COMPARISON OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS OF WOMEN REQUESTING REMOVAL OF BREAST IMPLANTS WITH THOSE OF BREAST-CANCER PATIENTS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

Concern about the safety of silicone breast implants has led many wome n with numerous physical and psychological symptoms to seek breast imp lant removal. This retrospective group comparison study describes the psychological profile of women requesting breast implant removal compa red with two control groups. The Brief Symptom Inventory was used to c ompare psychological symptoms of three groups of women: a preoperative breast implant group requesting removal of implants (n = 78), a posto perative breast cancer group without breast implants (n = 64), and a c ontrol group with no known breast disease and unknown breast implant s tatus (n = 68). Scores were compared on the Global Severity Index of t he Brief Symptom Inventory as well as on nine subscales: somatization, obsessive-compulsiveness, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxi ety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. T he breast implant group had significantly elevated Global Severity Ind ex scores, as well as somatization, obsessive-compulsiveness, depressi on, hostility, and anxiety subscale scores, when compared with the oth er groups. Post hoc data analysis revealed that women who had implants after subcutaneous mastectomy as prophylaxis for breast cancer (n = 1 8) had a significantly different symptom profile and higher Global Sev erity Index scores than women who had cosmetic augmentation (n = 53). Additionally, women who had subcutaneous mastectomy and implants had s ignificantly higher subscales of interpersonal sensitivity, phobic anx iety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism than the cosmetic implant su bjects. Women requesting removal of silicone breast implants had great er psychological distress than women who were recently diagnosed with breast cancer or controls with no known breast disease and unknown imp lant status. Within the implant group, however, women who had subcutan eous mastectomy showed greater psychological disturbance than those wh o had augmentation mammaplasty.