A number of articles are chosen and published in each issue according to the theme that has been selected for that issue. That way, each of the surgeons may take turns to contribute if they so wish. The photographs and diagrams in this magazine are non-contractual illustrations of the surgeons' articles. First of all, it was an ordeal from the medical point of view.
We, the practitioners, had to rally to the task of looking after victims and supporting them in the face of this fraud, organized by an unscrupulous businessman. This was also an ordeal by media. We witnessed an emotional storm that was damaging to the calm needed to resolve this kind of crisis.
Witnessed and experienced from the inside, this affair took on unduly sentimental dimension that was harmful to the basic operational issue.
What should be done to solve this medical crisis? How it all started It started with a company: PIP. The company perpetrated an extremely extensive fraud. It started marketing tens of thousands of breast implants with a weak membrane and containing non-compliant gel. In order to do this, they evaded health inspection provisions.
Surgeons in many countries were taken in and for a number of years; they unwittingly implanted defective prostheses in their patients. So this was a real time bomb. The lifespan of a breast implant is limited.
