The dangers posed by injecting silicone & bull; hello healthy

While some of us feel anxious and worried about our work, health, or family members, most people feel a very deep sense of fear about their limbs. Preoccupied with physical appearance, all of our attention can become distracted from what is really important in life, and even worry about the same body parts.

Perhaps this is why the trend and demand for enlarging certain body parts - from the lips, breasts, buttocks, to the penis - is unlikely to be extinguishing any time soon. Unfortunately, on the road to achieving the ideal body, some people prefer to “skimp” on illegal silicone implants or injections rather than having to pay deep to get treatment from professional plastic surgeons. On average, breast augmentation surgery in Jakarta alone ranges from 40-50 million rupiah - twice the cost of surgery on the black market in general.

In fact, illegal silicone injections can cause a number of serious health complications. Problems range from hardening of tissues, chronic pain to infections, breathing problems, and even life-threatening blood clots.

All of the above problems are attributed to liquid silicone injections, one of the most controversial substances in the field of cosmetic surgery. Liquid silicone has long been circulating in the world of cosmetic surgery without any prior official sanctions and was banned by Food and Drugs Association (US FDA), now liquid silicone has finally been approved since 1997 and is restricted to certain medical uses, one of which is to keep the loosened retina from escaping again.

The FDA does not approve the use of liquid silicone or gel injections to enlarge the limb

Since the initial FDA approval, the popularity of silicone injections has been on the rise again. At the same time, a number of doctors use it to fill in wrinkles on the face and improve smile lines, thus increasing the volume of the lips and cheeks.

Soft tissue fillers made of readily absorbable materials (such as collagen, hyaluronic acid , calcium hydroxylapatite , and the temporary Poly-L-lactic acid / PLLA) has been approved by the FDA for simple to severe correction of facial wrinkles and skin folds, such as smile lines. Several soft tissue fillers have received approval for restoration procedures and / or correction of the condition for facial fat loss (lipoatrophy) in people with HIV.

Meanwhile, non-absorbent (permanent) soft tissue filling material is only approved for smile line correction. The FDA has only approved two temporary tissue fillers for lip augmentation procedures, one to increase cheek volume, in patients over 21 years of age. The FDA has also approved a filler material for the dorsal volume enhancement procedure.

The FDA does not approve the use of liquid silicone or gel injections to fill in wrinkles or enlarge any limb. The FDA limits only the use of silicone implants for women undergoing breast reconstruction procedures after breast cancer surgery and breast augmentation for cosmetic reasons.

Pros and cons of injecting silicone

Silicone injection practitioners say they prefer to use liquid silicone because it is more affordable than other tissue fillers, such as collagen or Restylane (the gel is made of hyaluronic acid), it is easy to use, and side effects only occur in less than 1 percent of patients. However, they generally like silicone because of its permanent effect.

Fillers such as collagen and Restylane can only last up to six months, so the patient is required to do the injection again, many times. With silicone, once wrinkles and wrinkles are smoothed out, the effect will last a lifetime. But this means that the side effects of silicone injection, although rare, can also be permanent.

Liquid silicone, also known as silicone oil, has a consistency similar to motor oil. When injected into the skin, it causes the immune system to react to the entry of foreign substances by wrapping it in the body's natural collagen. This new collagen, in turn, will thicken the skin.

Those who are pro towards the use of silicone injections consider this procedure to be safe if performed under the supervision of a professional doctor using top quality pure liquid silicone fillers. Those who doubt the safety of silicone injections argue that the health complications of this procedure are inherently inevitable and unpredictable, and outweigh the benefits.

The permanent nature of silicone injections does not take into account the progression of facial and / or body fat loss, both in terms of age and lifestyle changes made. So, there is a good chance that you will experience lumpy bumps here and there as a result of the "bump" of the liquid silicone residue that stays in shape with a thinning skin texture and a reduction in body fat volume over time. Other side effects include pain and infection, inflammation, silicone migration, to disfiguration of the affected limb.

Bumps, bumps, and other “superficial” side effects can be treated with corrective surgery, but can leave scars that look worse than the previous condition.

Dr. David M. Duffy, a dermatologist in Torrance, California, quoted from the NY Times, found that liquid silicone injections can cause problems even when done by experienced doctors. One of the dreaded complications is the formation of silicone granulomas, aka siliconoma.

Granuloma formation as a side effect of silicone injection

Granulomas are localized clumping of inflammatory cells as a result of the persistence of a non-recycled product (such as permanent liquid silicon) or as a hypersensitivity reaction.

Silicone leaks in body tissues produce an inflammatory reaction. The immunological response to injection of pure silicone is currently unknown. To be sure, all foreign agents that enter the body will get a certain reaction from the body's immune system, and granulomas are thought to be one of the common responses. Granulomas are the result of a protective mechanism and are formed when an acute inflammatory process is unable to destroy the foreign agent.

The clinical presentation of silicone-induced granulomas may mimic cancerous tumors, especially if they affect the axillary glands or are enlarged lymph nodes. Granuloma formation due to silicone leakage has also been associated with fever, calcitriol-mediated hypercalcemia, and reactive amyloidosis.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is usually recommended in addition to a mammogram and ultrasonogram (USG) to evaluate the severity of lesion expansion and confirm oncological examination. Surgical removal of the affected tissue is generally required for therapeutic purposes. Total mastectomy with or without areola complex skin / nipple preservation is the preferred choice in breasts that are severely damaged by severe silicone leakage. Immediate or delayed reconstructive procedures should be included as part of the treatment plan.