If women with a breast implant more often report health complaints, what does this mean for men with a penile implant?

[Waynetho]

Yes, but what type of silicone? Ubiquitous sand is mostly silicone, and glass, organically inert. Softer forms of silicone are not so benign.

LS, that's silicon. The element that comprises most sand and glass is silicon but a chemical compound based on silicon, that sometimes is oily or rubbery is silicone (with an "E" on the end).

[Lost Sheep]

Yes, but what type of silicone? Ubiquitous sand is mostly silicone, and glass, organically inert. Softer forms of silicone are not so benign.

LS, that's silicon. The element that comprises most sand and glass is silicon but a chemical compound based on silicon, that sometimes is oily or rubbery is silicone (with an "E" on the end).

Thanks for the spelling correction. As I said, I am no chemist, so put in the link. Yes, indeed, the hard stuff is benign and the softer stuff not so much.

[Waynetho]

Yes, but what type of silicone? Ubiquitous sand is mostly silicone, and glass, organically inert. Softer forms of silicone are not so benign.

LS, that's silicon. The element that comprises most sand and glass is silicon but a chemical compound based on silicon, that sometimes is oily or rubbery is silicone (with an "E" on the end).

Thanks for the spelling correction. As I said, I am no chemist, so put in the link. Yes, indeed, the hard stuff is benign and the softer stuff not so much.

It's all good. Just keeping ya straight...

[TANGERINE]

i agree with the comments stating that the problems with silicone breast implants stems from the situations where a leak (implant rupture) occurs; in turn, that allows silicone to escape into the soft tissues and , in theory, that might cause some symptoms.

The advent of the saline filled implant allowed an escape from these presumed complications. If a saline breast implant (the saline implant is a silicone bag filled with saline) ruptures, there is no problematic issue since the saline just gets resorbed by the body.

Silicone penile prosthesis is analagous to the breast saline implant. Thousands of women get the saline implants nowadays and they, for the most part, do just fine. I am not aware of anyone on this franktalk board (I have been here since feb 2017), EVER complaining of silicone related health issues from the prosthesis chemical makeup.

So, I , personally, do not have concerns about silicone material; and silicone is not on my worry list -- personally

[TangoGolf]

...In contrast to the subject of breast implants, I cannot find any studies on the health risks of penile implants, probably because these are implanted a lot less frequent.

What are your views on the risks, and what are your personal experiences?

I consider it a quality of life issue. In my opinion, the possible risks associated with my implant do not outweigh the benefits.

In other words, totally worth the risk.

[JiminFL]

My wife had her saline-filled implants for 16 years & began experiencing auto-immune symptoms and pain that got progressively worse. She was really suffering and local doctors were of no help. We finally made the connection researching online. My wife decided to have her implants replaced while I would have just removed them. Her symptoms quickly resolved. That was 7 years ago. The surgeon wouldn't come out and admit the implants were the problem, but he did say if it were his wife, he'd replace them.

[stephen54]

Thank you for your responses. Evidence is limited to observational studies and anecdotal evidence, which makes it hard to draw any conclusions at this moment. I expect more studies will be conducted in the future, as the prevalence of men with an implant increases. Anyway, for most men considering an implant the topic likely will not have a prominent place on their list of pros and cons of an implant.

Apologies in advance...I find perverse pleasure in clinical statistics and I occasionally rant.

I truly don't know anything about breast implant health difficulties specifically, I really don't, but having spent my career in healthcare clinical marketing I am too familiar with the age old wrestling match between correlation and causation. My REM sleep is unfortunately littered with unfinished statistical arguments; I wish it were otherwise.

As relates to breast implants causing other health detriments...I truly don't know. Maybe they do, but maybe they don't. I'm not sure the proper statistical work has been done so anyone definitively knows (yet). There may be a relationship or there may not be. Researchers should be looking for definitive evidence that breast implants specifically caused the reported post-implant systemic symptoms. That work is probably going on now in earnest but at the moment it may be that breast implant illnesses reported are just a diagnosis of exclusion (what's left and given a name after all symptoms have been worked up and other disease processes ruled out).

These kinds of clinical questions are always going to be tough to distill down to some kind of definitive and statistically reliable truth until there is

1. A removal of the emotionality associated with a specific hypothesis (super challenging, but necessary) and
2. Data developed which comes not from observational and (hindsight) meta-analyses but, rather, from large scale, prospective, randomized, multi-center, double blinded, placebo controlled, peer-reviewed studies (these being the gold standard of evidence-based medicine).

