From Regulation to Litigation: An Analysis of the Silicone Breast Implant Controversy

Abstract

At the age of eighteen, Britney Spears has reached superstar status. She has sold millions of albums, and her music videos are among MTV's most popular. Teenage boys idolize her, and teenage girls strive to look like her. Unfortunately, good genes alone may not account for Britney's sought after appearance. Recent reports allege that the teen idol underwent breast augmentation surgery last year, at the age of seventeen. Although Britney denied the reports, other stars such as Pamela Anderson Lee owe much of their fame to well-publicized breast augmentation procedures. In fact, the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (ASPRS) has reported a steady increase in the demand for all types of cosmetic surgery ranging from rhinoplasty to breast augmentation. According to statistics compiled by the ASPRS, the number of procedures performed in the United States has increased 152 percent since 1992, to well over a million procedures a year. Twenty-five percent of those procedures are performed on patients under the age of 34. As these statistics indicate, cosmetic surgery has become quite common, despite the disastrous history of what was once a highly popular cosmetic surgery procedure: silicone gel breast augmentation.