Long term complications caused by injected silicone gel and paraffin oil.

The majority of people who have received the injections of the materials used in mammaplasty during the past thirty years have been admitted to the hospital with complaints of induration, redness, and/or pain of the injected areas.Since 1970 the relationship between the injected materials and later complications of 103 cases have been under observation.Induration of the injected areas has been observed in 90 of the 103 cases. Swelling, redness, and/or pain which recurred at intervals of several months to several years were observed in 100 of the one hundred-three patients, 18 lapsed into general malaise; seventeen had arthralgia and stiffness; 8 had high fever and 10 patients had lymphoadenopathy. Four cases had collagen disease like symptoms, i.e. tests for LE-cell, anti-nuclear anti-body, and anti-DNA antibody were all positive.Extirpation performed on 42 patients disclosed that 25 had injected silicone gel; 12 had injected paraffin oil; and 5 patients had undiagnosed materials. Seventeen of the forty-two cases were analysed by an infrared spectrum analysis. Nine showed medical grade silicone gel and 8 cases showed paraffin oil. In this follow-up study of 10 years, complete cure was not encountered in patients who developed systemic symptoms. We suspect that silicone induced adjuvant disease may occur in persons with a special disposition in immunoreaction.