> To achieve long lasting results, a woman needs to wear Brava, which costs around $2,500, for at least 10 hours a day, for a minimum of 10 weeks.

> According to the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery report, 12 women completed a study of Brava's effectiveness and the longevity of its results. They wore the device for 10 weeks. After a four-week hiatus, the study showed the women had maintained a growth of one-cup size, on average.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...ticlekey=52166

> Although the company claims FDA-approval, the fact is that the only approval BRAVA has from the FDA is that it is allowed on the market as an unregulated device. The FDA cannot say whether any increase will last or how long it might last; they cannot even say whether the newly grown breast tissue will be healthy.

http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/bre...nonsurenla.htm

> But even with the patents, the product still does not have FDA approval despite a July Reuters story, published in dozens of news outlets, which had mistakenly said the device had won FDA approval. The FDA has given Brava the rights to market the product.

> And nothwitstanding the press in ABC's "Good Morning America," "NBC Nightly News," Telemundo, Glamour magazine, the Miami Herald and dozens of other TV, radio and print sources, a growing number of women report disappointment with results and problems with the device's technology.

> Some say they have developed scars, spontaneous lactation and other physical problems. A false advertising complaint false has been filed with the Southeast Florida Better Business Bureau and some women say they are consulting attorneys.

http://www.talksurgery.com/consumer/...0000107_1.html

and here is a BRAV-ARGH! website constructed by disgruntled consumers:

]http://home.comcast.net/~drmomentum/bravargh/[/url]

This is from their Q&A:

A: Brava's website is advertising. They conducted the study. They threw almost one-third of the women out of the study. They are trying to sell you a Brava.

They don't print "results not typical" under the images in the "results of women" section of the site, but they don't say the results are typical, either. 100cc in 10 hours per day for 10 weeks is the arithmetic mean of the gains achieved by women in the study. The arithmetic mean is a good statistic to use if you have some high numbers and a lot of low numbers, to make the overall picture look rosier.

The purpose of this website is to help women understand the reality of using the Brava. It is intended as support for women who have already purchased one, and as an honest contrast to the Brava site for women who are contemplating purchasing one. This website was created as a free service by women who've used the Brava and know the reality, to help women who are only seeing the advertising put out by Brava and their authorized physicians. Brava is trying to sell the product and it also implies that if the product doesn't work, it is the fault of the woman using the system. This is not true. Brava does not work for everybody.

Q: You keep saying 100cc is miniscule, but a cup size is a significant amount of growth!

A: 100cc is probably not a cup size, unless you're already close to outgrowing your bra. Take a small plastic bag and put 100cc of water in it. You can measure 100cc with most medicine droppers or cups. Now place that in your bra.

Either you're a "rapid responder" and you'll gain 100cc or more (Brava does not tell us what percentage of users are "rapid responders," but it is most likely very low), or you're an "average" or "slow" responder, and you will not gain 100cc, even using the Brava more than 10 hours per day for 10 weeks.

Growth
Q: Does it really take only 10 hours/day for 10 weeks to gain a cup size?

A: If you're a lucky "rapid responder," then it might. Although they haven't changed their website to reflect it, Brava customer service representatives are now telling us to use the device 12-14 hours/day (16 is better), for 12-14 weeks (16 is better).

Q: Is 100cc a full cup size?

A: That's questionable. In the discussion by Sumner A. Slavin, M.D., which follows the Khouri article, Dr. Slavin writes "Why...would an increase of only 105.6cc allow patients to state they were a full cup size larger? ... a 100cc implant would not produce such a change."

Q: Did every woman in the Khouri study gain 100cc?

A: No. According to the Khouri article, women stabilized with a mean volume increase of 103 plus or minus 35 ml. In percent of initial volume, women gained from 15 to 115 % of initial volume, with an average of 55%.

Q: How many women in the Khouri study gained 100cc or more?

A: Brava refuses to disclose this information. One can only assume the worst, and the worst is that very few women gained 100cc or more. As this number is an arithmetic mean, a few "rapid responders" could have skewed the (much worse) results of most women. It is also worth noting that almost one-third of the women in the initial study were dropped from the study. Their data is not included in the results.