[Does silicone induce autoimmune diseases? Review of the literature and case reports]

Silicone is able to induce different immunological reactions: Local foreign body reactions with activation of fibroblasts, granuloma formation and clinical manifestation of autoimmune diseases may occur. We report 4 cases with possible autoimmune disease in connection with breast augmentation. In one case explantation lead to both clinical and serological improvement with a decrease of antinuclear antibodies from 1:1280 to 1:160. In addition we report the spectrum of silicone induced systemic side effects and discuss the possible cellular reactions as well as the immunological changes.