Women with Breast Implants More Prone to Suicide

Even if having breast implants does not influence in any way mortality risks, a new study shows that rates of suicide are higher among women with breast implants. Despite these findings, researchers at the Laval University, Faculty of Medicine and their colleagues from the Canadian Public Health Agency and Cancer Care Ontario were amazed to observe that women with breast implants are 73% more likely to attempt suicide than all the other categories of population.

The study was conducted on 24, 600 women and the findings of the report are published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. French scientists from the Laval University analyzed data from all the 24,600 women who have received breast implants during the 1974-1989 period. All the women in the study wanted to have breast implants for cosmetic purposes, not out of other reasons such as suffering from a debilitating disease which affected their natural breasts etc.

The researching team studied the women in the breast implants group and women in a control group (who were healthy, but did not undergo breast augmentation plastic surgery) for a 15 year period. Findings of the follow up study showed that mortality rates in the breast implants group were not higher than in the control group. Moreover, the team found that mortality rates were 26% lower in the group of women who underwent breast augmentation surgery than in the control group.

Dr. Jacques Brisson of the Laval University explained: "First, a woman must be in relatively good health to undergo breast implant surgery. Also, women who receive breast implants tend to be of higher-than-average socioeconomic status. Thus, women who undergo breast augmentation surgery are more likely to be in better health than the general population."

On the other hand, suicide rates were far more prevalent among the women who received breast implants than in the women who were satisfied with their natural breasts. This could be explained by the fact that most women who resort to plastic surgery for receiving breast augmentation are not at all content with what they are and how they look. Therefore, plastic surgeons should pay more attention to a woman's psychological state and to her reasons for having her breasts augmented. "If this reveals problems that cannot be treated with plastic surgery, doctors should refer these patients to mental health professionals," Dr. Brisson advised.

"Our study shows that there is no relation between breast implants and mortality rate. It also demonstrates that the risk of cancer - particularly breast cancer - is not higher in women with breast implants. But our study does not assess the impact of breast implants on other aspects of women's health. We know there are local complications due to implant degradation, which can sometimes lead to implant replacement. Women must take those facts into consideration when determining whether or not they want to receive breast implants," the team concluded.