An unidentified woman in the United Kingdom playing a game of paintball wound up having one of her breast implants explode after being struck by one of the capsules used as ammunition in the game. The BBC reports that the 26 year-old woman felt discomfort during and after the game and eventually went to see her doctor who confirmed that the implant had been torn apart by the force of the gel filled capsule after she was apparently the victim of a direct hit to her breast.
How a Paintball Capsule Can Injure the Breast
Paintball guns (called markers) fire rounds of spherical capsules filled with gelatin and food coloring as a means of simulating warfare. According to the Los Angeles Times, the capsules are fired at approximately 190 miles per hour, which is equivalent to running into a small pebble when driving at that same speed. Many people have seen the results of much slower strikes by such objects on their cars' windshields, leaving behind cracks and sometimes a break.
Unlike a pebble, when a paintball strikes its target, it immediately disintegrates due to the thin plastic material that is used to keep the gel inside the capsule. The material inside then expands covering a wide area of the body. Generally, according to the Minnesota Paintball Association, paintball is considered to be one of the safest sports that adults can play provided they take suitable precautions such as wearing pads on sensitive body parts and of course eye goggles.
The woman in Great Britain was apparently not wearing any sort of protective covering over her chest, which led the owners of the paintball club where she was playing to include a new clause in their indemnity form notifying women of the risk "of paintballing with enhanced boobs."
Other Breast Implant Explosions
According to The Times newspaper, this is not the first report of a woman's breast exploding upon impact. They cite an example of a report of a woman whose breast implant exploded when she was in a car accident, which wound up saving her from having her heart crushed. In another incident, a woman was shot in the chest and the implant in that case wound up slowing the bullet enough to save her life as well.
In all such cases the end result is the same, the breast implant must be removed and any residue cleaned out or there is a risk of toxic shock or gangrene.
Sources
- "Woman's breast implant explodes during paintball: New high-impact sports risk?" The Lost Angeles Times, viewed September 2, 2011.
- "Paintball shot ruptures woman's silicone breast implant" The BBC, viewed September 2, 2011.
- Minnesota Paintball Association - Paintball.
Bob Yirka - Bob Yirka has written thousands of online articles and backs them up with a BS in Computer Science/MS in Information Systems Management.
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