an implant (not noticeably ruptured) into the liver and spleen of a woman. (Magnetic Resonance Medicine 36:3 [September 1996], 498-501. Researchers also found that silicone in the liver could be detected in the first three to four years after a woman received her implant. (Magnetic Resonance Medicine 33:1[January 1995], 8-17.) With this type of information all over the internet having implanted Breast Implants would certainly make one quite nervous, especially when symptoms are starting to develope. Now, if you read about bad side effects from a medication or cosmetic product well, you can just stop using the product. But these implants are inside  a womens  body.  They are violating her  and no one ever told her or gave her the information until they were inside. This is not a car part. This is her body. It is not uncommon for wome to feel violated ,very similiar to a rape victim. In this case they were raped by manufacturers.

A Breast Implant Story

I was at work and I started getting dizzy and couldn't focus on simple tasks. Everyone said I seemed very depressed and withdrawn.  Most people assured me that it was just part of recovery or anxiety and I would feel like myself in no time. I KNEW something else was wrong – I just kept telling people I didn't feel like myself.  I started losing my memory among other terrible things. Over the course of this illness, my symptoms have included:

•         Very blurry and sometimes crossed and foggy vision
•         Trouble reading or retaining any information
•         Couldn’t drive or walk around my apartment without getting lost
•         Couldn't remember who I was sometimes or who my parents or friends were
•         Nothing was ever familiar and I couldn't recognize my face or name when I saw it or heard it/ This is described as "brain fog"
•         Couldn't figure out how to wash a dish or dry my hair
•         Couldn’t watch TV or listen to music because I felt confused and out of it
•         Didn't understand much of anything people said to me
•         Tingling hands, pain in my body, extreme fatigue, dizziness & the room always spinning
•         Muscle and joint pain in my arms, back and legs
•         Felt like I was falling all the time
•         Extreme anxiety and depression
•         Skin rashes, especially on my chest
•         Hair loss
•         Night disturbances and sweats with extreme thirst and dry eyes
•         Burning, dry itchy skin
•         Tremors, muscle twitching and jerking, body shaking, and heart palpitations
•         Extreme fatigue

Psychological and Emotional  Effects of Breast Surgery
There are many reasons people have breast surgery. Many of these reasons have an emotional basis to them

•     To improve self esteem
•     To replace a breast removed because of cancer
•     To correct asymmetry or deformities of breasts
•     To get positive reinforcement from a loved one
•     To build self confidence about their bodies

But Silicone  Breast Implants somehow it just did not turn out that way

Living in fear with a “ticking time-bomb” in your chest after  discovering you have potentially dangerous breast implants which could leak toxic chemicals is a frightening experience. This is not a recalled car part, these have been implanted into your body. This is a part of your body threat will be important in birth and feeding a new born. This has severe emotional and psychological repercussions. The breast is a very important part of the birth process. Many women with breast implants can breast-feed, but in some cases breast implants may interfere with breast-feeding. If this is true, then what is the effects of a ruptured silicone leaking breast impant on a newborn and what kind of emotional reaction does the mother of this newborn have. It has been suggested that children born to, and breast-fed by, mothers with silicone breast implants might be adversely affected by transmammary or transplacental delivery of silicone during either breast feeding or pregnancy. Silicone might be available for transmission since periprosthetic breast tissue, regional lymph nodes, and possibly more distant sites in such women are exposed to silicone fluid by gel fluid diffusion, to silicone gel in cases of implant rupture, and to silicone elastomer from implant shells.

Many teenagers and young adult women have gotten silicone breast implants to enhance their appearance and improve their social lives as well as feel better amongst their peers. I am reminded of this quote "There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you." ~ Maya Angelou. For a young woman at the prime of life having a dream shattered by disease and toxicity is life changing psychological experience with long term repercussions.  " Who am i now" "what will become of me"" Will I ever be beautiful again" are the questions internalized. Thousands of women  were disfigured by dangerous Breast implants. Many of them are teenagers and young women and are still feeling the emotional and physical scars today.

For a teenager this is very frightening and has long term psychological effects.Two of the most popular and controversial cosmetic procedures for adolescents are liposuction and breast implants.  Being a teenager and finding out you have dangerous breast implants can have long term psychological effects.  Teenagers are not mature adults and do not have superior coping skills.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        For women who have struggled through breast cancer, choosing augmentation and reconstructive surgery with breast implants is a way to regain self-esteem and a feeling of normalcy.For breast cancer victims the thought of having survived Breast cancer and then having to deal with dangerous faulty breast implants can be both depressing and shattering to hope for their future and survival. THOUSANDS of cancer survivors  were placed at risk after it emerged they may have been fitted with faulty implants to rebuild their breasts.

Breast cancer survivors are weak with poor immune systems. Both populations are are not equipped emotionally to deal with a dangerous implant being placed into their bodies. For breast cancer victims the thought of having survived Breast cancer and then having to deal with dangerous faulty breast impalnts can be both depressing and shattering to hope for ones future and survival.

In 1956, silicone fluid injected into laboratory dogs migrated to all the major organs; and in 1961, the year the first implants were released, Dowís own internal medical research department reported that silicone leaking from implants is equivalent in toxic effect to direct injections of silicone into the body. Can you imagine a woman with silicone Breast Implants hearing this?

Another  Silicone Breast Implant story

About a year and a half later, I started feeling like I had the flu constantly. I was calling in sick to work and going to the doctor often. I did the best I could at work, where I worked as a graphic designer, and tried to ignore the way I was feeling. I started having extreme fatigue where I would fall asleep at work and some days, couldn't even get out of bed. When I was awake, I was very dizzy and too much activity would cause me to pass out. I was put through all the tests and was diagnosed with depression. I saw a psychologist once a week and was put on two anti-depressants and an anxiety medication. I just got worse and worse and ended up taking a leave of absence from work. I laid in bed every day and cried. I was distraught and suicidal. A member of my family was with me almost all the time taking care of me. I could not function. Eventually, because I was so medicated, I managed to go back to work. I couldn't focus or think and I could barely read. At this time, I was still blaming all of my symptoms of illness on depression, because that was the only diagnosis I had gotten. It was a daily struggle to do my best to concentrate with this fog in my head. I was constantly sick, taking days off for flu or sinus infections. It was so hard not being able to tell my employer why I was so sick all the time, because I really didn't know myself. Then the pain started. My joints, muscles and bones ached all over my body. I started having significant memory loss which greatly affected my work. Soon, working was no longer an option.

I continued to get worse. I couldn't drive, read or do anything that required focus and my body was racked with constant pain. Sometimes, I couldn't even hold a conversation. All I could do was lie in bed every day and wonder if I was going to live through this. For a while, I didn't think I would. This is just one of many horror stories. The side effects can lead to long term depression.

 Sidney Wolfe, Director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group
Silicone gel breast implants most defective medical device ever approved by the FDA
Excerpt: The approval makes a mockery of the legal standard that requires “reasonable assurance of safety.”
.
Kim Gandy, President of NOW;
FDA Approval of Dangerous Implants Follows FDA Pattern of Favoring Money and Politics Over Science

"It is impossible for women to give informed consent for implants if the information they are receiving is inaccurate or incomplete," said Gandy. "The very real possibility that women and their children will be exposed to grave health risks is a serious matter. The FDA made an unconscionable move …"

Gandy concluded: "The FDA has never rescinded approval for a medical device after it has been approved, but that's not going to stop NOW from trying. When the new Congress takes office we will petition our representatives to initiate an immediate review of the FDA and this dreadful, dangerous decision."
& Dr. Diana Zuckerman, President, National Research Center for Women & Families, quoted in Forbes here:

The FDA's decision to approve silicone gel breast implants is a triumph of corporate lobbying and hype over sound science and women's health. The FDA's standards for implants have reached a new low with this decision.

The breast Implant fiasco wrecked havoc on the lives of thousands of women both physically and emotionally. If you are a victim of the  silicone breast Implants and have filed a claim and meet the filing and disease criteria contact us  and Speak to a female medical social worker today. Our lawyers are concerned and sensitive to your issues. Please remeber you must have filed a claim to be part of the class action settlement programs.