Breast Implant Helpline, Breast Implant Lawyers Louisiana

Silicone Breast Implant Overview

Between 5 million and 10 million women have breast implants worldwide.

What is a breast Implant?

Breast implants are medical devices that are implanted under the breast tissue or under the chest muscle to increase breast size (augmentation) or to rebuild breast tissue after mastectomy or other damage to the breast (reconstruction). They are also used in revision surgeries, which correct or improve the result of an original surgery.

There are two types of breast implants approved for sale in the United States: saline-filled and silicone gel-filled. Both types have a silicone outer shell. They vary in size, shell thickness, and shape (contour).

Dangers of Silicone Breast Implants

Silicone and its contaminants which bleed through its surrounding implant envelope into neighboring tissue have the potential for significant toxicity in the implant recipient. Silicone elicits antibody responses and immunological abnormalities.

Silicone is used for Many things

Silicone is used for menstrual cups, enclosures for electrical equipment, and also fire stops used in the process of fire retardation.

Typical symptoms associated with silicone illness (also called "silicone poisoning" or "silicosis") include cognitive dysfunction, short-term memory loss, Sjogren's syndrome (dryness in the glands, such as the mouth, kidneys, eyes, and lungs), scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, dermatom-yositis, severe joint and muscle pain, incapacitating fatigue, swollen lymph glands, skin problems, peripheral numbness, multiple allergies, headaches, hair loss, sunlight sensitivity, central nervous system disorders (similar to multiple sclerosis), and others.

Symptoms Associated with breast Implants

•     Breast Pain
•     Upper and Lower Back Pain
•     Chemical Sensitivities
•     Muscle Pain, Stiffness, Unusual Fatigue
•     Excessive Hair Loss
•     Achy or Swollen Joints
•     Extreme fatigue
•     Skin Rashes
•     Anemia
•     Sensitivity to Sunlight
•     Kidney Problems
•     Fever
•     Difficulty Swallowing or Breathing

Diseases from Silicone breast Implants

•     Cancer
•     Lupus
•     Scleroderma
•     Fibromyalgia
•     Scleroderma
•     Neurological Diseases
•     Rheumatological Problems
•     Autoimmune Diseases
•     Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
•     Esophogeal Immotility
•     Raynaud’s Syndrome
•     Multiple Sclerosis Like Symptoms
•     General Connective Tissue Diseases
•     Systemic Fungus
•     Sjogren’s Syndrome

Lupus and Breast Implants

Breast Implants Linked to Cancer

(FDA) has advised that breast implants, whether composed of saline or silicone, are linked to Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL), a cancer of the immune system. It issued a breast implant warning in the form of a safety communication on its web site.

Symptoms of breast implant lymphoma include:

•     Pain
•     Lumps
•     Swelling
•     Asymmetry that developed after their initial surgical sites were fully healed

These symptoms were due to collection of fluid (peri-implant seroma), hardening of breast area around the implant (capsular contracture), or masses surrounding the breast implant. Examination of the fluid and capsule surrounding the breast implant led to the ALCL diagnosis, the FDA said.

ALCL is a rare malignant tumor (non-Hodgkin lymphoma) that may appear in several parts of the body including the lymph nodes, skin, bones, soft tissue, lungs or liver. Each year ALCL is diagnosed in about 1 out of 500,000 women in the United States. ALCL located in breast tissue is found in only about 3 out of every 100 million women nationwide without breast implants.

If you believe you may have a problem or disease relating to defective breast implants, it is recommended to contact an experienced Lupus physician who can make a l diagnosis. This proof of disease diagnosis will help your breast implant claim.

What should I do if I have Symptoms from breast Implants and Have filed a claim ?

If you answered yes to any of these questions and you were inserted with silicone or saline breast implants before June 1, 1993, you may be eligible to participate in the Dow Corning (SF-DCT) and/or MDL 926 Class Action settlements.Call the breast implant Helpline and speak to a Breast Implant lawyer.

Your Breast Implant Lawyer will need to Know

• Approximate date of initial implantation and at what facility?
• Who was the doctor that performed the procedure?
• Brand of Implant(s)?
• Do you have a copy of your medical records from your breast implant surgery?
• Have you had your implants removed?
• Do you have proof of Manufacturer ?
• Do you have medical disease reports from a physician ?
• Are/were your implants ruptured?
• Have you registered with either of the Claims Office? Which one(s)?
• Have you filed a Medical/Disease Claim? SLE, dry eyes, joint pain and swelling, body and face rashes, myalgias, chronic fatigue, numbness and tingling in extremities, photosensitivity,?
• Are you currently being treated by a doctor or a specialist?
• Have you received money from either Breast Implant Litigation Settlement Fund?

