In another installment of our occasional series of breast implants meeting violent ends: A Russian woman stabbed by her husband was probably saved by one of her rather large breast implants.
Plastic surgeon James Wells holds a saline implant, left, and a silicone implant. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
The 40-year-old Moscow woman's husband was allegedly aiming for the heart when he sunk a knife into her chest during a domestic dispute. But the knife was blocked by the silicone implants -- which, somewhat ironically, her husband had requested she get some five years before.
Though the contents within the woman's left breast did not leak, a plastic surgeon did remove and replace it. That's probably wise, because any cuts to the surface of the implant could cause the fluid to leak out, which can cause "a decrease in breast size, change in breast implant shape, hard lumps over the implant or chest area, an uneven appearance of the breasts, pain or tenderness, tingling, swelling, numbness, burning or changes in sensation," according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Silicone breast implants are meant to be pretty durable. But they're not indestructible. Take a woman whose implant exploded during a game of paintball, as I blogged earlier.
The Russia incident isn't the first time a breast implant has taken one for the team. A Times story credited Lydia Carranza's implant with possibly saving her life when a gunman opened fire in the Simi Valley dental office where she worked.
But Scott Reitz, a firearms instructor with 30 years of LAPD experience, added at the time, "I don't want to say a boob job is the equivalent of a bulletproof vest. So don't go getting breast enhancements as a means to deflect a possible incoming bullet."
Lest we forget, breast implants come with their own risks, as the FDA points out. Just something to bear in mind.
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