UPDATE: Here is a link to the broadcast as aired in case you missed it: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/2022/08/10/430427/how-houston-played-a-big-part-in-the-history-of-breast-augmentation/
HOUSTON, TEXAS: Wednesday, August 10, 2022- ARIEL WORTHY
HEALTH & SCIENCE
How Houston played a big part in the history of breast augmentation
Dr. Franklin Rose, a renowned plastic surgeon in Houston, Texas who has personally performed over 5,000 breast augmentations was recently featured with public media broadcast journalist Craig Cohen, discussing the history of the breast implant, founded in Houston in the 1980s.
Breast augmentation began here in Houston and the city has long been a destination for the surgery.
ICYMI – In Case You Missed It: Plastic surgeon Dr. Franklin Rose recalls the role he played in pioneering breast implant surgery and how that made Houston a mecca for the procedure on Houston Public Radio 88.7
Houston has been a destination city for industries like energy, engineering, and architecture.
But the city has a unique history surrounding breast augmentation. Dr. Franklin Rose has a long history of performing and evolving the procedure since the 1980s.
The procedure evolved in Houston in the 1960s when two of Rose’s former professors, Dr. Thomas Cronin and Dr. Frank Gerow, worked together.
“It started when Dr. Gerow was Dr. Cronin’s resident. At those times interns would hang plastic blood bags for transfusions and Dr. Gerow had the idea that maybe we could form something in this sort of fashion for breast implants, breast augmentation,” Rose told Craig Cohen on Wednesday’s Houston Matters.
The surgery quickly became popular after its invention, Rose said.
“Once the first silicone gel implants were placed, it was thought to be quite safe, and Houston was the birthplace of the breast implant,” he said. “And even today more breast implants are being done per capita in Houston than anywhere in the world.”
Rose said the surgery is performed for a variety of reasons, including post-partum, post-mastectomy, and for people who were never born with breast tissue.
Some people who have gotten breast augmentation have complained of other health problems like fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, and hair loss.
“Things not dissimilar to so-called long-COVID,” Rose said. “It’s hard to establish precise causes [for complications].”
But Rose said such complications are also a rarity in his practice.
Houston has remained a destination for breast augmentation since the 1980s, something Rose said is not surprising, especially with a renowned medical center.
“Breast augmentation is popular in sunbelt cities, like Los Angeles, Miami,” he said. “Not as popular in places like Chicago, New York. So it’s not just Houston.”
Houston Matters is a radio program airing weekdays at 9 am on NPR – Houston Public Media News 88.7 FM in Houston.
Every patient in Houston (the Birthplace of the breast implant,) with breast implants 10 years or older may want a professional evaluation by renowned plastic surgeon Franklin A. Rose, M.D. who has experience with thousands and thousands of breast implants.
Professional courtesy of aging breast implant evaluations through August – Please contact us at (713) 622-2277 to schedule your office visit.
