Cosmetic breast implants do not increase the risk of cancer, according to a study of almost 3,500 women with implants, who were followed for an average of 18 years.
The detailed results of the study are interesting. Actually it turned out that the number of women in the sample group who developed breast cancer was lower than what could be expected in the general population. What does this mean? Breast implants lower you risk of breast cancer? Probably not. Lifestyle differences between the average woman with breast implants versus the woman without can explain the slightly lower rate. One of the factors mentioned is that women with breast implants are younger in average when the have their first child.
On the other hand it is probably also not the breast implants fault that women who had cosmetic surgery tend to have a significantly higher risk of lung cancer. The more likely reason behind that is the high prevalence of smoking among Swedish woman with breast implants.
The article was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute:
Great. I’ll go home and tell missus to get bigger boobs and stop smoking. Best of both worlds. Got to love science.
Comment by B. Booster — June 8, 2006 @ 11:39 pm