estedness. The American Society for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery defined micro-mastia as a disease that results in feelings of inadequacy, lack of self-confidence and a lack of self perceived femininity. Physicians stated that the Micro-mast, the so-called social disease, required treatment in order to restore feelings of well being in women.
             Manufacturers, such as Dow Corning, also realized the potential profits for marketing breast implants as enhancements for healthy women. As a result, competition increased among manufacturers. In 1972, five of the original breast implant developers left Dow Corning to work for Heyer-Schulte, a small medical device company. Then in 1974, another group of developers left Heyer-Shulte to form their own breast implant company, McGhan Medical Corporation. Originally Dow Corning had a monopoly in the breast implant business. By 1974 Dow had two very aggressive competitors that had acquired much of Dow's knowledge about breast implants. Dow was not ready for the competition. The stress that competition put on Dow was to lead to some poorly made decisions that would have a profound impact later on.
             In the 1960's, Dow Corning was on the forefront of breast implant development. Now, by the mid 1970's, Dow was beginning to lose market share drastically to its competitors. Their competitors' products were softer, more responsive and more closely resembled the natural breast. Plastic surgeons preferred the superior implants of Dow's competition. As a result, Dow's market share dropped to 35 percent by 1975. This competition was devastating to Dow's breast implant business.
             In response to the fierce competition in the breast implant industry, Dow had to make some rather drastic changes in order to remain competitive. By June 1975, Dow had produced a
             new type of implant called the Flo-Gel breast implant. This new implant used a thinner silicone gel that woul...