For years we have watched as the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and implant manufacturers used mastectomy patients as "poster girls." Many of these women testified at the FDA saline implant hearings in March, stating that implants helped them recover and move on with their lives.

As mastectomy patients who had implant reconstruction, we object to this. We
have both been damaged by implants, and Pam by a latissimus dorsi flap
reconstruction as well.

We have formed a group, Mastectomy Patients Injured by Breast Implants
(MPIBBI), in an effort to raise awareness about the risks to patients such as ourselves.

Did you know, for instance, that the complication rate of saline implants in
Mentor's 3-year clinical trials (implants which were approved by the FDA) was
43% for augmentation patients, and a whopping 73% for mastectomy patients?
For McGhan it was 71% and 84% over 4 years.

Drop either or both of us a line if you are interested in this subject and
would like to learn as much as we can from each other. (probably via an
egroup which would be accessible via archives or by email)

Plastic surgeons need not apply. Thank you.

Pam Dowd (spudnik@magiclink.com)
Eileen Swanson (sosalines@aol.com)