PIP implants have been placed in Tallinn, where Finnish women regularly go for cosmetic surgery
A number of PIP (Poly Implant Prosthesis) breast implants, which are suspected of being dangerous, have been placed in women even in Tallinn, where Finnish women go to have plastic surgery done.
Such breast augmentation trips have been particularly popular among young Finnish women.
”I can confirm that PIP breast implants have been used in Estonia. Unfortunately, we do not have any statistics on the number of such implants”, says Andrei Knuut, Head of Department at Estonia’s Health Protection Agency.
Two months ago, a breast implant was placed in a Finnish woman in her 30s.
However, the implant was not the one agreed upon in advance.
According to the woman, she had been promised an Allergan implant, but instead, she got an M-implant which has exactly the same type code as the PIP implant.
On the Internet, the code leads directly to the site of the PIP breast implant.
”I bought a trip through a Finnish clinic. I was promised a new operation right away, but of course I do not want to go to the same surgeon again”, the woman says.
In France, the estimated number of dangerous breast implants placed in women is 30,000, while in Sweden the number is 2,500. In Finland itself, PIP breast implants have not been sold at all.
On the website of the Dutch Medicines Control Board, women are urged to watch their health, if they have a PIP or M-implant.
It has been suspected that the remaining stock of the banned PIP implants were rebranded and sold under the name M-implants, particularly to destinations for cosmetic surgery, like for example Tallinn.
On their websites, at least two Estonian clinics operating in Tallinn offered M-implants as recently as two weeks ago.
”It is possible. I hope that Finns would inform us if they have got PIP implants still after they were banned (March 2010)”, Andrei Knuut says.
Estonia’s Health Protection Agency has been contacted by an Estonian woman who has had a breast augmentation performed using a PIP implant.
On Thursday, the French authorities refrained from giving an order to remove all PIP enlargements from breasts, but they have opened a crisis telephone number.
French women have been advised to watch their health. A measure of panic was reported from Britain, too, where as many as 50,000 women are thought to fall within the risk-group.
Don't be a "Pamela" unless you can afford it!
French health authorities are considering whether to suggest that an estimated 30,000 women in France get their breast implants removed, amid warnings by leading doctors about risks of rupture and possible cancer risks.
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