[Cosmetic breast augmentation and suicide risk: a puzzling association]

The goal of the present article is to examine the unexpected association between cosmetic breast augmentation and suicide found in recent epidemiological investigations. During the last decade, seven epidemiological studies coincide in the high risk of suicidality among women with breast implants. More specifically, the rate of suicide among these patients appears doubled or tripled than expected in the general population. The absence of etiological answers that could interpret this association remains a serious limitation in this field of research. However, the preoperative psychopathology among women with breast implants, their motives and expectations, and their psychosocial characteristics are important factors that may contribute in the relationship between cosmetic breast augmentation and risk of suicide. Body image disorders, most common of which is the body dysmorphic disorder, along with high rates of depression and anxiety disorders are psychopathologic features found in a substantial number of cosmetic breast implant patients. Possible future research directions are proposed, in order to better understand the relationship between breast augmentation and suicide. In the meantime, the consistency of epidemiologic results on the high risk of suicide among breast implant patients suggests the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between plastic surgeons and mental health professionals, at least for those breast implant patients who present with preoperative psychopathology.