A post approval study on about 100,000 women who had breast implants has shown the long term effects of the procedure.

The two most popular breast implants are the silicon gel and saline solution. The silicone implant uses a silicone shell which houses silicone gel while the saline implant, which also uses a silicone shell, is filled with sterile saline solution.

The study, the largest study of breast implants to date, analysed data on the women who enrolled in the study between 2007 – 2010.

Around 72 percent had breast augmentation, around 15 percent had revision augmentation, 10 percent had breast reconstruction, and 3 percent had revision reconstruction procedures, the study, published on Annals of Surgery disclosed.

About 80,000 of these patients received silicone implants, and the rest had implants filled with a sterile saline solution.

The study was carried out by Coroneos, Christopher J., MD, MSc; Selber, Jesse C., MD, MPH; Offodile, Anaeze C. II, MD, MPH; Butler, Charles E., MD; Clemens, Mark W., MD of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

The study said that women with silicone implants had a higher risk of rare adverse outcomes – about 6 to 8 times higher than the rest of the sample.

The effects include sclerodermia, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjogren’s syndrome. Silicone implants were also associated with Stillbirths and skin cancer.

In the short term, rupture is higher for saline, and capsular contracture higher for silicone, the study said.

Read the full study HERE.