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October 26, 2003
Some History of Breast Implants is recounted in today's Washington Post by Nora Jacobson, author of Cleavage: Technology, Controversy, and the Ironies of the Man-Made Breast. The oped primarily covers the controversy surrounding the FDA's decision to life the ban on silicone breast implants, but check out this passage summarizing the history of growing the breast: "Since the late 19th century, enterprising individuals -- doctors both rogue and respectable -- had been searching for a way to enlarge small breasts. The earliest attempts used transplants of fat or skin. Later, foreign objects -- like silk or nylon or injections of liquid paraffin -- were employed as filler. With the advent of manufactured plastic, breast-shaped sponges of synthetic foam became the favored material. An unverifiable report has it that liquid silicone was first used for breast enlargement in occupied Japan, when it was injected into the breasts of local prostitutes to make them more attractive to American GIs. By the 1950s, U.S. doctors were using silicone injections as well. Two plastic surgeons from Texas designed the first silicone implant -- a silicone rubber shell filled with silicone gel -- in 1963. Since then, the basic silicone implant has been modified scores of times, usually with the intent of making the final result seem more "natural." While plastic surgeons often published case reports describing their experiences with the most recent innovation, none of these methods or materials underwent any rigorous scientific evaluation before being placed in women's bodies." [...] "In the 1950s, they construed that need as a diagnosis, "hypomastia" (literally, "small breasts"), a psychological syndrome of low self-esteem and social withdrawal caused by being flat-chested. By the 1970s and '80s, however, in the wake of the sexual revolution and a New-Age philosophy of self-actualization, just wanting to look good became need enough. Posted by chris at October 26, 2003 12:10 PM
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