Calf Implants
The Truth about Calf Implants
Yet another evolution in plastic surgery is the advent of calf implants. It seems now as if every feature of the human body can be re-sculpted. Soon perhaps we won’t have to go to Florence to see Michelangelo’s perfectly chiseled human form; we can just eye it on the street during our morning walk. All one needs, it seems, to achieve perfection is a good credit line, the willingness to go under the knife, and the fortitude to suffer temporary discomfort during the healing process.
If this sounds too good to be true, perhaps it is. After all, as the old saying goes, there is no such thing as a routine surgery.
Why Calf Implants?
Like breast implants, there are really no medical reasons for getting calf implants. The procedure is purely cosmetic. In fact, like breast implants, calf implants are also silicone. Because the procedure is relatively new, it is unclear what the long-term effects of these implants will be. Although a remote possibly because of advances in the silicone implant industry, we could see the same sorts of problems with cancer as there were for women who were the early adopters of breast implants.
The Creation of a “Problem”
As with all other regions of the cosmetic industry, cosmetic surgery for the legs purports to solve a problem. In fact, however, often this “problem” is one that the cosmetic industry has created. Like the need to remain odor free the entire day or the notion that your nose should be just so in proportion to your face, the cosmetic surgery industry would like you to believe that your legs too should be perfectly proportioned.
On cosmetic surgery sites, they will claim that a cosmetic surgeon can help you to find a tastefully full shape to your calves that doesn’t overdo it. They will claim that you have several choices of silicone implants and that there is one that is “just right” for your body’s shape. All of this, of course, is meant to give you a sense of control over a process that is largely the province of the surgeon.
Counter-Indications
Cosmetic sites will spend a great deal of time describing the milder and routine aspects of calf implantation surgery. You might find three to four paragraphs on the slight discomfort of the anesthetic line you will receive and a couple of other paragraphs on the safety precautions used to prevent infection after the surgery.
These sites, however, will pay much less lip service to the possible complications that are possible during any surgery. They may mention, for example, that many cosmetic surgeons don’t like calf implantation surgery because they fear that an active life style may displace the implants and lead to infection later on, but these sites will usually claim that this reluctance is due to the lack of expertise of these cautious surgeons. They will claim that displacement will only occur if you receive a severe bone-crunching blow. However, it is unclear how they know this since calf implantations have only recently become popular and researchers are yet to conduct longitudinal studies to determine long-term health effects.
Furthermore, cosmetic surgery sites will typically list possible complications that may result from surgery in one, deeply buried line of technical jargon like: “complications, in rare cases, may include hematoma, infection, asymmetry, or seroma.” This further serves to mask the real risks because terms like “hematoma” and “seroma” are not widely known outside of the medical community and because in listing them in this perfunctory fashion they imply that complications are not a relevant issue.
However, these issues can become serious and even minor surgeries can lead to infections. Furthermore, because it is difficult for an individual to remain inactive for the two to three week healing period, the chance of possible complications and infections increase.
For this reason, one should be weary of any surgery but especially of unnecessary cosmetic surgery. If one does not like the shape of one’s calves, the much more healthy and in the long term more effective method of changing this condition is through exercise that targets the calves and a healthy diet. Just because one has “chicken legs,” one need not turn to surgery as a solution.