I’ll let you all into a little secret. I have fake breasts. Yes, that’s right, I saved up my meagre earnings for years and squandered it all on two silicone bags. I say squandered, because two years on, I kind of regret it. Why? Lots of reasons. I think it was a lack of body confidence that led me to have the enlargement in the first place, and, quite honestly, I’ve changed since then. I’ve learned to accept that bodies of all shapes and sizes can be beautiful. I am also ashamed to admit that my ex used to make me feel inferior. He was a real ‘boob man’ and my 34Bs always felt like they weren’t cutting the mustard. So I partly did it to keep him happy. Man, I feel stupid about that one! I kicked the loser to the curb six months ago and good riddance!
And if that weren’t bad enough, I have never really loved my new breasts. At first, it was really weird walking around with two lumps of silicone on my chest, in a strange way I felt like I’d lost some of my natural femininity. Then there’s the cost of it all – I’m still paying off the debt to this very day. And now it looks like thousands of women are set to pay an even higher price – a potentially heightened risk of cancer.
Earlier this week, the French Government announced that it will fund the removal of breast implants from thousands of women, because of the fears surrounding a cancer risk. The furore is focused on a certain type called ‘PIP’ implants which used a cheap form of silicone gel, used mainly in France, rather than the medical grade stuff.
The advice for British women with PIP implants is that there is no reason to worry. Yet of course Internet forums have gone crazy with women posting a myriad of frightening symptoms, all terrified that they have put themselves at risk. Many are checking themselves in for removal surgery and some are even suing their surgeons.
There’s not much good that can come out of a situation like this, except that it might make many vulnerable young women think twice about whether the cost of getting a boob job – in both cash and health terms – is really worth it?
