Saturday, June 07, 2008

Injecting your way to bigger boobs

The latest Vogue UK has a beauty feature about the new generation of women for whom procedures have become the norm. In it, an injectable boob filler is mentioned - Macrolane.

While googling Macrolane, I came across the video below, which demonstrates how Macrolane is used to enhance the boobs. To put it mildly, my toes curled watching it. Still, unless you will faint at the sight of needles, I recommend you watch it, because it offers an insight no write-up can offer.



Honestly, the results in the video look amazing. You have to consider the fact the patient is lying down when you assess the difference in fullness and lift.

Judging from some before and after images found through Google images, it seems that rather than being a procedure for upping one cup size, its laudable effect really should also be how it lifts saggy boobs.


Pictures: here and here

Macrolane has been enjoying great popularity in UK and it's yet to be available in the US. But it can be done in Singapore.

Macrolane has been okayed by the European authorities but it has yet to be approved by the FDA. But I am willing to take this piece of information with a pinch of salt because FDA credibility in the eyes of the public has sometimes been suspect and because just because it hasn't been approved doesn't mean they disapprove of it. It could simply be that they are slow in conducting studies reaching a conclusion or they have not received submissions for approval. Whatever. Tonnes of reasons.

But. From a consumer's point of view, from a female point of view, my stomach is still curling. Maybe I really shouldn't have watched that video before writing this. But seriously, just how far are we willing to go in the name of beauty or self-love or whatever bullshit we have come up with to justify our excesses?

I'm veering into double standards here, because I've never been one to disapprove of procedures - invasive surgery, Botox, filler injections, skin whitening vitamin C drips, etc. Perhaps my viewpoint changed when I learned from two unrelated sources yesterday that an Italian study recently discovered that Botox "can travel into the central nervous system of the brain after it is injected into the skin", according to this article here.

My attitude towards boob jobs has always been, so long as it makes you happy. I remember some Literature lessons in school where we discussed how we are so constantly exposed to images of violence we have become desensitised to it. It's the same thing with plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures - cutting the body up for or injecting things into it have become so common place we hardly think about what it means anymore. Natural is a dirty word that has been replaced with the phrase "appear natural".

Back to breast implants. If your silicone implants rupture (the possibility of which is reportedly very low), what happens is your body forms scar tissue around the new foreign material and a hard capsule may form around the implant which will have to removed. It varies but generally, implants are said to last 10 years before they need to be replaced.

Macrolane, then, claims to offer a solution for women "who would like to adjust the shape of their body in a natural, non-permanent way that does not involve the use of implants or body fat in a major surgical procedure". Macrolane is a gel that is essentially hyaluronic acid, a "natural component of our skin and plays an important part in skin health". It is the same stuff as in Restylane but of larger particles. Supposedly, the hyaluronic acid gets metabolised and absorbed by the body over time so no harm is done and you can just get another happy jab for big boobs again.

I have to state now that obviously, I am a layperson. The kind that causes the most headache for doctors or scientists because I rely on the internet and read enough to ask a lot of questions and to be skeptical of what they say, sometimes to the point where they may feel insulted or irritated, maybe? Sometimes I have to stop and question whether I'm being too cynical, to the point I'm neglecting the true benefits of something.

But we're not talking about an exorbitant face cream. When it concerns so much money and more importantly, when it concerns adding substances into the body, I don't think it's unfair to ask for complete reassurance, is it?

If I were still a beauty journalist or someone who is contemplating Macrolane, this is what I want to know most that googling has not been able to satisfy:

Upping one cup size, that's hell of a lot of hyaluronic acid we're talking about. Where does it all go? What does it mean that it can be metabolised by the body? Does it get passed out? Or
absorbed? If it's absorbed, can there be such a thing as too much hyaluronic acid in the body? What happens then?

Let's not even bother about the natural/ artificial debate or whether Demi Moore is freaky (yes, she is.). The first issue that women or even men should tackle with any invasive beauty procedure - I consider jabs pretty invasive - is implications on your health and body. I read through forums and it's scary how women assess Macrolane based on price and effect. Perhaps it's just an initial judgment following which they will go on to find out more - I certainly hope so.

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