Silicone in breast implants are bulletproof

Question

"Doctors noted that the silicone implant was likely responsible for deflecting the bullet’s trajectory – ultimately saving the woman’s life."

- CNN

Comments

Hello! This quote does show that a woman's implants saved her from a bullet to the chest. With that being said, that does not mean that implants are bulletproof, across the board, for everyone. Clarify that more next time. Great work overall!

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I think their argument misapplies the quote from the CNN story. Although a breast implant might have prevented a bullet in a particular case, this does not imply that all implants are impervious to bullets. After looking into the article you cited, I discovered that although it may imply that breast implants may lessen a bullet's penetration, it is deceptive to say that all implants are impregnable. This would suggest that all implants are bulletproof, which is obviously untrue.

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The student's article is a news article that talks more about the incident and less about implants being bulletproof. This shooting incident is also one of a few incidents that were recorded that saved a patient's life; there is not much information to go off to say breast implants are bulletproof. According to the National Library of Medicine, “The impact of a gunshot is tied to a bullet's path and placement within the body.” Due to the placement of the bullet, the patient took less damage, but if the trajectory of the bullet was different, it could have been life-threatening. The National Library of Medicine also states, “Pannucci et al evaluated the potential protective benefit of breast implants by measuring penetration distance into ballistics gel after gunshot passage through a saline implant, revealing a 20.6% decrease in penetration compared with that seen with no implant”. Having saline breast implants can lessen the chances of penetration, but that does not mean that breast implants are bulletproof. The student’s statement is exaggerated.

Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9949879/

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Shown from these 2 articles the breast implants do slow down bullets on impact and also in some ways can save lives. But that doesn't mean they are bulletproof. Said at the bottom of the Dr. Adams.com article “Let’s say that the average human chest cavity is 6” deep. This means if you had breast implants and were shot with a handgun, the bullet would only go 5” deep into your chest cavity.” This reinforces the fact that they can help to slow down a bullet but that doesn't make them bulletproof.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/21/americas/breast-implant-bullet-wound-wellness-intl-scli/index.html
https://www.dr-adams.com/blog/can-a-breast-implant-stop-a-bullet/

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The claim that "silicone in breast implants are bulletproof" is very misleading and false. The link to the article is from CNN and the actual headline for that article is "Woman’s breast implant deflects bullet, saving her life".
So technically, the womans breast implant caught the bullet and saved her life. Saying that silicone in breast implants is bulletproof isn't true because it happened by chance that the woman's breast implant caught the bullet and prevented further injuries. The article says that SAGE medical journal published a study that said the breast implant deflected the bullet away from the 30 year old woman's vital organs. The rest of the article mainly talks about the medical part and the woman's other injuries and how she's doing. All in all, people shouldn't go in with the fact thinking that getting and having silicone in breast implants will therefore protect you from bullets.

Answer 1

This is false. If you actually read the article they use to back up their claim CNN never claims that breast implants are bulletproof however, the article as well as the SAGE medical journal says, “The implant caused the change in the trajectory of the bullet" missing her vital organs but still hitting her ribs, leaving her with broken ribs and broken implants. According to the National Library of Medicine, the implants can change the trajectory as well as cause a decrease in penetration of the bullet. So, while silicone implants add an extra layer of protection they are not bullet proof. 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2513826X19898821 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/21/americas/breast-implant-bullet-wound-wellness-intl-scli/index.html 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9949879/ 

Answer 2

This claim is exaggerated and misleading. The CNN article does not say that breast implants are bulletproof. The article does say, “The implant caused the change in the trajectory of the bullet,” - surgeon McEvenue. Breast implants are not reliable enough to be considered fully bulletproof. The implant helped to save the women but other factors are not mentioned which decreases the reliability of this claim. Breast implants might decrease the impact but they should not be considered bulletproof. A breast implant surgeon reported on this idea and claimed that in most cases a breast implant will not be enough to save a life. 

Answer 3

To determine the truth or falsehood behind the claim, "silicone in breast implants are bulletproof" I first referenced the primary source article linked with the original claim, a 2020 CNN article titled, "Woman's breast implant deflects bullet, saving her life" by Amy Woodyatt. Prior to reading the article in its entirety, I looked into Woodyatt's background and was able to find her website with a brief autobiographical description on the "About" page. Given her, as described, experience, "[working] as a journalist, producer and fixer for clients including CNN, The New York Times, The Red Bulletin and Foreign Policy" (Woodyatt), I feel fairly comfortable that Woodyatt would have no underlying motivations to report on this story - presented in the primary source - with any form of bias. She also includes multiple direct quotations from the surgeon who completed the woman's operation, Dr. Ginacarlo McEvenue who states that, "...[one] of only a handful of instances recorded in medical literature where a breast implant played a role in saving a patient's life, and the first recorded instance of a silicone implant doing so..." (McEvenue, 2020). 

In the article, Woodyatt makes a direct reference to a case study in SAGE Medical Journal, where "...doctors described how a silicone breast implant deflected a bullet away from a 30-year-old woman's vital organs" (Woodyatt, 2020). By clicking on the provided embedded link in the CNN article, I was able to confirm that the entry was in fact included in the Plastic Surgery Case Studies section of SAGE Medical Journal. However, their description of the event uses a slight change in word I feel is crucial to emphasize, "[here], we report of a 30-year-old female patient with ballistic injury to bilateral breast implants, where the silicone implant was likely responsible for deflecting the bullets trajectory..." (SAGE Medical Journal, 2020). 

I then took to Google and after typing in "silicone breast implants are bullet proof" I was able to find a National Institute of Health (NIH) article that addressed the same story, titled "Breast Implants Save Lives: Gunshot Wound to Silicone Gel Implant". The authors explain that concept of how a bullet travels upon being ejected from the barrel of a gun and entering the victim's body, specifically the factors at play that determine its final destination. The article states that, "[the] extent of resulting trauma is influenced by multiple factors, one of which being the physical characteristics of the tissue that has been penetrated. Thus, if there is some sort of barrier ... to slow or deflect a bullet, it may serve as a protective factor" (NIH, 2023).

Therefore, I feel confident in confirming that silicone breast implants have the potential to save lives given their ability to divert a bullet and potentially avoid fatality. However, the claim that "silicone in breast implants are bulletproof" suggests that they will always save a gunshot victim's life, which simply hasn't been proven, and leads me to mark this claim as exaggerated/misleading.