ABSTRACT
We began this project because two plastic surgeons wondered about the ethics of removing implants, a medical procedure that involved risk, without having a perceived health benefit. As we talked with our surgeon colleagues and between ourselves, we generated a cluster of related questions: What are acceptable reasons for implant removal? Who is empowered to make that decision? What reasons do women have for wanting their implants removed? How did the motivation for removal eclipse the initial motivation to have implants? What if patients and physicians do not share ideas about scientific justification for implant removal? How have women been influenced in their decision making about implants and removal? Do women who want their implants removed differ in their analysis of risk from women who are satisfied with their implants? Who has a choice of what medical procedures a patient elects?
