Procedure Offers Unpredictable Results
Q. I’m a 19 year-old woman who is considering breast enlargement, but I’m concerned about the risks of breast implants. I’ve recently heard of a procedure where doctors can take fat from one part of the body and inject it anywhere else in the body. What’s this procedure called? What can you tell me about it? - Anonymous, New York, N.Y.
A. Removing unwanted fat from an area like the thighs or buttocks, and then injecting it into breasts to enlarge them sure sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? The procedure is called autologous (meaning “self”) fat transplantation, and in light of the recent health concerns over silicone breast implants, it is being promoted by a minority of plastic surgeons as a safer and easier alternative.
While it has been used for some time to correct tiny facial wrinkles, using large volumes of injected fat to augment breast size is not only temporary, but can put a person at risk for long-term complications.
The first problem with the procedure is that when fat cells are suctioned from one area and injected into another, there’s no blood supply to support the cells. So the fat cells are destined to die. It’s something like pulling a leaf off a tree, putting it in dirt and expecting it to grow a new tree. Those fat cells will likely be absorbed by the body, or they’ll calcify into a scarred mass within the breast tissue. The fat is likely to cause uneven, lumpy breasts.
The average breast enlargement requires 7-14 ounces of injected fat; this will almost certainly make interpreting a mammogram very difficult.
Figuring out among the lumps and clumps of injected fat what’s healthy breast tissue and what might be an early cancerous lesion is very difficult. And if calcifications occur years later as a result of the injections, that’ll most certainly lead to repeated breast biopsies to determine if breast cancer is present.
Monthly breast self-exams will be difficult, since lumpy breast tissue will be felt throughout. And remember that early detection is the key to survival.
The American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery warn that breast augmentation by fat transplantation is an experimental, temporary procedure with unpredictable results and potentially serious long-term health risks.
Given the current FDA restrictions on the use of silicone breast implants, the best alternative for those women who wish to undergo breast enlargement is saline implants.
Q. What causes a foot to sometimes fall asleep? Does it mean that I have poor circulation? - B.D., McKeesport, Pa.
A. The actual medical term for that numbness and tingling sensation we get when our foot “falls asleep” is called “paresthesia.” Everyone gets it from time to time, and it’s generally nothing to worry about. It has nothing to do with poor circulation.
What happens here is that the peroneal nerve in the back of the knee gets compressed, causing the outer part of the lower leg and foot to develop a temporary sensation of “pins and needles.” This can happen if your leg is crossed, or from sitting in a chair at the movies for too long.
Just as compression of the peroneal nerve can cause your foot to feel like it has fallen asleep, a compression or trauma to the ulnar nerve can cause the same kind of pins and needles sensation. I think you know what that feels like whether you realize it or not. Have you ever hit your funny bone? Well, you actually hit your ulnar nerve.