Silicone: Juries vs. Science

摘要

Charlotte Mahlum of Elko, Nev., was just 36 when a precancerous condition forced her into a double mastectomy. She had her breasts reconstructed with silicone implants, and for five years she was pleased with the results. "The doctor said they would last me a lifetime," she says. "I was really tickled with them. They looked so nice." But Mahlum is now fighting an array of gruesome maladies, and she's convinced the implants are to blame. Her trouble started in 1990, with joint pain, fatigue and what she calls a feeling of "things crawling down my chest." She had the implants removed in 1993, when an MRI showed that one of them was releasing silicone gel into her body, but her condition only worsened. Today she lives with rashes, parched eyes and an incessant headache. Her gait is unsteady. She suffers humiliating episodes of incontinence. And, as she puts it, "my hair is falling out horrible."