Breast implants save California woman's life
A woman who had breast implants was shot at her work place; the doctor who treated her and a firearm expert with the LAPD say that it was the implant that absorbed the bullet fragments, preventing them from reaching her heart and thus saving her life; the firearms expert adds, though that he would not suggest that breast augmentation is the equivalent of a bulletproof vest
Some manufacturers of bras for full-figured women use wiring in their lingerie to offer women more support and prevent what the industry calls “breast spillage.” Last year we wrote about a lucky Detroit woman whose wired bra offered more than support: the bra stopped a stray bullet from killing her (“Detroit Woman Saved from Robber’s Bullet by Her Bra,” 23 April 2009 HSNW).
Now it appears that breast augmentation can also saves lives. The Los Angeles Times reports that a California woman caught up in a fatal shooting may have been saved by her D-cup breast implants, one of which took — and absorbed — a round from a semi-automatic assault rifle.
On 1 July last year, Lydia Carranza was working at the front desk of a dentist’s office in Simi Valley, north west of Los Angeles. Jaime Paredes, the estranged husband of one of her co-workers “marched into the office” with the rifle, first shooting his wife’s brother in the stomach, then killing his wife, before turning the weapon on the other workers at the office.
He shot Carranza in the arm and, despite her playing dead, shot her again in the chest at point-blank range. She told the Times: “I didn’t look or think about it. I just felt wet in my chest area. I thought I was going to die.”
The Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who has offered to reconstruct Carranza’s chest claims it was the breast implant that saved her life. He said: “She’s just one lucky woman. I saw the CT scan. The bullet fragments were millimeters from her heart and her vital organs. Had she not had the implant, she might not be alive today.”
The Times quotes Scott Reitz, a firearms instructor with thirty years’ experience in the LAPD, described the implant as “like a high-pressure bag full of salt water” which would “probably would provide more resistance than plain flesh.” He added: “Common sense would dictate that any time you have something that interrupts the velocity of the projectile, it would benefit the object it was trying to strike.”
Reitz hastened to add, though: “I don’t want to say a boob job is the equivalent of a bulletproof vest. So don’t go getting breast enhancements as a means to deflect a possible incoming bullet.”
The hospital where Carranza was treated was not prepared to comment on the bullet-stopping aspect of the breast implant. “This is not a medical issue; it’s a ballistic issue,” said Kris Carraway, a spokeswoman for Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.
