Timmie Jean Lindsey (born 1932), American housewife, was the first person in the world to undergo
plastic surgery
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 includes craniofa ...
for
breast augmentation
Breast augmentation and augmentation mammoplasty is a cosmetic surgery technique using breast-implants and fat-graft mammoplasty techniques to increase the size, change the shape, and alter the texture of the breasts. Augmentation mammoplasty is ...
by means of
silicone
A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking ...
implants
Implant can refer to:
Medicine
*Implant (medicine), or specifically:
**Brain implant
**Breast implant
**Buttock implant
**Cochlear implant
**Contraceptive implant
**Dental implant
**Fetal tissue implant
**Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator
** ...
, in 1962.
At the time, she was 29 years old and the divorced mother of six children. Hoping to have a large
tattoo
A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of tatt ...
removed from her chest, she visited a
plastic surgeon
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 includes craniof ...
at the
Jefferson Davis Hospital in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
. The surgeon, Frank Gerow, was one of a group working on the concept of breast implants, and was looking for patients to volunteer for the surgery. She told them she was more interested in having them work on her ears, and the surgeons agreed to do that procedure as well. The procedure went forward under the direction of Gerow and his colleague Thomas Cronin, and was deemed a success at the time. Lindsey kept fairly quiet about her breast enlargement for many years – one boyfriend never knew for example. It was only decades later that she told many of her friends and family about it.
Fifty years later, Lindsey still had her original implants and reported general satisfaction with the procedure, despite pains and other concerns over the years. She never joined the groups of women (including several of her own relatives) who filed lawsuits about health problems associated with the implants, although she reported having experienced many of those problems.
[Claire Bowes & Cordelia Hebblethwaite]
" A brief history of breast enlargements"
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
, March 28, 2012.
References
1932 births
Living people
People from Texas
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