Why do fitness models get implants

Alan Durkin is a go-to plastic surgeon for breast augmentation. Since starting Ocean Drive Plastic Surgery in Vero Beach, Florida in , he has performed over 1, breast augmentation procedures, upwards of 15 percent of which were for fitness professionals.

Some women have traveled from as far away as California for his services. For competitors, Durkin offers a technique primarily seen in breast reconstruction, where the silicone implant is wrapped in biological mesh made from decellularized cadaveric skin.

The body recognizes the material as natural, accepts it, and blood vessels grow into it. The implant effectively becomes an extension of the muscle, a sort of internal bra. This type of mesh stabilizes the implant and prevents it from sagging as rapidly as traditional silicone. Durkin says 70 percent of competitors pay with credit and incur long term loan payments for their surgery. They all have them.

It's market-driven. This specialized procedure, which isn't as popular among the general public, tends to look best when wearing a bikini, like the ones worn on stage. Although breast implants are prevalent in both IFBB professionals and NPC amateurs, there is increased pressure for NPC competitors to undergo breast augmentation to increase their chances of getting their pro card. It's very hard to do well in Bikini without them. Since its debut in , the Bikini division has ballooned to dominate the other divisions in terms of participants.

At the IFBB Bikini International, professionals entered the Bikini division, nearly double that of the other four divisions combined.

On the amateur level, at the USA Championships, Bikini competitors qualified to compete, with women filling the other divisions. This doesn't take into account the thousands of regional amateurs who don't qualify for national events, with some local contests being extremely lopsided.

Only two women entered Bodybuilding and six in Physique. According to their current media kit, the "…Women's Bikini [division] has launched the NPC into the mainstream. Our NPC competitors in [this division] can be seen in national magazines, ad campaigns, etc.

Needless to say, the amateur market has become oversaturated. Breast implants have become even more of a necessity to stand out among fellow competitors, and they are the most reliable advantage a competitor can have when trying to become professional.

At the IFBB Bikini International, it is rumored that the majority of the women who placed in the top 10 had breast implants. When surveyed, only one competitor, Yeshaira Robles, confirmed that she has not undergone breast augmentation. It takes less time to achieve a successful Bikini physique, too.

Likewise, four of the six women who earned their Bikini pro card at that event had been competing less than a year. These stories of going pro quick and the subsequent sponsorships and media coverage , have fueled the Bikini division's explosion in popularity. But with direct bias towards women with breast implants, these idealistic competitors are soon faced with the harsh realities of what is needed to succeed in this industry. It all started at the Ms. Olympia contest.

In Women of Steel , Lowe outlines how the contest was the hidden catalyst for the ensuing change in judging criteria concerning femininity. Then-IFBB president Ben Weider allegedly wrote a note to the head judge stating: "Under no circumstances shall Bev Francis win this contest," after he saw that Francis was ahead of more traditionally feminine competitor Lenda Murray after the first two rounds.

In the end, Murray, who underwent breast augmentation in , won her first Ms. Olympia the same year, and held the title through , edging out Francis by one point. Olympia," Murray says. To the trained eye, breasts should compliment the body and be present within reason.

In a similar instance of contest fixing, at the Mr. Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger took the title despite Sergio Oliva, a black Cuban, being the largest and most muscular on stage. I put Arnold on the cover, I sell 3x magazines.

Conflict of interest still exists today. His son, J. Manion, owns JM Management, a fitness athlete management company. These athletes compete in the contests that his father judges, and J.

This same year [], arguably the best Figure competitor ever to step on stage, Monica Brant, took second in the Figure Olympia to…yes, you guessed it, a JM signed athlete, Davana Medina. Sheena Hunter, who is also a fitness coach, presents this bias in her master's thesis. We learned later that the girl who beat her was affiliated with a well-known training group, and it was rumored that she was scored favorably because of her association.

However, because of the subjectivity of the sport and its judging criteria, it is impossible to prove or disprove these rumors.

In , American Media, Inc. With no discernable journalistic skills, Muresan acted more as a figurehead for the publication rather than an editor.

