Earlier this month an unusual story involving breast implants emerged. On a photo shoot for a Tel Aviv radio station, the model Orit Fox was posing for a scene with a boa snake. For unknown reasons, the snake unexpectantly bit one of her breasts. According to media reports, ‘ ‘All was going well until she tried to ramp up the sex factor by licking the snake. The move proved costly as she loosened her grip on the reptile, which went straight for the model’s left breast implant and latched onto it for several seconds before being pulled off by an assistant. Fox was rushed to a local hospital, where she was given a tetanus shot. The snake wasn’t so lucky and died of silicone poisoning.’
While the story has been sensationalized because the model had breast implants or supposedly induced the event because of her seductive behavior, the more interesting sidebars of the story revolve around the breast implants themselves. Let us assume, although we don’t know for sure, that she did have silicone breast implants. Although she may equally well have saline implants and it is presumptuous to absolutely assume that she has silicone implants.
Regardless of having saline or silicone breast augmentation, could a snake bite penetrate deep enough to actually reach the breast implant let alone penetrate its shell? The answer is no. Whether the implants are above (subglandular) or below the muscle (subpectoral), they lie at least one or several centimeters below the skin. Given that that boas do not have fangs, being a non-venomouns snake, their teeth are not long enough to do more than just go through the skin. With a layer of breast tissue between the skin and the implant, the snake did not bite into the implant.
Did the snake die of silicone poisoning as reported? While not be able to reach the implant, we know this did not happen. But let us assume, for the sake of entertainment, that the snake did manage to bite into a silicone breast implant. Would it die from ingesting a small amount of silicone gel? (and biting into it doesn’t mean any was actually ingested)
The concept of silicone poisoning is controversial and is not a real medical condition, at least not on an acute basis. There are have been hundred of studies and extensive research done on medical grade silicone, based on the intense historic debate surrounding silicone breast implants from the 1990s,that have shown it is nontoxic. Silicone is actually found in the body naturally in small amounts and is building block, silicon, is one of the elements in the periodic table. It is part of thousands of everyday products such as topical lotions, food and numerous implantable medical products. A human could take a bite of silicone gel and swallow it (not recommended) and one would not die or likely even become sick.
In reading one of the numerous media reports on this story, one reporter said…’you can’t make up this kind of stuff’. Apparently you can.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana