More at risk in UK breast implant scare

London: Thousands more women may be at risk after it emerged that suspect PIP breast implants were repackaged and sold under a second name.

Industry experts estimate that some 5,000 British women have Rofil M-implants, described as simply being PIPs with a different branding.

Plastic surgeons and patients say it is vital women know it is not just the PIP name that is suspect.

One woman told how she believed she had breast cancer after a gel that leaked from a split M-implant left her in excruciating pain and created a lump the size of a golf ball.

The warning came as Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said he would consider setting up a national register for breast implants and called on private clinics to pay for any leaked PIP implants to be removed. The Government has not advised mass removal.

Yesterday, as the medical watchdog continued to collect data on rupture rates, the Nuffield Health chain pledged to follow Mr Lansley's advice. And, in a slightly unusual move, an Austrian clinic offered to remove all PIP implants from British women willing to pay to fly to Vienna.

Until now, the implant scandal was widely thought to be limited to those made by Poly Implant Protheses in France and filled with a gel believed to have been made for mattresses. But industry experts believe that while some 45,000 British women have PIP implants, thousands more may have them without realising.

A Dutch implant manufacturer called Rofil is believed to have had a long-standing agreement to buy implants from PIP.

— Daily Mail