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

The claim references an instance in where a woman was shot and fortunately survived due to the silicone breast implants in her chest. While there is truth in the fact that the woman was able to survive due to her silicone breast implants, it is not safe to state that silicone breast implants are bulletproof, as the claim can be very misleading due to the fact that silicone itself is not bulletproof.

In a study published by the National Library of Medicine, it is stated that "The impact of a gunshot is tied to a bullet's path and placement within the body.12 The extent of the resulting trauma is influenced by multiple factors, one of which being the physical characteristics of the tissue that has been penetrated.12 Thus, if there is some sort of barrier (eg, bone or implant) to slow or deflect a bullet, it may serve as a protective factor." This means that while the bullet was affected by the silicone and different parts of the patients body, the silicone itself within the breast implant is not bulletproof

In a YouTube video posted by TAOFLEDERMAUS, a test is conducted where different  rounds of bullet are shot at a standard silicone breast.  in the video we can see that silicone breast implants do affect that trajectory and impact, it is negligible at best so they are in fact NOT bulletproof,


sources
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9949879/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHn3RPdGIg

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The claim that "silicone in breast implants are bulletproof" is misleading and not entirely true. 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 woman's breast implant caught the bullet and saved her life. proving 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. It is important to note that SAGE has received funding from the FACS board of plastic surgeons. The rest of the article mainly talks about the medical technicalities. Along with how the woman's other injuries and how she's doing. All in all, people shouldn't think that getting and having silicone in breast implants will protect you from bullets.

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I completely agree; saying silicone implants are ‘bulletproof’ is a huge stretch. The original article makes it sound like they function like body armor when they might slow a bullet slightly in rare cases. The experiment by Dr. Adams is a great example—it shows that implants reduce penetration depth but don’t stop bullets. It’s wild how often headlines twist scientific findings into something dramatic. Did you find any cases where an implant prevented serious injury, or is it mostly just altering trajectory?

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The statement that “silicone breast implants are bulletproof” is incorrect and misleading. While there is one unusual case where an implant may have altered the trajectory of a bullet, this does not mean that breast implants are a reliable form of protection. As Dr. Adams points out, while implants might offer a very minor level of protection in rare scenarios, they are not designed to stop bullets or prevent serious injury.
Dr. Adams' Blog discussing the effects of breast implants on bullet penetration: Can a breast implant stop a bullet?
CNN Article covering the case where an implant may have deflected a bullet: CNN Article on Implants and Bullet Deflection

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Your claim is interesting, but I think the wording might be a bit misleading. The CNN article states that the silicone implant *deflected* the bullet, not that it made the woman completely bulletproof. There's a big difference between an implant altering a bullet’s trajectory and it actually stopping a bullet like a Kevlar vest would. Did you come across any additional studies or expert opinions on how silicone behaves under gunfire? It would be helpful to see whether this was a rare case or if silicone implants have a consistent ability to redirect bullets.

Answer 1

The claim that “Silicone in breast implants are bulletproof”, made by the user under the name “Collegekid” is not only exaggerating the article used as a source, but also deceptive. The quote used from the source to back up the users original point says that the silicone implant the Toronto woman had when she got shot “deflected the bullet’s trajectory”. This doesn’t say the silicone was bulletproof, only that it made the bullet go a slightly different trajectory due to the implant. There is some truth in the fact that the silicone implant altered where the bullet was supposed to go, making it not hit any vital organs. However, the silicone implant itself isn't bulletproof, because if it was, the bullet wouldn’t have been able to penetrate and go straight through the implant. Additionally, in the same source the user used, surgeon Giancarlo McEvenue says “The implant caused the change in the trajectory of the bullet”(CNN) not that the bullet was stopped or absorbed by the implant. The surgeon also goes into detail about how the bullet entered the woman's body and where it ended up, explaining that the bullet went through one breast, “ricocheting” into another, meaning that the implant did change where the bullet was intended to go but again, didn’t stop the bullet. In all, the user took one piece of evidence they found from this source and came up with their own explanation, that the silicone implant must have been bulletproof. However, after further research, you can clearly see the user exaggerated what the quote said in the source.

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