pip impants

There are always bad stories about pip implants but as with all surgery there are risks and one of them is rupture / leakage.

I've just been searching online.. again and found a leaflet on mhra.gov.uk. In this leaflet it states Pip implants are no longer available in the UK? I thought they were, in fact I'm sure I've got them.. Couldn't find a date for update on leaflet but I only had surgery 4 weeks ago.

I came across another pip horror story on another forum again. Does anyone actually know how bad pips are, say like a percentage of rupture rates? I do know that your implants can be checked using an MRI scan but whether you have to pay or not and how much is another question.

What date was that MHRA webpage updated hun because they may be talking about the old non-cohesive PIPs?

x

I'll copy this in from another thread as it is a published journal article rather than just hear'say.


Copyright 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd
Short reports and Correspondence

Rupture of PIP breast implants

R.B. Berry
^aDepartment of Plastic Surgery, University Hospital of North Durham, North Road, Durham DH1 5TW, UK

Available online 20 April 2007.

Further to the case report: Locoregional silicone spread after high cohesive gel silicone implant rupture (Lahiri and Waters, J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg 2006;59:885–6), I write to report a similar case, again involving an implant manufactured by Poly Implant Prostheses, France.

In this case, AP, a thirty-six-year old woman was referred by her GP to a breast surgeon with a lump in the right axilla. She had undergone bilateral augmentation with saline implants eight years previously and, following deflation on the right, these had been exchanged for PIP cohesive gel five years later.
The breast surgeon confirmed the presence of an enlarged right axillary lymph node and noted that the right breast was larger than the left. He performed excision biopsy of the node, histology of which showed vacuolated cells, foamy macrophages and multinucleated giant cells in keeping with a silicone lymphadenopathy.
She was referred to me and at exploration of the right breast I found, like Lahiri and Waters, that there was huge tear in the shell of the implant (Fig. 1).



Figure 1. Implant removed from breast showing huge tear.


The cohesive gel had remained in situ but the implant was surrounded by a considerable quantity – approximately 50 ml – of cloudy, viscous fluid, presumably serous in origin, which explained the enlargement of the breast.


That a high cohesive gel implant could have suffered such a massive failure only three years after implantation is very worrying and, in this case, not only had silicone migrated to a regional lymph node, but the exposed silicone gel appears to have provoked an inflammatory response with the production of a significant quantity of serous exudate.

In view of these two reports the reliability of PIP implants must be questioned and, for myself, I intend to discontinue their use in favour of implants from other manufacturers.

Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery Volume 60, Issue 8, August 2007, Pages 967-968

thanks for that. Yeh there are lots of articles about Pip saline and hydrogel, I think its the hydrogel ones being referred to on mhra site.

There are so many 'stories' but this article outlines a very serious case. I keep tryin to find out the percentage of pip rupture rates but can't find anythin. Is it one in 100, one in 1000, one in 10,000? Allergan implants rupture too but it 'seems less so. Is this because more women in UK have Pips? Does anyone know?

I had cohesive PIP implants first time around in Belgium a year ago.

One was explanted within 3months due to an infection around the implant and it was also damaged/torn easily in the process.

The other bottomed out but i was having it changed anyway.

My experience of PIP's is a short one, one for 3 months, another for a year but what i will say is when i had PIP implants i could feel the ridge of them, they were heavy and sat in the bottom of the breast. I now have mentor adjustable implants and you wouldn't know i have them, they're light and don't drop to the bottom of the breast and i can't feel them at all.

My surgeon told me that PIP implant's have an awful reputation for rupture, were very cheap but were costing the company's more in the long run replacing them so do not get used anymore :dunno: I would be surprised if you have got them and you should have this confirmed in the paperwork they gave you too? I have a small card for each implant giving the serial number, type & size. (though i got nothing with PIP!)

x x

I don't think you will find the actual % rupture rate for any implants, each rupture has to reported to the MRHA but aren't always. You can report it to them yourself if you ever have it. Just because you have (or may have) PIP implants doesn't mean they will rupture tomorrow. As with all of us you will just have to keep an eye on your boobs for any changes of lumps under the skin. Best not to panic if you already have them.