Are you thinking of getting a procedure done to alter the size or shape of a body part? Be careful while opting for any aesthetic procedures that use unapproved products, including injectable silicone.
Silicone injections are used as sculpturing agents and fillers for decades. They are non-reversible fillers injected into the body tissue to change the shape or size of a particular body part. After the silicone injections are incorporated into the body, extraction is the only option to eliminate silicone because silicone injection is permanent, and the body cannot absorb it.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns against silicone injections as an aesthetic treatment, including body and facial contouring or enhancement. Although FDA has approved some injectable dermal fillers for enhancing cheeks, lips, or jawline, it cautions against silicone injections for buttocks filler, breast filler, or filler for your muscles.
From scarring to chronic pain, there can be various side effects following silicone filler injections, including pneumonitis (inflammation of the lung tissue) and granulomas (chronic inflammation).
Find out some of the reasons why you should never go for silicone injections for body enhancement.
1- Injectable Silicone Can Cause Pain
Injectable silicone can cause severe pain, especially when illegally injected. Most inexperienced non-medical professionals use numbing creams instead of anesthetics while injecting silicone into the body.
The injected silicone may expand the body’s soft tissue and cause pain. Silicone has the potential to push and irritate nearby nerves over time. As a scar forms around the problematic silicone, the body tissue may press against or potentially entrap nearby nerves. If left untreated, the product may travel throughout the body, leading to chronic pain.
If you have received silicone injections and are currently suffering from pain, silicone injection removal is critical to get yourself out of this discomfort and maintain your overall health. You can even find some experienced and licensed professionals who can not only remove this harmful substance from the body but provide a visually pleasing reconstruction of a body part using safer, good-quality implants.
2- Silicone Injection Can Be Life-Threatening
Injectable silicone may be associated with developing life-threatening diseases, including cancer. When the material is incorporated, the body rapidly creates scar tissue around the silicone to isolate it. During scar tissue formation, errors are made in interpreting the DNA. These errors are amplified and result in granulomas – the accumulation of macrophages that occurs in response to long-term inflammation. Granulomas can further develop into cancers, such as squamous cancer, over time.
3- Tissue Death
Immediately following the silicone injection, your body begins an inflammatory response. Signs may include inflammation, itchiness, and redness around the site of injection.
Your body covers up the injected product with scar tissue. After the silicone is blocked, the body attempts to eject the product. It sends messages to the skin. As a result, the skin pores expand, and your body attempts to eliminate the underlying silicone. However, it cannot excrete the product, which leads to plugged skin pores with silicone. Your skin begins to die gradually. Initially, it turns red, then purple, and eventually black when it is dead.
4- Silicone Injections Can Move
Once injected, silicone can migrate throughout the body. The product incorporated into your buttocks can move to the thighs, genitals, ankles, calves, and lower back, leading to health problems. The silicone injection can also migrate and enter the lymphatic system. If such cases are left untreated, they can lead to highly hazardous medical concerns.
5- Increased Calcium Levels and Risk of Kidney Stones
Your body continuously forms scar tissue (made up of calcium) when the silicone is injected as a filler. The excess scar tissue leads to increased levels of blood calcium or hypercalcemia. Since the calcium levels are high in your bloodstream, your kidneys consistently work to eliminate calcium from the body. However, they quickly get overloaded, increasing the risk of the development of kidney stones.
6- Silicon Injections May Lead to Permanent Disfigurement
Silicone injections can leave you with lumpy, hardened, asymmetric, and unnatural body features, especially with a non-medical professional injecting a permanent cosmetic product into your body. Cosmetic deformities can be catastrophic. Some of the reasons for permanent disfigurement might include the following:
- Incorrect anatomic placement of silicone
- Uncontrolled movement of the injected silicone throughout the body and infection
- Extreme, uncontrollable, and unpredictable scarring around silicone injection
7- Silicone Injections Can Cause Silicone Mastitis
Silicone mastitis may occur in the breast as solid mass lesions. Silicone injections or implant leakage leads to a foreign-body giant-cell reaction. This immunological response often includes a cluster of fused macrophages, plasma cells, inflammatory cells, and multinucleated giant cells to the presence of foreign substances such as parasites, catheters, or biomaterials.
8- It May Cause Brain Fog
Research suggests that after a few months of receiving silicon injections, some individuals describe confusion, memory loss, concentration issues, and brain fog. The current medical reason behind brain fog linked to silicone injections is that antibodies are formed during the inflammatory reaction to the silicone injection. These antibodies cross-react with some body tissues and organs and may affect brain receptors and the blood-brain barrier, leading to chemical disturbances.
9- Silicone Injections May Be Associated with Arthralgia (Pain In A Joint)
Apart from other symptoms, patients receiving silicone injections also complain about joint pains. Substances like silicone generate significant biological changes that may include synthesizing reactive oxygen species, immune hyperactivation, and tissue injury. Such pathological alterations may induce autoimmune responses, resulting in the development of diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
10- Other Risks Associated with Silicone Injections
Other side effects of silicone injections may include fatigue, dry eyes, myalgias (pain in muscles), pyrexia (high body temperature), dry mouth, sagging, rashes, and symptoms of multiple scleroses, such as problems with movement, vision, or balance.
Conclusion
Injectable beauty products are everywhere in the world today. However, popularity has a dark side as well. Unapproved injectable products for cosmetic purposes can be harmful to overall health. Silicone is often injected into the body to enhance certain body parts such as buttocks, lips, cheeks, or breasts. Silicone fillers may sound good to people seeking a less expensive alternative to cosmetic surgery or dermal fillers. But these injections can be harmful and carry a great deal of risk to the individuals’ health and appearance. Once injected, the material can cause multiple side effects, from mild pain and disfigurement to chronic medical conditions, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and kidney stones. Early intervention and silicone injection removal are crucial for your body to heal and maintain your overall well-being.