A 40-year-old Moscow woman was saved from a knife attack by an unlikely hero: her giant breast implant.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was stabbed in the left side of her chest by her husband during a dispute. But the long knife didn’t reach her heart, and instead became lodged in the silicone “body armor,” the Russian news site Pravda.ru reported.

Ironically, the woman got the implants five years ago at her husband’s request.

The implant didn’t leak or lose its shape, according to the report. But the woman has since had it replaced with a new one.

“It might have been leaking inside the capsule,” said Dr. Mihye Choi, assistant professor in the department of plastic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, describing the thin membrane of scar tissue that forms naturally around breast implants. “But you don’t want to ignore leaking even if it is inside the capsule.”

Silicone implants can be stomped on or thrown against a door without breaking, Choi said. But lacerations and long-term wear-and-tear can cause the silicone gel to leak out into the capsule or into the breast tissue, triggering an immune response that can lead to tenderness and nodules.

“It’s not emergent; not life threatening,” said. Choi. “But you would definitely want to have it replaced in a timely fashion.”

Choi recommends that women with implants go for annual check-ups to make sure they’re leak-free.

The Russian woman is not the first to be saved by her augmented chest. In 2010, a size-D breast implant was credited with saving a Los Angeles woman from a bullet. At the time, deadly-force expert witness Scott Reitz said it was possible the silicone implant stymied the bullet but urged women to avoid getting implants for self defense.

“I don’t want to say a boob job is the equivalent of a bulletproof vest,” Reitz told the L.A. Times. “So don’t go getting breast enhancements as a means to deflect a possible incoming bullet.”