“MY BREAST IMPLANTS GAVE ME CANCER”

IMAGINE BEING TOLD YOU HAVE CANCER. THEN FEELING THAT YOU BROUGHT IT ON YOURSELF BY HAVING COSMETIC SURGERY. IT’S THE STARK REALITY FOR A GROWING NUMBER OF WOMEN BEING DIAGNOSED WITH A RARE FORM OF CANCER CAUSED BY TEXTURED BREAST IMPLANTS. ONE OF THESE WOMEN HELPS WH INVESTIGATE THE NIGHTMARE AS IT UNFOLDS…

“You will feel this,” says the nurse. “The anaesthetic doesn’t reach the bone.” Anna Nightingale hears the words, but doesn’t fully take them in. It’s early January 2019 and the 43-year-old artist has spent the past two weeks coming to terms with the news that she has cancer in the lymph node under her right armpit.

She’s had surgery to remove growths, but the doctors are now recommending chemotherapy. The latest procedure – extracting a piece of bone and testing fluid from the marrow – will determine if the cancer has spread to Anna’s bones. “It was torture – the worst pain I’ve ever experienced,” she says. The thought running through Anna’s mind as, screaming in agony, she gripped the bar of the operating bed? You did this to yourself.

Anna is one of a small but increasing number of women who have been diagnosed with breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that’s caused by textured breast implants. Cancer is a devastating diagnosis for anyone, but, for those with BIA-ALCL, there’s an added layer of anguish driven by frustration that this diagnosis could have been avoided and the shame that it was caused by a conscious choice they made to change their bodies.

Inflation rate

It’s difficult to gauge how many women are in Anna’s position. The data available suggests a tiny proportion of women with textured breast implants will develop this rare cancer. According to figures collated by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, a total of 735 cases have been identified worldwide as of July 2019.