Cheryl Henley loves her second set of breasts.
After developing breast cancer in 1988, she had a bilateral mastectomy and had her surgeon insert two silicone implants before the devices were banned amid health concerns in 1992.
"Now that silicone is available again, I'll likely get it a second time if I need my implants replaced," says Henley, a 62-year-old health administrator in Albany, Ga. "I know there are risks, but I think they're worth it because this type of implant looks and feels so natural."
Since the Food and Drug Administration approved silicone breast implants in November, the questions Henley is considering also face the 365,000 U.S. women who have breast augmentation and the 46,000 who have reconstruction each year.
"When they talk to their doctors about breast surgery, the first thing women want to know is if it's true that silicone is more realistic," says Dr. Walter Erhardt, a spokesperson for the Arlington Heights, Ill.-based American Society of Plastic Surgeons. "Second, they ask, 'Is it safe?'"
The FDA, based in Rockville, Md., has approved silicone implants for reconstruction in women of all ages and for augmentation in those over 22, basing its decision on large-scale studies (including one from the Washington-based Institute of Medicine) that found the implants safe.
Due to the possibility of leakage, the agency recommends checking for ruptures with magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, three years following ....
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