Documentarian Jonathan Silvers and Alejandra Campoverdi made a film about an inherited variant for the BRCA gene, which equates to a higher than average risk for breast and / or ovarian cancer. Sientra Breast Implant Company is the corporate sponsor.
I empathize with a woman's desire to feel empowered regarding her health and also to look and feel good.
The film follows three women as they experience mastectomy. Part of the film's narrative seems to be that in the light of a positive BRCA diagnosis, one may choose to get full mastectomy as a preventative measure or possibly face disastrous consequences. Alongside the education and warnings about the BRCA gene and a controversial look at pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, several of the stories include elective plastic surgery.
One woman didn't want to get tested even though BRCA runs in her family. She was concerned about the forced menopause that hysterectomy puts a woman through. She got cancer and had chemotherapy. Another chose breast implants. Yet another opted to have tissue taken from her stomach and transferred to her breasts after her mastectomy and hysterectomy; she said that liposuction was "an upside of the BRCA gene."
I have studied outcomes from cosmetic plastic surgery - especially adipose removal - for ten years, and I find it to be of great concern that nowhere in the film are the dangers and innate problems of liposuction mentioned. Fat is a bodily organ, part of the endocrine system, and is related to sex-hormone production and metabolism as well as insulin interactions.
Science shows surgical reduction in subcutaneous fat (from lipo, etc.), causes an increase in disease producing visceral fat. Fat removal may cause long-term fat mobilization, metabolic syndrome, increased insulin resistance, increase in CVD, disturbing adipose re-distribution, skin adherence, over-resection, surgically induced menopause, infertility, structural damage, pain, disfigurement, disability and death.
On the Los Angeles coroner's list of people killed by liposuction, (1999-2019), every person is female; the average age is less than 48 years old. 30% of the deceased were black, 37% Caucasian, 26% Hispanic/Latin, 4% Asian. Cause of death by frequency are: fat in the bloodstream entering the lungs, blood clots in the lungs, heart attacks, bleeding to death, infections, anesthesia complications. This medical harm is gender-related, transcends race, and disempowers and hurts woman.
Many coroners' offices do not keep track of plastic surgery deaths and some refuse to share info. Complaints of medical harm caused by plastic surgeons are denied and covered-up. Without accurate data, the depth of medical harm cannot be fully assessed. This prevents safe medical practice and leaves consumers uninformed. Many doctors use short-term anecdotes, ignore science, falsify records, and gag survivors.
Some people will say they love their liposuction, however, this does not -
1) Make lipo safe.
2) Mean that they are not worse off health-wise.
3) Mean that they won't have long-term bad health and aesthetic effects down the road.
In Clinical Anesthesiology, Michael Vlessides wrote that liposuction is no safer now than it was twenty-five years ago and it's oversimplified in the public media. Throw into the mix an ample supple of seemingly unscrupulous physicians and state regulators who do not appear ready to crack down on the surgeons who have carte blanche, and the result is a recipe for national disaster.
The Health Technology Advisory Committee, a non-partisan group formed to study liposuction harm, said:
"Death and disfigurement due to liposuction should be a matter for serious public concern."
"Since liposuction is an elective, pay-out-of-pocket procedure, data is not collected as to how many procedures are performed, the complexity of procedures, or the resultant complications."
"Clear, important statistics on fatalities and complications from private offices or surgeon-owned surgery centers may be withheld."
"The increasing number of liposuction procedures has led to a growing number of iatrogenic fat tissue deformities, in addition to those of traumatic and disease-related nature."
I'm concerned about the momentous omissions in this film that convey a misleading, glossy view on cosmetic procedures. I found this film to be a well intentioned but misleading and hazardous for public health. Presenting short-term satisfaction from breast implants and liposuction does not give a full picture.
My hope is that we change our understanding of plastic surgery by acknowledging science rather than locking into fleeting or fake short-term anecdotes.
The information presented in this comment should not be construed as medical advice or instruction.
I empathize with a woman's desire to feel empowered regarding her health and also to look and feel good.
The film follows three women as they experience mastectomy. Part of the film's narrative seems to be that in the light of a positive BRCA diagnosis, one may choose to get full mastectomy as a preventative measure or possibly face disastrous consequences. Alongside the education and warnings about the BRCA gene and a controversial look at pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, several of the stories include elective plastic surgery.
One woman didn't want to get tested even though BRCA runs in her family. She was concerned about the forced menopause that hysterectomy puts a woman through. She got cancer and had chemotherapy. Another chose breast implants. Yet another opted to have tissue taken from her stomach and transferred to her breasts after her mastectomy and hysterectomy; she said that liposuction was "an upside of the BRCA gene."
I have studied outcomes from cosmetic plastic surgery - especially adipose removal - for ten years, and I find it to be of great concern that nowhere in the film are the dangers and innate problems of liposuction mentioned. Fat is a bodily organ, part of the endocrine system, and is related to sex-hormone production and metabolism as well as insulin interactions.
Science shows surgical reduction in subcutaneous fat (from lipo, etc.), causes an increase in disease producing visceral fat. Fat removal may cause long-term fat mobilization, metabolic syndrome, increased insulin resistance, increase in CVD, disturbing adipose re-distribution, skin adherence, over-resection, surgically induced menopause, infertility, structural damage, pain, disfigurement, disability and death.
On the Los Angeles coroner's list of people killed by liposuction, (1999-2019), every person is female; the average age is less than 48 years old. 30% of the deceased were black, 37% Caucasian, 26% Hispanic/Latin, 4% Asian. Cause of death by frequency are: fat in the bloodstream entering the lungs, blood clots in the lungs, heart attacks, bleeding to death, infections, anesthesia complications. This medical harm is gender-related, transcends race, and disempowers and hurts woman.
Many coroners' offices do not keep track of plastic surgery deaths and some refuse to share info. Complaints of medical harm caused by plastic surgeons are denied and covered-up. Without accurate data, the depth of medical harm cannot be fully assessed. This prevents safe medical practice and leaves consumers uninformed. Many doctors use short-term anecdotes, ignore science, falsify records, and gag survivors.
Some people will say they love their liposuction, however, this does not -
1) Make lipo safe.
2) Mean that they are not worse off health-wise.
3) Mean that they won't have long-term bad health and aesthetic effects down the road.
In Clinical Anesthesiology, Michael Vlessides wrote that liposuction is no safer now than it was twenty-five years ago and it's oversimplified in the public media. Throw into the mix an ample supple of seemingly unscrupulous physicians and state regulators who do not appear ready to crack down on the surgeons who have carte blanche, and the result is a recipe for national disaster.
The Health Technology Advisory Committee, a non-partisan group formed to study liposuction harm, said:
"Death and disfigurement due to liposuction should be a matter for serious public concern."
"Since liposuction is an elective, pay-out-of-pocket procedure, data is not collected as to how many procedures are performed, the complexity of procedures, or the resultant complications."
"Clear, important statistics on fatalities and complications from private offices or surgeon-owned surgery centers may be withheld."
"The increasing number of liposuction procedures has led to a growing number of iatrogenic fat tissue deformities, in addition to those of traumatic and disease-related nature."
I'm concerned about the momentous omissions in this film that convey a misleading, glossy view on cosmetic procedures. I found this film to be a well intentioned but misleading and hazardous for public health. Presenting short-term satisfaction from breast implants and liposuction does not give a full picture.
My hope is that we change our understanding of plastic surgery by acknowledging science rather than locking into fleeting or fake short-term anecdotes.
The information presented in this comment should not be construed as medical advice or instruction.