Fw: Silicone 'Lip injection wrecked my health' ~ BBC

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From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

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Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2002 11:59 AM

Subject: Silicone 'Lip injection wrecked my health' ~ BBC

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1731000/1731910.stm

Tuesday, 1 January, 2002, 00:25 GMT

'Lip injection wrecked my health'

Plastic surgery can be no laughing matter

Tighter regulations for doctors practising cosmetic surgery privately are

being drawn up by the government in a bid to prevent patients being left

in agony by incompetent surgeons.

The National Care Standards Commission is to be introduced in April.

BBC News Online spoke to one woman who fell foul of the current lax

controls.

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Margo Cameron, 47, from Glasgow, had liquid silicone injected into her

lips 12 years ago, unaware that it was unlicensed for that purpose.

She said: " I had naturally very thin lips, so I always had to use lip

liner to try to thicken them out.

There's no way I would have risked my health if my doctor had warned me

that there was serious side effects associated with the treatment

Margo Cameron " My fiancÈ offered to pay for me to have collagen injections

in my lips for a wedding present.

" I picked a surgeon in Harley Street, London, thinking that was the most

reputable medical place to go.

" After six months of collagen injections in my lips, however, I decided to

give up the treatment, as it was too painful having a big needle injected

in my lips every month and my lips looked the same as they were before. "

On the advice of her surgeon Margo swapped to having liquid silicone

injected in her lips to try to broaden them out permanently.

Cancelled wedding

However, the surgeon failed to warn her that silicone was not licensed to

be injected in the lips, as it had potentially dangerous side effects.

" The surgeon jokingly said that the only side effect I could suffer was

that as I got older I might have a wrinkly face but would have permanently

luscious lips, which of course suited me fine. "

But two months after the silicone treatment had finished, Margo started

suffering from a range of debilitating symptoms which she had no idea were

connected to the silicone treatment.

She told BBC News Online: " After the six months of treatment, I started

suffering from chronic tiredness.

" I went from a very energetic person full of life, to one with no energy

at all. But I had no idea what the cause was. I had to put my wedding off

I was so ill. "

Doctors failed to diagnose the problem. She moved to the States where her

family lived so that they could look after her.

Poor health

Over the next couple of years Margo's health continued to deteriorate.

She was constantly tired, she suffered from severe joint pains, night

sweats, and she had no appetite.

Her vision was often blurred and she suffered from a severely itchy scalp

and her hair started falling out.

While she was in the US she found out that many women who had silicone

treatment suffered similar symptoms to her due to an immune reaction to

the silicone in their body.

" Up until then I had no idea that the silicone could be to blame for my

health problems because I'd never been warned that it was dangerous.

" But in the US many doctors knew that silicone could trigger an adverse

response from the body's immune system which resulted in debilitating

health problems.

'It was a shock'

" I was shocked to find out that the health problems which were plaguing me

had been triggered by the liquid silicone injections.

" There's no way I would have risked my health if my doctor had warned me

that there was serious side effects associated with the treatment.

" I just trusted him because he was a doctor in Harley Street. How I have

lived to regret that. "

The British Association for Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons has welcomed

the new guidelines.

However, spokesman Barratt feared they would not go far enough.

He said: " We welcome tighter controls on cosmetic surgeons to weed out

incompetent doctors, but we are concerned that the new rules may fail to

tackle surgeons currently practising who are insufficiently qualified to

carry out some cosmetic surgery. "