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American Morning

Interview with Joan Kron

Aired August 29, 2002 - 07:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There have been years of horror stories and a Food and Drug Administration ban, but silicone apparently is making a comeback. It's a new kind of silicone approved by the FDA for retinal surgery. It's reportedly being used by cosmetic surgeons for other procedures, some with disastrous results.
"Allure" magazine investigated the growing problem, and editor- at-large, Joan Kron, is here with us right now.

Joan, good morning.

JOAN KRON, "ALLURE": Good morning.

KAGAN: Silicone, I thought the stuff went away a long time ago.

KRON: Well, it's never gone away. It's been banned for 10 years by the FDA, but it is back in a FDA-approved trial of a very, very pure silicone that is expressly used for wrinkles. And it's in trials now.

KAGAN: And so, if you're going to the right kind of doctor, what -- I'm not talking about eye surgery, what kind of cosmetic things, specifically what are people using it for?

KRON: What are they using it for? They are using it to fill out acne scars and wrinkles, especially wrinkles here, perhaps in the lips and little imperfections from little pockmarks.

KAGAN: I mean, it sounds like a miracle -- not a miracle, but like a wonderful beauty treatment, but there are problems with it. What happens when things go wrong?

KRON: Well, silicone is one of those things. It's like the little girl in the nursery rhyme, "when it's good, it's very good, and when it's bad, it's horrid." The only problem is nobody knows why it goes bad on some people.

KAGAN: They're not really sure.

KRON: And in the past, it has caused problems, but because we don't know how many people have ever had silicone injections, and we don't know how many complications there have been, we don't know the percentage of complications, which we do know on most other procedures.

KAGAN: We do have some pictures, and if you're eating breakfast out there, we're going to make this fast, so just hang with us. Look at your monitor. This is a lip and, oh, an eye (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

KRON: Well, I want to make this very clear.

KAGAN: OK.

KRON: There are all different kinds of silicone, and so these pictures that we are seeing were from unlicensed practitioners...

KAGAN: Well, see, that's the thing.

KRON: ... who bring silicone in from out of the country, and we don't know if it's pure or impure.

So when you talk about silicone, it's not just one thing. It can be a pure silicone, that's in the trial today. Or it can be something that's been made, we don't know where, and perhaps contaminated and perhaps the people who are giving it don't have good sanitary conditions.

So these are all of the issues that surround silicone, which makes it such a complicated subject.

KAGAN: Because some people are going to their doctors and doing it, and some people are going into hotel rooms and back alleys to have it done. Why, because it's cheap?

KRON: Oh, yes, I have heard of models and their friends lining up at hotel rooms in New York and Miami and L.A. and having a lady, who comes up from South America. And she says -- she calls ahead and says, "I'll be there." And they all get their friends, and they have silicone injections. And the next day, somebody will call a real dermatologist and say, what have I done? I've had silicone, and...

KAGAN: Well, and the big problem is, one, it can shift, as we saw in those pictures, and you don't know when or why it might shift. And not just to be disfiguring, but it can also shift to other parts in the body and be very dangerous. It can kill you.

KRON: Well, the shifting can -- the drifting is when it's put in in very large quantities. And when good doctors use good silicone, they put it in in small quantities, and they do a little drop at a time, and you have to come back four or five times. But then...

KAGAN: It's expensive.

KRON: ... it's supposedly permanent. But when you have anything that's permanent, if it goes wrong, then you have a permanent problem.

KAGAN: Absolutely. More about it in your magazine, in "Allure" magazine, in the September issue.

KRON: Yes.

KAGAN: We will look for it. Scary stuff. Read it before you go for any of these procedures, that's all I can say.

Joan Kron from "Allure," thank you so much.

KRON: Thank you.

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