So this is always the thing- even if there is a correlation between two variables, we cannot simply conclude that one variable causes a change in the other. This relationship could be coincidental, or a third or who knows how many other unknown factors may be causing both variables to change, right?

Seeing two variables moving together does not necessarily mean we know whether one variable causes the other to occur. A strong correlation might imply causality but there could easily be other explanations. It frequently may be the result of random chance (where the variables appear related but there is no true underlying relationship) or there may be some other unknown lurking variable that that makes the relationship appear stronger (or weaker) than it actually is.

Skin cancer, for example, is known to be positively correlated with exercise. How can that be, that the more you exercise, the more skin cancer people get? Seems counterintuitive. But it's the other variables that need a good looking at. At what latitude does the person live? ("exercise" in Alaska means something different than "exercise" at the equator; it's reasonable to statistically analyze whether, for example, "exercise" in Alaska means predominantly indoors activities (due to climate, available light, cultural preference) and whether "exercise" in Brazil means mostly outdoors, at a beach, and in much more constant exposure to a more pronounced and prolonged sun's UV. Once you start thinking of examples it's kind of eye opening how causation and correlation are kissing cousins but often nothing more.

So it may well be true that there is no current definitive epidemiological evidence to support a direct link between breast implants and any specific disease process. But even if that's the case, this does not mean further research is not indicated - it probably is. Probably the same line of thinking with our beloved penile implants. Though I've done the risks vs rewards math for myself and (with the available data and my experiences so far) wouldn't trade this Titan for anything...

[Lost Sheep]

[At what latitude does the person live? ("exercise" in Alaska means something different than "exercise" at the equator; it's reasonable to statistically analyze whether, for example, "exercise" in Alaska means predominantly indoors activities (due to climate, available light, cultural preference) and whether "exercise" in Brazil means mostly outdoors, at a beach, and in much more constant exposure to a more pronounced and prolonged sun's UV. Once you start thinking of examples it's kind of eye opening how causation and correlation are kissing cousins but often nothing more.

Your point is well made, stephen54.

But, as a resident of Alaska, I am compelled to point out that Alaskans exercise a LOT out-of-doors. In the Summer, we get out as much as we can (to compensate for enforced confinement in the winter, perhaps). In the community of Valdez (the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and very active fishing port) we enjoy the "The Midnight Sun Baseball Game (an amateur baseball game played every summer solstice at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks, Alaska). Fishing is VERY popular all Summer and Autumn (May through September). Bicycling, hiking, outdoor activities abound, including barbecuing whenever we can. Also, in the winter, we have cross-country skiing.

So, though the sun is not as strong, and the UV is not so bad as it is in lower latitudes, we get all the sun we can, albeit often more heavily clothed than in Brazil.

If you like to fish, hike, mountain climb or hunt, you should come visit.

[stephen54]

[At what latitude does the person live? ("exercise" in Alaska means something different than "exercise" at the equator; it's reasonable to statistically analyze whether, for example, "exercise" in Alaska means predominantly indoors activities (due to climate, available light, cultural preference) and whether "exercise" in Brazil means mostly outdoors, at a beach, and in much more constant exposure to a more pronounced and prolonged sun's UV. Once you start thinking of examples it's kind of eye opening how causation and correlation are kissing cousins but often nothing more.

Your point is well made, stephen54.

But, as a resident of Alaska, I am compelled to point out that Alaskans exercise a LOT out-of-doors. In the Summer, we get out as much as we can (to compensate for enforced confinement in the winter, perhaps). In the community of Valdez (the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and very active fishing port) we enjoy the "The Midnight Sun Baseball Game (an amateur baseball game played every summer solstice at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks, Alaska). Fishing is VERY popular all Summer and Autumn (May through September). Bicycling, hiking, outdoor activities abound, including barbecuing whenever we can. Also, in the winter, we have cross-country skiing.

So, though the sun is not as strong, and the UV is not so bad as it is in lower latitudes, we get all the sun we can, albeit often more heavily clothed than in Brazil.

If you like to fish, hike, mountain climb or hunt, you should come visit.

Wow. Lucky you to live there. Seriously. We've been fortunate to have visited Alaska 2x. First trip was 2014 with all our kids in the south (Kenai Fjords and Katmai...Brooks Falls was so crazy full of bear). Last visit in 2018 just me and my wife, spent 12 days in Gates of the Arctic National Park and in Kobuk . Flew in through Bettles then to Anaktuvuk Pass then worked south to Kobuk. Rafted the river there. Stupefying, mind-bending beauty and peace. Very difficult to even put words to that place. Can't wait to get back there!