Abstract
Introduction
Despite a lack of data demonstrating causation, there is growing concern over breast implants and systemic illness. This study examines the impact of rising public interest in breast implant illness (BII) and its implications on breast implant removals (BIR).
Methods
A Google Trends (GT) analysis of each year between 2010 and 2022 was performed globally, and then separately for the United States alone (US), using the search terms “capsular contracture,” “breast implant illness,” and “breast implant(s) removal”. Linear regression was performed to determine significant correlations. Data on BII-related Facebook advocacy groups, relevant pop culture events, numbers of BIR surgeries, and number of BII-related publications were collected and analyzed alongside GT data to determine relevance.
Results
For global GT, there was a significant relationship between “breast implant illness” and “breast implant(s) removal” in 2016 (R2=0.62, β =0.33, p<0.01), 2020 (R2=0.53, β =0.23, p=0.01), and 2022 (R2=0.60, β =0.44, p=0.01). In the US, 2016 (R2=0.53, β =1.75, p=0.01) 2018 (R2=0.61, β =1.93, p<0.01) and 2020 (R2=0.72, β=0.91, p<0.01) were significant. In 2020, “capsular contracture” and “breast implant(s) removal” was significant in the US (R2=0.58, β=0.4, p=0.01). In 2016, Facebook was the platform for the largest BII advocacy group and in 2020 YouTube was the platform for the first BII documentary and TEDx talk. From 2010 to 2020, PubMed publications containing “ASIA” and “BII” increased 24-fold and ASPS reports on BIR rose 70%.
Conclusion
This study suggests that BII is a topic of global concern and has implications on both academic medicine and clinical practice.
Level of Evidence V
This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Steve AK, Temple-Oberle C, Yeung JK, Lafreniere AS, Harrop AR (2021) You helped create this, help me now: a qualitative analysis of patients’ concerns about breast implants and a proposed strategy for moving forward. Plast Reconstr Surg 147(1):16e–24e. https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0000000000007422
Brozena SJ, Fenske NA, Cruse CW et al (1988) Human adjuvant disease following augmentation mammoplasty. Arch Dermatol 124(9):1383–1386
Kumagai Y, Abe C, Shiokawa Y (1979) Scleroderma after cosmetic surgery: four cases of human adjuvant disease. Arthritis Rheum 22(5):532–537. https://doi.org/10.1002/art.1780220514
Atiyeh B, Emsieh S (2022) Breast Implant Illness (BII): real syndrome or a social media phenomenon? A narrative review of the literature. Aesthetic Plast Surg 46(1):43–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-021-02428-8
Rohrich RJ, Kaplan J, Dayan E (2019) Silicone implant illness: science versus myth? Plast Reconstr Surg 144(1):98–109. https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0000000000005710
Borenstein D (1994) Siliconosis: a spectrum of illness. Semin Arthritis Rheum 24(1 Suppl 1):1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/0049-0172(94)90102-3
Bridges AJ (1994) Autoantibodies in patients with silicone implants. Semin Arthritis Rheum 24(1 Suppl 1):54–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/0049-0172(94)90110-4
Shoenfeld Y, Agmon-Levin N (2011) ASIA—autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants. J Autoimmun 36(1):4–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaut.2010.07.003
Tang SYQ, Israel JS, Afifi AM (2017) Breast implant illness: symptoms, patient concerns, and the power of social media. Plast Reconstr Surg 140(5):765e–766e. https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0000000000003785
Magno-Padron DA, Luo J, Jessop TC et al (2021) A population-based study of breast implant illness. Arch Plast Surg 48(4):353–360. https://doi.org/10.5999/aps.2020.02117
Kessler DA (1992) The basis of the FDA’s decision on breast implants. N Engl J Med 326(25):1713–1715. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199206183262525
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Safety of Silicone Breast Implants; Bondurant S, Ernster V, Herdman R (eds.) (1999) Safety of silicone breast implants. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press
Kaplan J, Rohrich R (2021) Breast implant illness: a topic in review. Gland Surg 10(1):430–443. https://doi.org/10.21037/gs-20-231
FDA (2022) Medical device reports for systemic symptoms in women with breast implants. https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/breast-implants/medical-device-reports-systemic-symptoms-women-breast-implants#a
FDA (2020) FDA updates analysis of medical device reports of breast implant illness and breast implant-associated lymphoma. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-updates-analysis-medical-device-reports-breast-implant-illness-and-breast-implant-associated
FDA (2021) FDA strengthens safety requirements and updates study results for breast implants. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-strengthens-safety-requirements-and-updates-study-results-breast-implants
FDA (2020) Breast implants–certain labeling recommendations to improve patient communication. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/breast-implants-certain-labeling-recommendations-improve-patient-communication
