Illegal breast implants

11:41 PM

Breast augmentation - About illegal breast implants


I have found few Chinese made cohesive gel implants when I conducted revision surgeries abroad.

I thought that China is a great country, because, it can make such fake products. There was a logo ‘Shanghai’ at the back of this fake Chinese implant.



Chinese cohesive gel implant from a foreign patient 
who received breast augmentation in Shanghai, China 3 years ago


It is not wrong to say that all the medical devices and the products that we used are all from the western countries. All the breast implants are from either Europe or US.
But, Chinese people do not consider western products good enough. They have such pride that their technical ability is not bad compared to those of the western countries. They are the followers compared to US or Russia in satellites or rocket physics but they still have good technical skills.




However, one can question Chinese techniques except for a few areas in the medical industry. The biggest problem is that the land is too large with great population so the political powers can only reach so much. It is difficult to know who is making what in that large country. This is why the Chinese people also do not rely on their Made in China products although they have much pride in them.

For the same reasons, I as a doctor, do not trust Chinese medical related product. There is no national restriction or certification on these medical products. This is a big problem.







Anyway, I was curious about this Chinese implant so I kept on touching it and compared it with other implants from US / Europe. There is not much difference in the products if you look at it vaguely, however, there are many problems that you can recognize.

First, the appearance of the exterior texture is not stable.
If you look at Mentor’s product, the texture is smooth and slippery. Allergan’s texture is a little bumpier but is smooth also.

However, this Shanghai implant is not uniform in appearance (similar to hair that you have not combed).

Also, it seems that there is shortage of gel in the implant. There needs to be enough gel within the product in order to maintain the shape. There are some doctors who think that there should be excess amount of gel. The Chinese product looks alright from the outside, but there is not enough gel on the inside.



As I conducted the revision and took out the implant, I have observed that there was much sticky liquid in the implant pocket. I think that the cohesive gel might have leaked out from the implant and this is why there weren’t enough gel in the product.

I do not want to judge this Shanghai product badly without any evidence. Also one cannot think that China is far behind Europe.
But, if the doctors in China are still using their local products today, they need to report their evaluation on the implants. There is not one report on this Shanghai implant. Nothing about collapse rate, capsular contracture rate, revision rate, etc….

Such implants without any data cannot be used in the actual cosmetic surgery.
Currently there are 4 products; Polytech from Germany, Mentor and Allergan from US, and Sebbin from France; imported to our country. All have been evaluated and used by many doctors.


KIES-U Mongolia Surgery room


Today, I posted on how I felt about the Chinese implant.
I don’t think that there is any doctor who uses this uncertified product in Korea but there are many news on it so I do not know what to say about it.


This is all for today.
Thank you very much.

You Might Also Like

0 개의 댓글

Like us on Facebook