Docs Warn Of Complications From Cheap International Breast Implants
MIAMI (CBS4) - Zrinka Jurisa is a mother of one. She claimed that having a baby took a toll on her body, especially her breasts.
"After I had my son everything went South," Jurisa said.
Although she lives in Miami now, Jurisa is originally from Venezuela and still has family there.
"I needed some help," explained Jurisa.
That coupled with the fact that the breast augmentation surgery would cost her $2,000 in Venezuela, as opposed to about $8,000 in the U.S., about one-fourth the cost, she flew to a doctor in South America to get her breast implants.
But the doctor used defective implants. He inserted P.I.P implants, or Poly Implant Prosthesis. Those are illegal in the U.S.
Dr. Phillip Craft with the Miami Institute on Brickell explained, "This is a breast implant approved in the U.S., it has a thick exterior and medical grade silicone inside. The P.I.P implant has a thin exterior and industrial grand silicone inside."
Craft told CBS4's Cynthia Demos that about 300,000 P.I.P implants were sold worldwide, tens of thousands of them in Latin America.
"They tend to rupture three to five times more than durable brands," said Jurisa.
If they rupture, the patient can suffer from Lupus or rheumatoid arthritis and the list goes on.
Dr Craft will be removing Jurisa's P.I.P implants and replacing them with safe implants.
"The medical tourism. You see it a lot," said Craft.
The problem is so big, the Miami Institute is holding seminars to educate the public as to what is going on and letting them know that P.I.P implants are no longer used anywhere. The company that made them has gone bankrupt. Patients like Jurisa say education is key.
"Take a little measures in regards to prevention and maybe have them replaced," Jurisa said.
The Miami Institute is working with the people who have the defective implant to get it fixed at a discounted rate.
There is a seminar at the Miami Institute, located at the Four Seasons Hotel on Brickell Avenue, set for Wednesday, January 25th from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Two other seminars will be held Wednesday, February 1st and Wednesday, February 8th.
