PiP implant scandal: ‘I cried when I saw my ruptured breast implant’

A WOMAN has described how she wept when she saw her ruptured PiP breast implant for the first time.Jenny Brown had her implants removed after she discovered one of them was damaged following a scan.

The 41-year-old, from Edinburgh, is now urging other women to have theirs checked.

She said she had been living “a complete nightmare” since she first heard about problems with PiP implants.

Specialists found lumps under her right arm and a scan confirmed that the right implant had ruptured and there was silicon in the lymph nodes. The implants were removed last week.

“When I found out about the rupture I was just terrified. I’m so relieved to have them out, especially when I saw how damaged these implants were. When I saw my ruptured implant for the first time, I just cried,” she said.

“I took them home. I didn’t look at them right after the procedure, but that evening I had a look. I couldn’t believe that was inside me. It wasn’t nice. The left one looks intact and it’s the colour you would expect it to be, although on top of it, it looks almost like it’s sweating – I didn’t think it was meant to do that.

“The right one, it’s almost as if somebody has slashed it and the stuff is coming out – and the gel inside it is just breaking up. There were bits falling off it.

“I was quite shocked when I saw the state of my right implant. I was told in my initial consultation that my implants were fine.

“I think it very important we all get these scans done as soon as possible.

“I was very upset and quite shocked. It’s a mess. There were parts of jelly breaking off it as well and I thought: ‘Where else has this stuff gone?”’

Ms Brown is a campaigner with the PiP Implants Scotland campaign group, which includes women who have health problems because of the implants, and is calling on the Scottish Government to set up a public inquiry into the issue.

As many as 4,000 women in Scotland may have had breast implants made by the company which used non-medical-grade silicone in their implants.

Across the UK, about 40,000 women received the implants, manufactured by now-closed French company Poly Implant Prostheses (PiP), which were filled with silicone intended for use in mattresses.

The UK government has said women given PiP breast implants on the NHS can have them removed for free, with private firms expected to offer the same deal.

Experts concluded there is no evidence to recommend routine removal of the implants, but could not entirely rule out that some were toxic.

Ms Brown said: “I never had any symptoms, no pain. I wasn’t even aware of the rupture.

“You think you would have some sign.”