A new study from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital presents information that could reassure women with breast implants who are worried about breast cancer.

"Implants don't seem to cause breast cancer," said Dr. Kristin Brill, a co-author of the study. "Even silicone implants or implants that leak don't seem to increase a woman's chance of developing breast cancer."

More than 250,000 American women each year get breast implants for cosmetic reasons alone, reported NBC 6's Diana Gonzalez.

Jeanne Smith is one of them. Five years after her surgery, she developed breast cancer.

"It was like a pea-sized lump on my left breast right about an inch away from my nipple," Smith said.

Brill said women with implants who develop breast cancer no longer need to assume they will need a mastectomy.

"Now women who've had implants who develop a breast cancer may be candidates for lumpectomy with radiation and do very well with that procedure," she said.

Women with implants are also often afraid that if they get breast cancer, it will be difficult to find.

That isn't necessarily true. Most implants today are put behind the chest muscle, which pushes out the breast tissue, Gonzalez reported.

"When breast cancers occur, they typically occur where we can see above the implant," Brill said.

Smith said she felt like her implants helped her to find the cancer.

"My implants were under my muscle so it pushed all my breast tissue forward," she said. "I truly think I would not have found it as quickly if I didn't have the implants pushing everything forward."