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Susan Kolb (born November 26, 1954) is a medical doctor in Atlanta, Georgia, and the author of The Naked Truth about Breast Implants: From Harm to Healing. [1] Her area of specialization is plastic and reconstructive surgery. Kolb is a medical authority on the complications arising from breast implants, and has been an active voice in the debate about the safety of breast implant devices since 1996. [2] She has treated over 2,000 women suffering from breast implant disease and related systemic immune disorders. [3]
Susan Kolb was born on November 26, 1954, in Havre de Grace, Maryland. She grew up with her parents, Doris and Gene Kolb, and an older brother, Charles Kolb. As a child, she read books on biology and genetics. [4] She graduated from Lawrence High School [5] in 1972 and attended Johns Hopkins University where she studied pre medicine. [6] She then joined the U. S. Air Force Reserves [7] and attended Washington University School of Medicine. [8] She was accepted at the University of Virginia for a surgical residency, but was called into service by the Air Force before this began. [9] She was deployed to Wilford Hall Medical Center, a 1,000-bed Air Force hospital at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. She completed a three-year course of general surgery, followed by a plastic surgery residency. [10] She served as the Chief of Plastic Surgery at Wright Patterson Air Force Base from 1984-88. She established a craniofacial board that helped manage children with facial deformities. She helped plan the surgical hospitals that would be later used in Desert Storm, especially as they pertained to burn care. [11]
She left the Air Force in 1988 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia [12] and joined a private medical practice. In 1990, she left her medical practice for six months to study spiritual medicine. [13] In 1995, she established Plastikos Surgery Center, where she used holistic treatment methods. [14] In 1998, she founded Millennium Healthcare to address a broader range of medical conditions. [15] In 1999, she established Avatar Cancer Center to treat cancer and serious viral illnesses. [16]
In 1996, Kolb wrote "Doctor, Are You Listening?", [17] an article outlining the symptoms of silicone implant disease. [18] The article was published on various Internet sites, and her practice became known to women seeking treatment for silicone-related conditions. Many women complained that their health concerns were often dismissed or denied by the other doctors. In 2010, she documented her treatment of women with breast implant disease in her book The Naked Truth about Implants: From Harm to Healing. [19] The book includes a detailed history of the implant controversy and a review of the major research into complications of breast implants. Dr. Douglas Shanklin, Emeritus Professor of Pathology, Laboratory Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, who along with Dr. David L. Smalley, published most of the pertinent research in silicone biochemistry, [20] [21] [22] wrote the foreword. The book outlines Kolb's treatment protocols and includes stories contributed by seven of her patients, as well as her own.
Kolb has been interviewed about her experience treating breast implant problems including chemical and biotoxicity on the Today Show with Katie Couric, Holistic Health Show with Dr. Carl Helvie, [23] and Inside Cosmetic Surgery Today with Barry Lycka. [24] She has been interviewed for articles about breast implants in Glamour Magazine, [25] People Magazine, [26] and in Vanity Insanity, a Canadian television documentary [27] She also appears as a medical expert on three episodes of Animal Planet's Monsters Inside Me ; in all three of her appearances, she treats a woman whose breast implants are contaminated with aspergillus fungi. [28]
She has lectured and published articles on other topics, including 21st century medicine, [29] spiritual medicine, [30] environmental toxicity [31] and the benefits of integrating science and spirituality in the practice of medical healing. [32] Kolb is also an author of an anthology [33] and a chapter on energy management. [34] Kolb has hosted the monthly Atlanta Community Group for Noetic Science since 1996.
Since 1998, Kolb has hosted a weekly radio show, The Temple of Health, [35] on BBS Radio. Kolb introduces a variety of medical topics related to traditional and holistic medicine, spiritual growth and fulfillment, scientific breakthroughs and various medical disorders. Her guests have included Dr. Bernie Siegel, Greg Braden, Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Amit Goswami. [36]
Kolb's position on breast implant disease and the severity of complications arising from breast implant disease is controversial within the medical establishment. While earlier research studies suggested that certain autoimmune conditions may be related to breast implants, later research resulted in no conclusive epidemiological connection. Many plastic surgeons do not believe that these conditions exist and their position is supported by the American Association of Plastic Surgeons and the United States Food and Drug Administration. After removing silicone breast implants from the market (except in restricted circumstances) in 1992, the FDA re-approved them for consumer sales in 2006 as the result of later research. Kolb has questioned the wisdom of this move and has suggested that corporate interests have taken precedence over public health. She asserts that more recent research studies are flawed for several reasons: the elevation of epidemiological evidence over other traditional methods of diagnosis, such as clinical observation and pathology; [48] breast implant manufacturers and plastic surgeons played a major role in designing and conducting the research; and the studies were conducted over a three to five-year period. [49] [50] Kolb associates the onset of symptoms of breast implant disease with the breakdown of the implants' elastomer shell which contains the silicone gel, which typically occurs between eight and twelve years after implantation.
Oxygen True Crime has investigated Dr. Kolb and published their results at https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/susan-kolb-plastic-surgeon-sued-for-misconduct. [51]
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction, or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery covers a wide range of specialties, including craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns. This category of surgery focuses on restoring a body part or improving its function. In contrast, cosmetic surgery focuses solely on improving the physical appearance of the body. A comprehensive definition of plastic surgery has never been established, because it has no distinct anatomical object and thus overlaps with practically all other surgical specialties. An essential feature of plastic surgery is that it involves the treatment of conditions that require or may require tissue relocation skills.
