Beauty's Beast: A link between breast augmentation and suicide

Women with breast implants are more likely to commit suicide than others.

By Colin Allen, published on March 01, 2003

Women who undergo breast enhancement surgery may be more likely to commit suicide than those who don't, according to a study published in last week's British Medical Journal. The findings raise the concern that this type of cosmetic surgery, which is also the most popular, may be connected with psychological problems.

"I've only ever observed a significant increase in depression in those women who were already depressed to begin with," says Herb Neiburg, Ph.D., director of behavioral medicine and psychoncology at Four Winds hospital in Katonah, New York. Based on this observation, Neiburg wonders whether depressed patients who aren't satisfied with their surgical results may be more at risk for committing suicide.

Researchers at the University Medical Center in Utrecht followed 3,521 Swedish women, ages 15 to 69, who received breast implants between 1965 and 1993. They tracked the subjects over an 11-year period, noting when applicable their cause of death.

Based on the average rate of mortality in this particular demographic, the researchers expected 54 natural deaths and 5 incidents of suicide. However, a total of 89 women passed away, 15 of which were suicide-related. These findings may be of particular relevance in the United States, where some 250,000 women had their breasts enlarged in 2002, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.