Richard V. Dowden, M.D., C.M., F.A.C.S.

Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery

Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery, Inc.
6770 Mayfield Road, Suite 410
(Mayfield Heights) Cleveland, Ohio 44124
(440) 449-7470


Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about
breast enlargement:

When did the Court determine silicone does not cause illness?

In December 1998, the Court-appointed scientific panel determined that there was no evidence indicating that silicone causes illness. How did that come about? Read on.

Ever since the begining of the lawsuits concerning silicone, there has been a steady stream of reports in the medical journals indicating absence of any connection between silicone and the various illnesses being blamed upon implants. But every time one of those reports was brought up as a defense in the lawsuit court, the lawyers trying to push the lawsuits through would find something to criticize about the reports, some reason to deny their validity in blocking their lawsuit. The lawyers would say that "the scientists were not good ones", or that "the wrong questions were asked", or that "there was bias" etc.

So the defending lawyers asked that the Court select and appoint its own panel of scientists to study the question, and that panel, acceptable to the lawsuit lawyers, was chosen and started on its task in 1996. It was clear that if there really was any truth behind the implant claims, this panel of scientific experts chosen by the lawsuit court would certainly find it.

Finally, after two years of exhaustive study of the medical information, in December of 1998 the Scientific Panel returned its final verdict and conclusion: there was no evidence of any connection between silicone and illness. Here are the links to read about it:

The longer version of the court report:

So, one would think that would have put a stop to the lawsuits, right? Wrong! Where extremely large sums of money are concerned, science and fact often take a back seat to emotion, sympathies, and theatrics. The same lawyers who had originally approved the choice of scientists for the panel, reversed themselves and now criticized those same scientists for not coming up with a connection between silicone and illness. They said, "we thought they were good scientists, but obviously they weren't very good." They said, "we thought they would ask the right questions, but they obviously didn't do so." They said, "we thought they would be unbiased, but obviously they were biased." Etc., etc.

And then in June 1999, the National Institute of Medicine came back with the official government report based on the work of a panel of scientists appointed by the government, which also concluded that silicone does not cause illness. The same conclusion was also reached by the British government panel some time ago. And of course, the lawyers are trying to discredit those scientists and those reports as well.

So now what? The lawsuits will continue, because there is big money to be made by several law firms.


| FAQS: Breast Enlargement | FAQS: Breast Enlargement Via Navel |
| Dr. Dowden's Home page

|

This page Copyright © R.V. Dowden, MD, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.
This information may not be reproduced or distributed electronically or in print without permission from Dr. Dowden.

Note that while the information given by Dr. Dowden during a consultation is completely current and up-to-date, the information of this website is only as current as the date of last update, and therefore may become out-of-date.

6770 Mayfield Road, Suite 410
(Mayfield Heights) Cleveland, Ohio 44124
(440) 449-7470

Note: To ensure privacy for our patients, all of our outgoing phone lines have their caller ID permanently blocked; if your phone does not accept blocked ID calls you will not be able to receive any calls back from our office.

Last Update: 7:27 PM on 01/01/2009
URL of Dr. Dowden's home page: http://dr-dowden.com/index.html
URL of breast enlargement page: http://dr-dowden.com/main/augment.html
URL of breast enlargement via navel page: http://dr-dowden.com/main/tuba.html

Keywords: Breast implants through the navel; Transumbilical breast implants; Belly-button breast implants; Through-the-navel breast enlargement; Through-the-navel breast augmentation; Trans-umbilical breast augmentation; Trans-umbilical breast enlargement; Belly-button breast enlargement; Belly-button breast augmentation; Breast enlargement through the navel; Breast augmentation through the navel; Navel breast enlargement; Navel breast augmentation; 'Scarless' breast enlargement; 'Scarless' breast augmentation.