Mammaplasty refers to a group of surgical procedures, the goal of which is to reshape or otherwise modify the appearance of the breast. There are three main types of mammoplasty:
Tissue expansion is a technique used by plastic, maxillofacial and reconstructive surgeons to cause the body to grow additional skin, bone, or other tissues. Other biological phenomena such as tissue inflammation can also be considered expansion.
Breast augmentation and augmentation mammoplasty is a cosmetic surgery procedure, which uses breast-implants and/ or fat-graft mammoplasty technique to increase the size, change the shape, and alter the texture of the breasts. Although in some cases augmentation mammoplasty is applied to correct congenital defects of the breasts and the chest wall in other cases it is performed purely for cosmetic reasons.
Dow Corning Corporation, was an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States, and was originally established as a joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and Corning Incorporated. In 2016, Dow bought out Corning, making Dow Corning a 100% Dow subsidiary. After a brief existence as a DowDuPont-owned company, Dow spun out from DowDuPont on April 1, 2019. The new company, Dow Silicones Corporation, which is wholly owned by Dow, specializes in silicone and silicon-based technology, and is the largest silicone product producer in the world.
David Aaron Kessler is an American pediatrician, attorney, author, and administrator serving as Chief Science Officer of the White House COVID-19 Response Team since 2021. Kessler was the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from November 8, 1990, to February 28, 1997. He co-chaired the Biden-Harris transition’s COVID-19 Advisory Board from November 2020 to January 2021 and was the head of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government program to accelerate the development of COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments, from January to February 2021.
Breast Men is a 1997 American, semibiographical, dark comedy drama film; it was written by John Stockwell and directed by Lawrence O'Neil for HBO.
Capsular contracture is a response of the immune system to foreign materials in the human body. Medically, it occurs mostly in context of the complications from breast implants and artificial joint prosthetics.
A breast implant is a prosthesis used to change the size, shape, and contour of a person's breast. In reconstructive plastic surgery, breast implants can be placed to restore a natural looking breast following a mastectomy, to correct congenital defects and deformities of the chest wall or, cosmetically, to enlarge the appearance of the breast through breast augmentation surgery.
G. Patrick Maxwell is a plastic surgeon and an assistant clinical professor of surgery at Vanderbilt University, based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Diana M. Zuckerman is an American health policy analyst who focuses on the implications of policies for public health and patients' health. She specializes in national health policy, particularly in women's health and the safety and effectiveness of medical products. She is the President of the National Center for Health Research and the Cancer Prevention and Treatment Fund.
Robert Ira Lewy is an American doctor who has conducted research on aspirin therapy in heart disease and safety in recipients of silicone breast implants. During the 1990s, he was one of several doctors who played an active role in litigation against breast implant manufacturers.
Silicone granulomas are a skin condition that occur as a reaction to liquid silicones, and are characterized by the formation of nodules.
Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) was a French company founded in 1991 that produced silicone gel breast implants. The company was preemptively liquidated in 2010 following the revelation that they had been illegally manufacturing and selling breast implants made from cheaper industrial-grade silicone since 2001.
Stuart Linder is an American plastic surgeon and writer. He is known for his appearances on several reality and news television shows.
Ted Eisenberg D.O. is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based plastic surgeon who specializes in cosmetic breast surgery. He holds a Guinness World Record for the most breast augmentation surgeries performed in a lifetime (male)— 3460.
Jennifer Lee Walden is an American plastic surgeon, author, and entrepreneur. She is one of the first doctors to use laser machines to do a "a high volume of labiaplasties and vaginoplasties." Harper’s Bazaar listed Walden as one of the Best Beauty Surgeons in 2014. Walden is a member of Modern Aesthetics’ and Plastic Surgery Practice’s editorial board of Directors, and one of the few women to be elected to serve on the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Board of Directors. She became the first female president of The Aesthetic Society in 2022.
Cosmetic surgery, also referred to as aesthetic surgery, is a surgical procedure which endeavours to improve the physical aspects of one's appearance to become more aesthetically pleasing. The continuously growing field of cosmetic surgery is closely linked with plastic surgery, the difference being, cosmetic surgery is an elective surgery with the sole purpose to enhance the physical features of one's appearance. Plastic surgery is performed in order to rectify defects to reinstate normality to function and appearance. Cosmetic surgical procedures are generally performed on healthy functioning body parts, with the procedure being optional not medically necessary. The inevitable aim of cosmetic surgery is to enhance one's image, encompassing reducing the signs of aging and/or correction of a believed deviation on one's body in turn it is surrounded by controversy. Although the implementation of cosmetic surgery within Australian society is growing, the trade has struggled to find its place within the Australian culture.
Esther Rachel Rome was an American women's health activist and writer. She was part of group of 12 women who co-founded the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, and wrote a widely published book called Women and Their Bodies that was updated and expanded over time. Rome successfully campaigned at grassroots levels at getting standardized absorbency ratings onto tampons, and was a consumer representative for the Food and Drug Administration in bringing about a partial moratorium on silicone-gel breast implants in 1992. Before her death, she was co-authoring a book on women's health issues in relation to her wish to accommodate their partners in a close relationship. Rome was one of 12 women memorialized by the Women's Community Cancer Project of the Women's Center of Cambridge in 1998.
Gladys Louise McGarey was an American holistic physician and medical activist. Over her career, McGarey promoted better childbirth practices, holistic medicine, and acupuncture through her medical practice, speeches, and books. She co-founded the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978 and served as its president. She also co-founded the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine, and she served as president of the Arizona Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners.
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