Al Omran Y, Abdall-Razak A, Sohrabi C et al (2020) Use of augmented reality in reconstructive microsurgery: a systematic review and development of the augmented reality microsurgery score. J Reconstr Microsurg 36(4):261–270. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-3401832
Adidharma W, Latack KR, Colohan SM, Morrison SD, Cederna PS (2020) Breast implant illness: are social media and the internet worrying patients sick? Plast Reconstr Surg 145(1):225e–227e. https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0000000000006361
StatCounter (2022) Social media stats worldwide. Accessed October 18, 2022. https://gs.statcounter.com/social-media-stats
StatCounter (2022) Search engine market share worldwide. Accessed October 18, 2022. https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share
Offodile AC 2nd, Clemens MW (2018) Decisions and incisions: the role of choice architecture in surgical decision making. Aesthet Surg J 38(5):575–577. https://doi.org/10.1093/asj/sjy009
Tian WM, Rames JD, Blau JA, Taskindoust M, Hollenbeck ST (2022) Contextualizing breast implant removal patterns with google trends: big data applications in surgical demand. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open 10(1):e4005. https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000004005
Bachour Y (2021) Capsular contracture in breast implant surgery: where are we now and where are we going? Aesthetic Plast Surg 45(3):1328–1337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-021-02141-6
ASPS (2022) Plastic surgery statistics. Accessed October 18, 2022. https://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/plastic-surgery-statistics
ICIJ (2022) The 30-year fight for breast implant safety. Accessed September 20, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vXRodwO4pU
Diaz T (2022) How to be your own advocate. Breast Implant Health Summit. Accessed October 22, 2022. https://www.breastimplanthealthsummit.com/terri-diaz
Despres C, Robyn Towt (2022) Breast cancer survivor, advocate for women suffering from breast implant illness. Salud America. Accessed October 20 2022. https://salud-america.org/robyn-towt-breast-cancer-survivor-advocate-for-women-suffering-from-breast-implant-illness/
State Senate of Arizona (2022) SENATE BILL 1001 October 20, 2022. Accessed October 18, 2022. https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/55leg/1r/bills/sb1001s.pdf
Daruda N (2022) Welcome to healing breast implant illness. Healing Breast Implant Illness. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://www.healingbreastimplantillness.com/healing-breast-implant-illness/#
Hefner C (2016) My breast implants slowly poisoned me. Facebook. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://www.facebook.com/CrystalHarrisHefner/posts/my-breast-implants-slowly-poisoned-me-intolerance-to-foods-and-beverages-unexpla/1120201251379469/
Mulholland A, Dunham J (2018) Woman says removing breast implants improved her health. CTV News. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/woman-says-removing-breast-implants-improved-her-health-1.4034689
Campbell L (2018) Her breast implants were poisoning her for years. This is her story. Healthline. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/former-miss-america-shares-her-story-of-breast-implant-poisoning
Quinn D (2019) Michelle Visage says she had her breast implants removed due to her Hashimoto's disease. People Magazine. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://people.com/health/michelle-visage-breast-implants-removed-hashimotos-disease/
Wood L (2020) TOXIC TITS. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou0eQQDSKGM&t=240s
TEDx Talks (2022) The science behind breast implant illnesses |Laura Miles| TEDxUCO. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAprdn6bt9I
IMDb (2021) Explant. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14892064/
Tisdale A (2022) Instagram. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://www.instagram.com/p/CD_qbPDlajA/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=7896711c-a845-46d1-8adf-b3dcf3fdd820
Ushe N (2021) Tamra Judge removes breast implants, says she’s already noticing ‘Health improvements’. People Magazine. Accessed October 20, 2022. https://people.com/health/tamra-judge-removes-breast-implants-already-noticing-health-improvements/
TEDx Talks (2020) Why I am boobless after beast implant illness |Lacey Marie| TEDxIdahoFalls October 20, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_APuiU03k8
Coroneos CJ, Selber JC, Offodile AC 2nd, Butler CE, Clemens MW (2019) US FDA breast implant postapproval studies: long-term outcomes in 99,993 patients. Ann Surg 269(1):30–36. https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000002990
Spoor J, de Jong D, de Boer M et al (2022) Bradford Hill and breast implant illness: no evidence for causal association with breast implants. Expert Rev Clin Immunol 18(8):773–775. https://doi.org/10.1080/1744666X.2022.2090339
Funding
The authors have no financial disclosures.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. For this type of study, informed consent is not required.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Di Via Ioschpe, A., Oleru, O.O., Brozynski, M. et al. Contextualizing the Impact of Pop Culture on Breast Implant Illness and its Medical Relevance. Aesth Plast Surg 48, 1056–1065 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-023-03422-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-023-03422-y