In Europe, women with breast enlargements are being advised to contact their surgeon amid concerns about the safety of a certain type of implant.
What is a breast implant?
A French inquiry has found that Poly Implant Prostheses – or PIPs – are filled with an unapproved gel and are missing protective barriers. The French company which produced PIPs has gone into administration. All the devices have been recalled in France.
More than 300,000 implants are believed to have been sold globally by PIP over the last 12 years.About 50,000 British women may have these implants. 30,000 French women were given a potentially defective type of breast implant.
The UK body for plastic surgeons the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons [BAAPS] warns against alarm, but said those with PIPs needed a check-up within six months.
“This is certainly an unusual situation but so far there is no serious cause for alarm – whilst further tests are conducted into the substance, we recommend that women who’ve undergone breast augmentation contact their surgeons to find out what type of implant was used,” said its president Nigel Mercer
If an ultrasound establishes that the implant is weakened or ruptured, then both should be removed, BAAPS advised.
PIP used non-medical grade silicone believed to be made for mattresses, according to BAAPS. This meant the low-cost devices were more likely to split – 10% of them did so within the first year – when, on average, implants should last 10 years.
Eight cases of cancer had so far been reported in patients with PIP implants,
UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said there was “insufficient evidence to indicate any association with cancer” after reviewing the available evidence with the relevant UK professional bodies.
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source: various BBC news reports 2010 2011