Muresan has breast implants. Muresan was fired in August over allegations of plagiarism. She did, however, manage to feature herself on the cover of the September issue. You have to edit for physique, but you also have to edit for sexiness," he says, adding that editor-in-chief Robbie Durand enforced this viewpoint, and strayed away from the more masculine competitors.

When we feature them we have higher profit. In terms of breast augmentation, Perine sees it as a trend that AMI has to work with—something that is implemented at the core-level that they have no control over. It's all market-driven. Whether it's breast augmentation or a certain hairstyle, everything is market-driven. If that's part of the formula [that we use for the] cover, and it sells, then that's what we are going to go for.

The same year, in a blog post by fitness author Charlotte Hilton Andersen on her personal website, she quoted one of her readers as saying, "So I buy just about every fitness magazine on the market and I gotta say that it makes me sad that I find it quite rare if I see even ONE model without breast implants.

It's such a strange contradiction, you know? Supplement companies that sponsor the athletes and advertise in the magazines reinforce this predisposition. In addition to promoting women with breast augmentation, AMI also leaves a paper trail of advertiser bias.

Latona is sponsored by BSN, a supplement company, and also appears in their advertisements. BSN places advertisements in Hers. If you aren't in with those people you aren't gonna go anywhere. BSN as a brand is spending less money in print than before. We chose her because of her ability to sell magazines.

During the Weider acquisition, AMI also bought the rights to Olympia Weekend, with many of its advertisers also sponsoring the event. In , before the Bikini category existed, companies sponsored the event, with 12, paying attendees. In , five years after the Bikini division's introduction, 55, people attended, with estimated ticket sales including additional tickets for the finals grossing in the multi-millions.

American Media declined to comment on who was the largest sponsor for the event, how much companies pay to sponsor the contest and, more importantly, to be associated with the women competing in it.

The rise of Olympia's popularity and its subsequent profits coincides neatly with the rise of breast augmentation among competitors. This should be easily built back up once you have recovered, and it should not permanently affect you. Larger breasts may give women an advantage in competition, rather than negatively impacting the competitive edge.

Buford have helped me to complete my total package of presentation in my professional career as an IFBB Pro Figure competitor, fitness model, and personal trainer.

The confidence I get by having complete satisfaction will continue to bring an abundance of success in all my work and endeavors. It is also helpful to choose a surgeon who has first-hand experience in the bodybuilding field, like myself. I truly enjoyed working with Dr. I have performed many breast augmentations for female bodybuilders and helped competitive bodybuilders in the Denver area and beyond achieve their highest potential through breast augmentation surgery.

Contact my office today so I can answer your questions in person and help guide you through the decision-making process. Error: No connected account. Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account. Buford's Blog. Share This Article: facebook twitter pintrest.

Leave a Reply Enter your comment here The surgeries usually ended with drastic complications, as can be expected. Yet women continued to clamor for the procedure. If women still opt for breast augmentation when certain implants have been directly linked to cancer as is the case with Allergan BIOCELL textured implants and reported by the FDA , what is going to put a stop to the procedure?

In October of , the FDA released a recommendation that warning labels be included on breast implants of all kinds. Find the detailed information here. Often, gummy bear implants are prized for their ability to better resemble real breasts. While the everyday augmentation patient may select to have the implant inserted under the muscle in order to achieve an even more natural look, that can prove problematic for fitness and bodybuilding competitors. They need to develop and define their pectoral muscles.

Placing the implant above the muscle allow them to do just that and to return to training soon after surgery. Still, as implants are not lifetime devices, they often need repair every few years and can even leak undetected. Gummy bear implants are notorious for this slow leakage. Leakage matters because silicone is not a natural part of the human body. The body recognizes it as a threat; that is why silicone is not advised to be directly inserted into the body as a filler.

The complications of such a leak are well-documented by women who have suffered breast implant illness. And though removing the implant and its capsule is all well and good, the chemicals may have already spread throughout the body. A ruptured saline implant can be a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. This bacterium can then spread throughout the body. Add to this scenario the fact that a punctured saline implant is aesthetically obvious, and it stands to reason that bodybuilders may not choose to opt for it.