Notes on a Scandal: Mr Adrian Richards of Aurora Appears on ITV’’s ‘The Silicone Scandal’ PIP Implants Documentary

Aurora Clinics & PIP Implants

Making another television appearance regarding the current PIP implants controversy, renowned surgeon Mr Adrian Richards of Aurora Clinics appeared on last night’’s ITV feature documentary –- The Silicone Scandal.

The show, presented by reporter Chris Choi, highlighted the fear and confusion caused to women worldwide by recent revelations that PIP (Poly Implant Prothese) brand implants contain sub-standard industrial grade silicone and may have an unusually high rupture rate.

These implants (removed from the market in 2010) were placed in approximately 300,000 women from 65 different countries.

Aurora Clinics never used PIPs; our surgeons always questioned the cheap price and quality of the implants. In the ITV programme, Mr Richards is seen performing one of many implant removal and replacement operations Aurora Clinics are now providing for a PIP implant patient unable to get the help she required from her original breast surgery provider.

Who Is To Blame For PIP Implants?

Hers is a commonplace story across the UK and one which is attracting much media attention. The issue of “who is to blame in this PIP implants controversy is causing the biggest scandal of all.

The founder of PIP implants, Jean-Claude Mas, who instigated the use of the industrial grade silicone has long since fled France and cannot be traced for prosecution, leaving behind him ‘the biggest fraud case of a medical product on this scale’ that most surgeons have ever seen.

We still do not know exactly what chemicals are in the PIP silicone so all sorts of wild theories continue to surface, causing more anxiety for the ladies involved. Meanwhile, whilst most European countries have funded routine precautionary removal of PIP implants, the UK have not followed suit.

Our MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) are adamant that there is no need to do so because there is not enough evidence to support a direct link between PIP implants and severe health problems.

Questioned by Chris Choi, the Government Health Minister promised that the issue would be kept under constant surveillance but that “all we can do is deal with the information we have to date”.

The clinics who used PIP implants are coming under heavy criticism for using a cheaper product. They claim that PIPs weren’’t the cheapest on the market: but as other surgeons have noted: ‘if well trained, reputable surgeons never used them and saw problems when removing them which made us question why they were so cheap’, why did these larger firms not do the same?

Now they are in a genuine dilemma: if they were to remove every single PIP implant they put in for free (13,900 at the Harley Medical Group alone) they would go out of business. They argue that is senseless and wouldn’t help their patients anyway.

Incensed campaigners argue the opposite -– that it is morally better to go out of business having at least tried to do the right thing.

These clinics claim it is the fault of the MHRA for having regulated PIPs as safe in the first place, so it should be down to the Government to pick up the pieces on the NHS (obviously this comes at cost to the taxpayer so the general public are not very happy at this suggestion!) But the MHRA say they couldn’t have known because it was a case of fraud… – so it all comes full circle….

Patients Need PIP Situation Sorting!

In all this finger-pointing, the real victims are the women left with PIP implants in. Whether PIP implants pose an immediate health risk or only if they rupture, these ladies have now been made irrevocably anxious by all the scary talk of cancer and ill-health symptoms in the news.

After having to listen to the constant media hype and TV shows about ‘scandals’, they now live feeling all the time that there is something inside their body which feels like ‘an alien inside’. Those were the actual words used by Aurora patient Abbie Webb, interviewed alongside Mr Richards in the ITV ‘Silicone Scandal’ documentary.

After Mr Richards performed her PIP implant removal and replacement surgery, he showed her the silicone that he had taken from her body: her PIP implant had actually ruptured. Abbie described the sheer relief at having the silicone out of her body as an “emotional experience”.

From patients like Abbie to celebrities like TOWIE’’s Lauren Pope, all sorts of women with different backgrounds, reasons for having had breast implants in the first place and experiences with PIP implants are now feeling scared, confused and unsupported.

Some larger cosmetic surgery groups like BMI, Spire, Nuffield and MYA have stepped up and offered to fund free implant removal and replacement for any women who had PIP implants with them. In other instances, it is being left to the smaller groups and clinics –like Aurora – to pick up the pieces even though they did not use PIPs themselves to begin with and provide support, advice and treatment for these ladies.

For more information about Aurora Clinics’’ cost price PIP implant removal and replacement offer please call 01324 578290 to book a free consultation. We also offer expert advice and support via telephone or on info@aurora-clinics.co.uk and have a designated PIP implant page with FAQ videos and PIP latest news at http://bit.ly/vufuUV.  Special thanks to Abbie Webb for allowing us to use her PIP implant removal and replacement footage in the ITV Silicone Scandal documentary – best of luck for the future Abbie!