Breast Implants – A Big Decision with Lasting Consequences
The now bankrupt French firm--Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) company—makers of the banned silicone breast implants, has caused hundreds of thousands of women to question the true cost of their breast lift surgeries in relation to their health.
While the UK government continues to justify its softened stance on the health concerns likely to impact 40,000 British women with PIP breast implants, the French authorities are actively recommending removal of the silicone device for its 30,000 French women and funding the operation.
Breast augmentation plastic surgery is the most popular way to improve breast shape and size especially after mastectomy, childbirth, and weight loss. For many women, it is a very personal and important decision to make.
“It’s a big, big decision. It is life changing and in another 10 years you have to get them replaced” says former Miss Great Britain, Gemma Garrett who had her PIP breast prostheses removed last year after one ruptured, circulating silicone in her blood with unknown health consequences.
Gemma Garrett told the BBC that she regrets ever having the implants, saying “there is not enough information about the dangers. My family tried to talk me out of it,” she said. At the time she was 26 years old and almost 3 years later had to remove her implants. Her message is “definitely think twice.”
Gemma had invested an initial sum of four thousand pounds for PIP breast lift surgery, when after noticing a lump on her breast, paid almost 3 times the costs to save her health.
Several British women have been contacting news networks to express their concerns and to talk about their experiences; many are feeling scared and abandoned by the government.
One young lady who had her implants done just six weeks prior to the recall, stated that she now belongs to a PIP implant support group on social media. With remorse, she said “we have no one to answer to this, and our only option seems to be to pay for them to be removed, and be left with nothing but empty, damaged breasts, through no fault of our own.”
Silicone breast reconstruction procedures have enjoyed approximately 40 years of existence despite known risks associated with displacement and rupture. Breast implants are not a one-time procedure; women contemplating mammoplasty also factor in the additional costs for future operations and inherent surgical risks.
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