Women with breast implants are more likely to commit suicide than non-augmented women, according to a Finnish study. The results mirror similar findings from studies conducted in Sweden and the United States.
Implants and the medical procedure of breast augmentation are generally considered to be safe: the procedure did not put women at a significant risk of death. But women who have had their breasts surgically enlarged are three times as likely to kill themselves.
Researchers are at a loss to explain the suicides. Are suicidal women more likely to get breast implants, or does plastic surgery itself lead toward suicide?
Paul Joffe, head of the suicide prevention team at the University of Illinois, thinks that some women with suicidal intentions may be drawn to breast augmentation.
The attraction of suicide for these women may be a way to gain power over their own fates. He argues that any body augmentation--from implants to piercings--might offer a similar mental upper hand. He notes that people temped by suicide are frequently "obsessed with control over their bodies."
Over 2,000 Finnish women were involved in the study; some participants had had their breasts enlarged as many as 30 years ago. The study was published in the October issue of the Annals of Plastic Surgery.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons 240,000 women get implants in the US each year. The FDA is currently considering whether silicon gel implants are safe enough to be reintroduced.
