The legacy of breast implants remains unresolved.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ When Heather Casselberry hears people dismissing the possible dangers of breast implants, she thrusts both hands out before her, palms down.

"See," she says, pointing out red lesions on the backs of her hands. "I have to live with this."

She blames the lesions on a silicone gel breast implant that ruptured in 1989, spilling silicone particles that migrate throughout her body.

But while Casselberry and thousands of other women struggle with illnesses they blame on their implants, the public seems to have moved on. The safety of silicone gel implants, once a major public health issue, has faded from the spotlight.

Plastic surgeons are doing a booming business in the saline-filled implants that replaced them. That resurgence has left Casselberry feeling frustrated and forgotten, even as she and thousands of other women continue fighting on with a 1993 class-action suit against implant maker Dow Corning.

"The women involved continue to have a sense of urgency about this," said Casselberry, a Charlotte resident and licensed practical nurse. "But that doesn't seem to be shared by the court system."

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