Health Risks Associated with Breast Augmentation [Interview][Transcript]
Guest: Dr. Kenneth Hansraj
Presenter: Neal Howard
Guest Bio: Kenneth K. Hansraj, M.D. is Chief of Spine Surgery at New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine and the author of the internationally bestselling book, Keys to an Amazing Life: Secrets of the Cervical Spine. Dr. Hansraj is also the author of Bloodless Spine Surgery: Pictures and Explanations.
Segment overview: Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, Chief of Spine Surgery at New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine, discusses the hidden costs and health risks associated with breast augmentation.
Transcription
Health Professional Radio – Health Risks Associated with Breast Augmentation
Neal Howard: Hello and welcome to Health Professional Radio. I’m your host Neal Howard, thank you so much for joining us on the program today. Our guest in studio is Dr. Ken Hansraj, Chief of Spine Surgery at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine. And he’s here today to talk with us about some of the hidden health costs associated with breast augmentation. Welcome to Health Professional Radio Dr. Ken.
Dr. Ken Hansraj: Thank you Neal, how are you?
N: I’m doing well, great.
H: Very well, it’s nice to be with you.
N: You are the Chief of Spine Surgery at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine. In your many years of doing work on the spine, what type of problems have you found that are associated with weight?
H: As a spine surgeon, more and more I’ve been interested in helping people everywhere and helping understand the factors that derived from the body into the spine and generates great function and great results. And so weight, the forces on the weight around the body becomes very important. As you know we did this great study, I think it’s a great study, it’s a landmark study, no one’s done it before, where we studied the impact of breast size which is really the weight, the weight and the size comes together and from that number using finite element assessments, we’re able to generate the forces seen by the spine. Now no one really knows their breast weight which is a mathematical number but they know their size like a 36A or 36B and so the study showed, again that the 36A would be about 15 lbs. of force while a 36D is about 30 lbs. of force all the way to about 36N is about 110 lbs. of force that the spine sees. So it’s a tremendous amount of forces they carry around. Let me really expound on it, so let’s say someone, some woman that we love dearly has a 36D chest size and that’s about 30 lbs. of stress, every time she is up and around especially if she’s unsupported with a bra. Now let’s say just for kicks, just to throw numbers, 8 hours a day unsupported, it’s about 3,000 hours a year times 365, so 3,000 hours a year unsupported times 30 lbs., so it’s about 90,000 lbs. of stress that the woman carries in that unsupported time and if you go to the larger sizes like a 36N then it could be 3x that, 4x that.
N: And this is over the course, not necessarily a lifetime or is it a number of years or are we talking throughout the life?
H: Well it’s so a yearly amount of stress that the spine could see can quickly be 90,000 – 250,000 lbs. of stress, incredible amount of stress.
N: Are these factors what are causing some women to become hunched over and you think maybe it’s osteoporosis or something like that when it’s actually either naturally large breasts or having opted to have them augmented to I guess maybe a size that’s too large?
H: So Neal the problem becomes a bit complicated as a woman becomes older as she lose the menstrual period then the bones become weaker, let’s say 45, 50 right? So as the bones become weaker and if then you have less carrying force of the bones and so the stress becomes even more detrimental to the bone itself.
N: Is this being communicated to women prior to them opting to have augmentation surgery and if not, why not?
H: This is the first time the numbers are available where a woman can look on our charts and say “Hey, I’m a 36A and that’s 15 lbs.” or “36D that’s 30 lbs. of force” or “36N a 110 lbs.” and as you’re inferring so brilliantly Neal women have to choose so very carefully when they’re upsizing and you go to your plastic surgeon you say “Hey, I’d like a 36DDD” or maybe a 36DD or 36D may make better sense because our research shows that an average upsizing a cup maybe about 10 lbs. of force more.
N: Being the first to conduct this study, going forward what do you think is the best way to start having this information disseminated on a regular basis to plastic surgeons so that women can be advised as to the stress that they’re putting on their spines, something that they may not consider?
H: The plastic surgeons are now becoming aware, we’ve reached out to the societies. The Plastic Surgery Society’s making them aware that we’ve done this study and so now they’re becoming aware. Mind you the study is just about a month published, so it’s a brand new study.
N: You’re the Author of two books that I’m aware of, Keys to an Amazing Life: Secrets of the Cervical Spine and also Bloodless Spine Surgery: Pictures and Explanations. Talk about Keys to an Amazing Life, are we focused on overall spine health?
H: So Keys to an Amazing Life was my effort, it is my effort to educate and begin a conversation with the general public and so there are studies, for example the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded a global study where they showed that the number one disability in all countries, essentially on the planet is back pain and the number 4 Neal is neck pain. And Keys to an Amazing Life is a unique book in that it shows people all of the simple strategies that are available to them, in their hands day to day without ever sitting down with a spinal surgeon or a spinal mind, there’re so many options that they have available to them.
N: Obviously all options aren’t great for all folks. Are there I guess a group of options that work well for a specific group of women over all or is it all the time 100% each individual patient?
H: So human beings, we’re all different in personalities and emotions and expressions and DNA but the options are really the same to help all people. There’re group of options that would help all people, everywhere, every day.
N: Where can our listeners get more information about you and Keys to an Amazing Life and also Bloodless Spine Surgery?
H: These books are available in amazon.com, my website, my new website is called realspinesurgery.com and all of these information is also available but certainly amazon.com carries my books.
N: You’ve been listening to Health Professional Radio, I’m your host Neal Howard. We’ve been in studio this afternoon talking with Dr. Ken Hansraj, Chief of Spine Surgery at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine and also the Author of internationally best-selling book, Keys to an Amazing Life: Secrets of the Cervical Spine and Bloodless Spine Surgery: Pictures and Explanations. Transcripts and audio of this program are available at healthprofessionalradio.com.au and also at hpr.fm and you can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes.