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:

Can a woman breast-feed after breast augmentation?

Yes. That is, yes, if she would have been able to breast-feed even without implants. Studies have shown that up to two-thirds of small-breasted women are not able to breast-feed successfully. Implants are not likely to have much effect on that either way.

There is no known risk to the infant, no matter what kind of implant the woman has. At one time, the anti-implant campaigners tried to link silicone to birth defects in children. That has been thoroughly disproven.

There is no evidence that silicone from an implant enters the breast milk in any significant amount; in fact, the tap-water that is used to make a bottle-feeding formula contains man-made silicone, which is absorbed, ending up in the infant's immune system. Actually, there is more silicone in cow's milk than in the milk from a nursing mother with breast implants. And even more in Infant Feeding Formula. Here is the result of the study (from the University of Toronto) that measured silicon (not silicone) in various infant milks: (silicon [not silicone] in parts per billion) 

A.Breast milk from women with silicone gel implants:    55 (20 to 90)
B.Breast milk from women without any breast implants:   51 (20 to 82)
C.Store-bought commercial homogenized cows milk:       709
D.Average of 26 brands of commercial infant formula:  4402


Graphically, this would look like:
A: *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B: *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C: **************-------------------------------------------------------------------------
D: ***************************************************************************************

Many medicines given to colicky babies contain silicone, which goes into the baby's immune system, with no known harmful effects.


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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: 7:22 PM on 06/01/2008
URL of Dr. Dowden's home page: http://dr-dowden.com/index.html
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URL of breast enlargement via navel page: http://dr-dowden.com/main/tuba.html

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