I’m going to start off by saying I’m very sore from exercising for the first time in a month. I went for a 6.7-mile run and hiked up a local park called East Rock after trying on this beautiful new pair of leggings and deciding I could look much better in them if I toned up my legs and butt more.

Exercise is great and all, but what if I wanted to take a more painful and expensive shortcut to getting a nice butt with butt implants? Do I have anything to worry about? Are there any horror stories that will deter me from my lazy idea?

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Ok so I just looked up “butt implants botched” and —

CEMENT. AND SUPER GLUE.

I don’t know about you, but those don’t sound like biomaterials to me. So what happens when you put stuff in your butt, or your body in general? In the case of butt implants, capsular contracture can occur, in which scar tissue forms around implants and basically makes your butt rock hard. Here’s the exact breakdown of the biomaterial-tissue interaction:

1. Implantation: when the implant is placed into the body, the area of interest immediately undergoes wound-induced inflammation.The immediate response is activation of the JNK signaling pathway (c-Jun N-terminal kinase), where activated epithelial cells release growth factors and DAMPs (danger-associated molecular patterns) and platelets and fibrin form a clot to stop blood flow.
2. Inflammatory response: the release of cytokines recruit leukocytes to the wound area, which in turn release growth factors and ROS (reactive oxygen species) for cell proliferation. The recruited leukocytes (neutrophils, macrophages, mast cells) attack bacterial pathogens. Protein adsorption by IgG, C3, fibrinogen, and plasminogen occurs at the biomaterial surface, which provides a basis on which neutrophils and monocytes can bind. Monocytes differentiate into macrophages.
3. Matrix deposition: as macrophages fuse to become foreign body giant cells (FBGCs), fibroblasts create collagen and metalloproteinase activity is decreased, which decreases collagen degradation. As a result, fibrous encapsulation, or fibrosis, occurs.

And that’s how you get a rock-hard butt!

Jokes aside, fibrous encapsulation is a serious issue plastic surgeons have to address in operation. They have to take care to minimize the risk of infection and contamination, popularly by using antibiotics to flush out the pocket in which the implant is being inserted and by properly shielding the incision area during implantation so the implant is not contaminated at the skin interface.

This sounds like a lot of work, so I’ll just do my squats and leg exercises as usual. Feel free to join me in the gym.

 

sources: 
BENG 435 Biomaterial-Tissue Interactions
theplasticsurgerychannel.com
drjhall.com