Your breast Implant Claims Fall into two basic categories

Settlement Facility Dow Corning Trust: Class 5 and 7 Claims

The Settlement Facility for the Dow Corning Trust (SF-DCT) is current in processing class 5 claims for disease and explant benefits.  Reviews of Class 7 disease claims, however, are not all completed yet.  Class 7 claims found to be deficient will have one year from the date of their notification letters to try to cure the deficiencies.  Therefore, the SF-DCT is not expecting to be able to make payments to class 7 approved claims for another 1-2 years.

Dow Corning trust Payments

Any approved disease in Disease Option 1 with a Severity or Disability Level of A, B, C, or D  To be eligible for this, you must have proof that you have or had one or more Dow Corning breast implants and have not had a Bristol, Baxter or 3M silicone gel breast implant **
Severity / Disability Level    Base Payment    Premium Payment    Total Payment
Level A    $50,000    $10,000    $60,000
Level B    $20,000    $4000    $24,000
Level C    $10,000    $2000    $12,000
** If you have acceptable proof that you have or had a Bristol, Baxter, or 3M silicone gel breast implant, the Total Payment Amount will be reduced by 50%.

MDL-926 Claims

What you need to know about your MDL-926  Breast implant Claim

Call the Breast Implant Helpline

• If you have received a Status letter from the Claims Administrator's Office, indicating that your Disease Claim had one or more Deficiencies
• If you are a registered claimant in the MDL 926 Revised Settlement Program, and have:
• Already filed a Disease Claim prior to the 12/15/2010 deadline and received a deficiency notice
• Submitted additional supporting medical records prior to 12/15/2010 and received a denial in 2011

There are many different types of disease that fall under the guidelines of the Class Action. Different levels of compensation are available for specific disease and diagnoses’. Some of them are: Lupus (SLE), autoimmune disease, dry eyes, dry mouth; polyarthritis, skin rashes, face rashes, numbness and tingling in hands and toes (neuropathy), chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, myalgia, or abnormal blood work.

Manufacturers

In 1991, Dow Corning manufactured an sold more that 4,500 silicone-based products to 45,000 customers worldwide, and was considered a leader in the industry. About 1% of total sales in 1991 came from silicone breast implant product.

Other Manufacturers of Silicone Breast Implants include:

• Dow Corning
• Heyer Schulte
• American Hospital Supply
• Natural Y
• Surgitek
• Replicon
• Mentor
• Cui
• Bioplasty
• Brystol Meyer Squibb
• Medical Engineering
• McGhan Medical
• 3M
• McGhan
• Dow Corning
• Baxter Health Care

In the U.S the implants sold by Allergan Inc. and Johnson & Johnson's unit Mentor were huge.   Allergan’s implant business totaled about $300 million in sales for 2010.

The current claims offices offering settlements include: Dow Corning Corporation, Baxter Health Care, Bristol Meyer Squibb, 3M Corporation, McGhan, Mentor, CUI, and Bioplasty.

FDA and Silicone  Breast implants

Due to the dangers of silicone breast implants, the FDA issued a  strict warning and hold on all silicone breast implants in the early 90's. . Frequent examinations look for any evidence of dangers of silicone breast implants: checking for leaks or hardening implant shells. Evidence supplied by various groups regarding dangers of silicone breast implants has been contradictory in the past, due partly to the nature of the research into the dangers of silicone breast implants; initially, companies were not required by the FDA to present any research detailing the possible dangers of silicone breast implants prior to marketing their product.

NEWS
Jury: Dow Chemical Hid Data On Breast Implants
By BARRY MEIER The New York Times, August 19, 1997
In a major courtroom setback for one of the nation's largest chemical producers, a state jury in Louisiana found on Monday that the Dow Chemical Co. had knowingly deceived women by hiding information about the health risks of silicone used in breast implants. The New Orleans jury, which is hearing the first class-action lawsuit brought against a company involved in the breast implant industry, also found that Dow Chemical had failed to test silicone adequately before it was used in the human body.

The FDA Issued a warning that Breast implants linked to rare cancer

Federal health officials issued a warning that breast implants may increase the risk of developing a very rare form of lymphoma.

The Food and Drug Administration  has previously announced it had detected a possible association between saline and silicone gel-filled breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a cancer of the immune system."Although very rare, the FDA believes women with breast implants may have a small increased risk of developing ALCL," said William Maisel, the FDA's chief scientist and deputy director of science in the agency's Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

For more information regarding your Breast implant Claim Contact the Breast Implant Helpine Louisiana and Speak to a medical social worker and a breast implant lawyer today.