It is possible that in recent weeks you have heard or read news related to PIP (Poly Implant Prothese) silicone implants that many women carry in the breast and some cases of cancer that occurred in France.
PIP implants are silicone implants that were widely used until a few years ago to be implanted in women who wanted to modify their aesthetics or in mastectomized women who they were removed because they had a high breakage rate, fruit of the composition, which was fraudulent (contained industrial silicone not specified in the composition, among other components).
From these cases of cancer, some women, who know how to wear PIP implants and who are breastfeeding, may have doubts about what to do, if they quickly go to remove the implants and wean their baby, if they wait to see what happens, if it can be harmful to your baby, among other questions, and that's why we will explain what to do if you wear a PIP silicone implant and you are breastfeeding your baby.
The prostheses that cause cancer have not yet been proven
It is true that to date 20 cases of cancer have been declared in women who carry PIP implants, but It has not yet been proven that there is a cause and effect relationship. Obviously several countries have got to work to study these cases, study the implants and see what the real risk is, including Spain.
The degradation of the implants usually occurs after eight years
Silicone implants usually have a durability of about 25 years, after which the woman must go for a new intervention or at least assess the status of the implant.
PIP implants, on the other hand, degrade much earlier, towards the age of eight from the moment it is placed.
If the risk has been implanted for less than that, it is obviously much lower, if it is close to that figure they could be close to being degraded if it has not already happened: in France they recommend to women who carry these implants that, preventively, they remove them. Of the 672 preventive interventions carried out to date 23 implants were already broken, without the women having noticed.
The advice is to talk with the surgeon
As we say, it has not yet been possible to demonstrate that implants can cause cancer and, even if it was demonstrated, there are very few current cases for the hundreds of thousands of women who carry these implants.
Therefore, if you are breast-feeding your baby and want to continue doing it (and if you are not breast-feeding too), before running to remove implants whose real risk is unknown (it has been known for almost two years that prostheses are fraudulent and that degrade too quickly) it is advised go to the surgeon who implanted them to do an ultrasound and assess their status.
The ultrasound is compatible with breastfeeding, do not have to express milk later and throw it or anything like that, so this minimum preventive measure does not carry any risk for breastfeeding, mother or baby.
But can they be dangerous for the baby?
As always, the greatest fear of mothers is not about what can happen to themselves, but about what can happen to their babies. That is why many women consider weaning their baby to avoid risks.
Again to say that, if the implants are in good condition, and since the causality between the prosthesis and the cancer for the mother has not been demonstrated, it is even more difficult to think that it could cause a problem in the baby, just drink milk from a breast with an intact implant.
As pediatrician Carlos González said about it:
First, nothing suggests that the prosthetic toxic products can pass into the milk and second, they can have no effect orally. Please, children spend the day sucking things that nobody would implant in the body. The toxicity of a product is very different when you take it orally or when you implant it and take it for years.
Summarizing
If the implant is in good condition, in Spain it is recommended to be doing ultrasound checks and wait to see what are the results of the tests that are being performed with the implants, taking into account that the years of prosthesis life are eight .
The advice then if you are breastfeeding is that For now, if the prostheses are intact, continue breastfeeding calmly, waiting to see what the real risk of prostheses is, which could be minimal since, as we say, two years ago it is known that they were fraudulent and now it seems that the rush for some cases of cancer without proven causality .
If you are not breastfeeding the advice is the same, go to see their status and make a calm decision, because the risk is not known and cancer cases are minimal for the number of implanted prostheses.
