Dreams for beauty melt with silicon The recent barrage of media coverage on the downside of cosmetic surgery has not deterred people from going to the beauty parlor to have parts of their bodies "improved".
The Jakarta Post's Maria Endah Hulupi looks into the issue.JAKARTA (JP):
Professional surgeons have lots of tragicomic stories to tell about young people who have fallen victim to crooks who promised them good looks through cosmetic surgery.
The victims, some with bulging lips, twisted noses or swollen eyelids that they got from beauty parlors elsewhere, came for advice on how they could have their original looks restored.
Lisa, not hear real name, is an average looking university student, who thinks that her angular cheeks, flat nose and "unsexy" chin are unattractive. She feels that she looks 10 years older. She went to a small beauty parlor in Central Jakarta, promising facial improvements at affordable prices by a beautician who claimed to be an assistant to a plastic surgeon at a leading hospital. Despite the numbness, Lisa was happy with the results. She finally had the face she had dreamt of. But three months later, disaster struck. Her nose is dislocated, and her cheeks and chin are baggy, turning her heart-shaped face into an oblong-shape, not to mention the carbuncles and the reddish tint of her skin due to inflammation.
Meanwhile, Ricky (not his real name) has a traumatic story to tell about his unsuccessful attempt to have his penis enlarged through a silicon injection a few months ago. He was shocked when another plastic surgeon later recommended that his now bluish penis be removed as it was already decayed.
Julia, also a pseudo name, is probably a bit "lucky". The prostitute had a liquid silicon injection to enlarge her labia majora. And, wait for it ... she went to a plastic surgeon to have her silicon sucked out again. Her reason: a friend made fun of the obvious bulge under her tight pants when exercising at a fitness center.
Duped Many of the victims say they were duped by bombastic claims made by inexperienced beauty centers and uncertified practitioners. These uncertified practitioners, due to little knowledge of the side effects, use harmful substances, such as injectable silicon. Profit is their sole motive.
An alarm was sounded by plastic surgeons at a recent gathering held by the Indonesian Association of Plastic Surgeon (Perapi) in Jakarta. The association's chairman Yefta Moenadjat disclosed that according to patients, they received such treatments from beauty centers in West and North Jakarta. But other surgeons revealed that such practices are also rampant in other cities across the country.
The victims range from wealthy ladies to students, street singers and transvestites. The latter are a tiny group but a potential market segment to whom injectable silicon is even sold door-to-door. Some of the patients say they were deceived by friends or the practitioners into using the silicon method, which has been banned in industrialized countries. "They were informed that the injections were of collagen, which is safe, but after examination we found out that it was liquid silicon combined with other additives," he said.
Yefta, who is also a plastic surgeon at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) explained that collagen treatment would help reduce wrinkles due to aging by stimulating the formation of natural collagen after each injection.
The crooks charge a lot of money, at least Rp 700,000 per treatment, and the injection should be repeated every three months. It should only be given using a special syringe and in compliance with special procedures to prevent hypersensitivity. Injectable silicon treatment, which can be injected using an ordinary syringe, has been banned even in Indonesia as it poses health hazards. "That's why, if a staff member who claims to be a beauty expert uses an ordinary syringe for cheap collagen injections, I can assure you that he is lying," he said.
Industrial silicon The injectable silicon is procured from China, Taiwan and Thailand where the use of that chemical in beauty centers is still prevalent.
Industrial grade injectable silicon is used in heavy industry and household equipment manufacturing. While medical grade injectable silicon, which is used in aesthetic surgery, is used to coat syringes, infuse bottles and catheters, among other things.
In the U.S., the use of medical grade silicon for aesthetic surgery has been banned since 1970.
Another RSCM plastic surgeon, Gentur Sudjatmiko, suggested that what is sold on the market as cheap collagen liquid is, in fact, injectable silicon. Many people and even the phony beauty experts are not aware of the dangers. "We have also learned that some centers combine it with certain additives to make the silicon more elastic and the treatment cheaper compared to plastic surgery," Yefta said. The body parts that are commonly injected with these harmful chemicals are the cheeks, nose, lips, breasts, penis, labia majora and labia minora. Unlike solid and gel silicon, which are considered safe for implants, the injectable silicon will spread and penetrate further into surrounding tissues and vacuoles, making the areas gritty to the touch. Patients report numbness in those body parts where the injections are given.
"Esthetically, such treatments can end up in disaster because the injectable silicon is liquid and will not remain in the location where the injection was initially given. It runs downward to the lower parts," Yefta said, adding that injected silicon for breast enlargement would also hamper early detection of breast cancer.
Decaying tissues What is likely to follow is siliconoma or tissue damage, or swelling because of inflammation triggered by the silicon and the additives, with the degree of severity ranging from mild inflammation to decaying tissue. "Inflammation occurs depending on the quantity of injected silicon and the depth of the injection," Yefta said. The inflammation would continue as long as the harmful matter was still present in the body and the only way to resolve the problem was by making an incision to remove the silicon.
This would leave scars and sometimes tangible imperfection when the dead tissues have to be removed as well. If the liquid is injected into the vein, it would be even worse. This oil-like silicon may travel within the blood vessel, like embolus and can be fatal if it ends up in the heart. Given the serious health implications, Yefta suggested the public entrust such delicate jobs to registered practitioners in plastic surgery.
Perapi (http://www.perapi.com) lists 42 plastic surgeons: 20 in Jakarta (including six in the RSCM) and Tangerang; four in Surabaya; three in Bandung; two each in Semarang, Yogyakarta, Makassar, Malang and Medan; and one each in Surakarta, Manado, Denpasar, Samarinda and Palembang. Herkutanto, the Indonesian Medical Association's head of the medical law department, underlined the importance of government control over beauty centers and the use of harmful chemicals in health treatments.
The effort, he said, should be based on Law No. 23/1992 on Health, which carries a maximum punishment of seven years in jail term and/or a fine of Rp 140 million. Although the law is already there, very few people are aware of their rights. Why don't the victims sue deceitful surgeons? Skeptical about the legal system? "They think they will embarrass themselves if their cases become public knowledge," says Herkutanto. Source:
The Jakarta Post. http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20010506.@01&irec=0 Posted on May 6, 2001, 1:12 PM
