Patient satisfaction following insertion of silicone breast implants

Because of allegations linking silicone implants with cancer and connective tissue diseases and mounting media coverage, women with silicone breast implants are extremely concerned, despite the lack of evidence showing a link between silicone gel-filled breast implants and connective tissue diseases or cancer. To assess whether or not this group of women were satisfied with their operations, we sent all women who had silicone breast implants inserted in the south-east of Scotland between 1982 and 1991 a quality of life questionnaire. One hundred and two breast augmentation and 212 breast reconstruction patients replied. Not everyone answered every question. The majority of women in our study, 84% (79/94) and 91.8% (192/209) of augmented and reconstructed patients, respectively, stated that they were satisfied with their operations, although only about half were very satisfied. Although 91.2% (270/296) of all the women were aware of the allegations with 29.7% (88/296) concerned, only 3% (9/296) of all the women felt that there was cause for concern. It would appear that, although most women with silicone breast implants are aware of the accusations regarding silicone and systemic illnesses, the adverse publicity has only given a small number of them a cause for concern and the majority are satisfied with the outcome of their operation and perceive the benefits to outweigh the risks.