FDA to Reconsider Breast Implant Ban

cat fight

Next week, the debate again will pit woman against woman, patients who say the implants caused lasting scars versus others who say the silicone-gel versions look and feel more natural than saline implants. The FDA has set aside an entire extended day - from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Monday - to hear from the public.

"I'm 23 years old and I'm in bed most days almost all day," says Shannon Scott of Lakeside, Calif., who developed severely painful scar tissue a year after receiving her 2002 breast implants. Uninsured and on disability, she says she cannot afford to have them removed - and she will tell the FDA committee that her surgeon never reported her complaints so that researchers could properly count side effects in implant studies.

On the other side is Kerri Branson of North Aurora, Ill., who first received silicone-gel implants in 1990 and was so pleased with them that she got a second set last summer to firm up breasts sagging from breastfeeding the four children she had in the interim.

"I've never ever regretted my choice," Branson said. "I wish that other women could feel as great as I do."