Risks of cheap breast implant tourism to Tunisia

Inkyfada reports that French women are travelling to Tunisia for cheap breast implants, but some have reported problems.

Tunisian news organization Inkyfada has provided new information to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICU) for their global investigation into implants.

The ICU’s Implant Files global investigation found that regulators around the world have approved devices with little or no safety testing and are slow to stop selling defective ones even as injuries increase.

Inkyfada reports that French women are travelling to Tunisia for cheap breast implants. In two cases, patients have returned home to France in crippling pain, claiming they had no warning of the risks involved. The report suggests there may be many more unreported cases.

According to Inkyfada the women travelled to Tunisia for breast augmentations with the help of medical travel agents.

“Sophie” told Inkyfada she received little explanation of the risks of breast implants, and spent little more than 10 minutes speaking to her Tunisian surgeon before the operation. When Sophie returned to France days after the operation, her sole connection to the surgeon was the promise of his availability on WhatsApp. She later felt strong pains in her right breast months after her operation. A scan in France revealed that the implant was bent, risking a rupture and possible leak of silicon. After more months of pain, Sophie returned to Tunisia where the surgeon replaced her implant.

Sophie contacted a Tunisian lawyer to sue the surgeon and medical travel agent for failing to explain the possible dangers of breast implants and surgery.

In the second case, “Audrey” had trouble persuading doctors in France to help, once problems developed from the implants. French doctors said they feared being held responsible for the errors of Tunisian surgeons if they intervened.

A French doctor who spoke to ICIJ’s French reporting partner Le Monde, said that he operates on two or three women each month who have returned from implant surgery in Tunisia, and the lack of follow-up with patients by the doctors post-surgery is a problem.

Tunisia’s ministry of health plans to create a list of approved medical travel agents to better monitor patient security.