to think that it's not for the nhs to pick up the bill to remove potentially faulty breast implants?

[wannaBe]

There are calls today for women who have had the faulty French breast implants to have them removed on the NHS. Apparently 40000 women have these implants, and to remove all of them would cost the NHS £150 million.

Now, if a woman has had these implants as part of reconstructive surgery following mastectomy then I agree that she should be able to have them removed. But other than that, if you choose to buy yourself bigger breasts (and let's be honest, leaking implants are not a new thing), then it isn't the nhs's responsibility to pick up the tab if there might be a problem.

If your life is in immediate danger then you would obviously need to have surgery on the NHS, but just on the off-chance? I think the company responsible should be the ones picking up the bill and don't see why the taxpayer should shoulder the responsibility for other peoples' vanity.

Shelly - ok then. Why should my son not have as many follow ups as I would like him to have had, to put my mind at rest, because the NHS has limited funds and yet these women get special treatment?

But leaking implants have been in the news for decades.

It's a fact that if you have implants then you are putting yourself at risk, and this is something surely anyone knows.

And I think that the attitudes towards those that have cosmetic surgery for cosmetic reasons is because this attitude that people feel they need to change their bodies so radically is one that needs challenging. It shouldn't be considered the accepted norm to pop down the local plastic surgery clinic (or worse take a trip abroad to some dodgy cheapo clinic) to get your breasts enlarged or your beautox injections or whatever other things people have done to them in the name of changing the way they look.

Not condemning them for paying to have breast augmentation. Condemning them fr thinking that the NHS should pick up the bill now it's gone, dare I say it, tits up.

Casette - that's bollocks. There's plenty of irritation on this thread re breast surgery for cosmetic reasons but that's because that's what this thread is about. Go on a thread about obesity and believe me there is plenty of venom there too! We don't have to approve of one another's choices simply because we share the same reproductive equipment.

Why should my son not have as many follow ups as I would like him to have had, to put my mind at rest

Pressumably because someone, in a position to make that decision, decided it wasn't necessary?

changingnicknameforxmas I agree with your point about removal on the NHS only being in cases of rupture and where there is no other option. (as I said, my original surgeon will remove and replace in the case of rupture without charge.

I feel no need to sue, there is no proven cancer link and I believe the surgeons who used these implants did so in good faith. Sueing the company that made them is not an option since they are bankrupt.

i expect lots of women will be put off from having implants after this - or at least better informed.

i think the nhs should remove them

"In my opinion, if you paid for them privately, sue the surgeon who put them in for using sub-standard products, sue the company if you can. But unless they rupture or cause imminent danger to life, then they should not be removed on the NHS."

Absolutely spot on changingnickname.

Incidentally, "calls for" implant removal come from a plastic surgeon.

"Speaking on the BBC's The World at One, Mr Goodacre, who is president of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) said he did not think there was any risk of cancer as a result of the faulty implants, but he was still advising what he called removal on a "staged basis".

This is one golden opportunity for these guys - get so much work in the coming years and make the NHS to pay for it all.

But Shelly the point with these implants is that most won't rupture or cause problems, they're only being removed to put the women's minds at rest.

I hope my son's tumour won't return. Hopefully it won't, the risk is small, but it might and my mind would have been put at rest by more follow up appointments and monitoring than was offered on the NHS.

They wanted the implants enough to find the cash to get them put in. So if they want them out, surely that's down to them too. Or was it more important to get them than it is to get rid of them? The NHS is hardly awash with cash!

I honestly could not give a flying fig about the mental health of anyone stupid enough to have implants for purely cosmetic reasons.

Ah well, the feeling's mutual. I couldn't give a flying fuck about you either, Lurking, as I'm one of the stupid who's had cosmetic surgery.

Having your breasts enhanced because you think you will look better is vain. It is vanity and nothing else that drives this decision.

I hope my son's tumour won't return. Hopefully it won't, the risk is small, but it might and my mind would have been put at rest by more follow up appointments and monitoring than was offered on the NHS.

I hope so too, changing, I really do!

I'm certainly not saying I agree with whoever made the decision about your son; I was just saying that someone, somewhere, will have made the decision based upon risk.

More fool you, ShellyBoobs! You might have felt differently about your breasts if you had developed cancer at a young age. Like me.

Not read all thread which is prob a mistake

Surely whoever put them in should cover the cost of taking them out? Is there a reason this wouldn't happen?

Very interesting point bemybebe.

This isn't about denying these women anything, it's about fairness to all. The NHS doesn't stretch to putting anyone's mind at rest, regardless of who is to blame for the worry.

I have one implant on my right breast due to my mastectomy,
It was a saline one so I went back again and again to 'match' it with the other breast, It wasn't perfect but at least it gave me a look with a bra on that brought my confidence back.
I was told they could do the other one too, if I was unhappy with the look but I was seriously sick of surgery and hospitals by then.
Seven years later my left one has drooped because that is what nature intended, the other one is still looking good .
I don't care, I'm still here to chat to you lot on MN.
I just don't believe in breast implants unless it's causing mental distress. It just seems to have become a fashion accessory and the NHS have got far more important things to worry about.

wubbly I agree completely with what you said.

And Shelly I'm not in any way belittling the fact that anyone who had these particular implants put in will be worried. But at the end of the day, it was a choice. And with the NHS as tight for money as it is, if everyone who had them put in for cosmetic reasons is going to have them removed at NHS expense, then other areas of the health service will have to be cut to pay for it.

"Having your breasts enhanced because you think you will look better is vain. It is vanity and nothing else that drives this decision." exactly.

And who has said anything about dying? Has anyone died as a result of these implants? no. has anyone developed cancer? no. so this is a purely hypothetical "risk"

In fact that plastic surgeon quoted earlier was on five live this morning saying that risk of health complications from leakage is extremely minimal.

"seriously you don't know what women feel like to want breast surgery. Most just want to look and feel 'normal' and why
shouldn't they have that?" I don't believe for a second that "most" women who have breast surgery do so because they do not look normal. But even if they only want surgery for cosmetic reasons, they should be able to have whatever they can afford.