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WASHINGTON, Apr 04, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Silicone implants, once commonly used in U.S. breast-augmentation surgery, may be poised for a comeback.
Currently, only saline implants are approved for regular breast augmentation, with silicone implants limited to patients who undergo breast reconstruction as part of a research trial.
However, two Santa Barbara, Calif., companies -- Inamed Corp. and Mentor Corp. -- are scheduled for a April 11 meeting before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee to review more detailed data about silicone implants' safety for use in the general population.
The data are "extremely compelling ... as good or better than anything the FDA has ever seen," says Joshua Levine, Mentor Corp.'s president and chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The FDA effectively removed the silicone from the market in 1992.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
