A BAN on silicone breast implants in America has been reversed after 14 years by the regulatory Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after independent studies failed to find evidence that they caused tissue damage or cancer, writes Sarah Baxter.

Silicone gel implants are considered to have a more natural look and feel than the salt water “balloons” that replaced them. Cosmetic surgeons expect them to become the top choice for the 300,000 American women a year who opt for breast enlargement.

The FDA took silicone implants for cosmetic surgery off the market in 1992, after questions were raised about how frequently they ruptured in the body and whether leaking silicone could cause disease. They remained legal in Britain, prompting a trail of US women to cross the Atlantic for breast surgery.

“I’ve been in practice for 28 years and this is wonderful news,” said Elizabeth Morgan, a Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon. “The old silicone implants were often defective and would leak. But they have made the shells better and thicker and they don’t release the gels like they once did.”

Hollywood enthusiasts for cosmetic surgery such as Demi Moore and Pamela Anderson have helped to boost the $540m (£286m) worldwide sales of breast implants. At $1,800 a pair, silicone implants are about twice the price of saline ones.

Professor Kefah Mokbel, a consultant breast surgeon at St George’s hospital in London, believes the lifting of the US ban will remove any remaining doubts that women had about the safety of breast implants, and that more British women will come forward for surgery.

Dr Daniel Schulz of the FDA said there was “reasonable assurance” that silicone implants were “safe and effective”. But the agency warned that the implants did not last a lifetime and that women who had them would probably need surgery again.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Experts baffled by vanishing sea lions
• CIA caught in a dirty and secretive war
• Double life of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab