New warnings have emerged amid the global PIP breast implant scare as reports reveal the same contaminated gel was used in male chest and testicle implants.
It has also come to light that thousands of British women are potentially at risk from faulty breast implants produced by PIP but sold under the name Rofil M-implants.
The French company, PIP, that manufactured contaminated breast implants affecting an estimated 40,000 women in the UK, also made male chest and testicle implants filled with the same contaminated gel, it was reported in French newspaper, Le Parisien.
After speaking to a number of former PIP employees, the publication said: “Following an investigation, it has emerged that PIP also sold chest and testicle implants for men.
“Ex-employees of the firm Poly Implants Prothese are thought to have made these male implants from the same silicone gel used in female breast implants.
"No information is available on how many were made but we understand they were all sold for export abroad."
Further concerns have been raised as up to 5,000 British women have also received implants produced by PIP, under the name of Rofil M-implants, the Telegraph reports.
Last February, The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) issued a statement to alert British women who have travelled to Europe seeking low-cost breast enlargements, that PIP implants had been sold in European countries such as Belgium, Poland and the Czech Republic under re-branded name ‘M-Implant’.
BAAPS President Fazel Fatah said: "At the BAAPS we reiterate our advice and extend this to women who may have gone abroad for their surgery: contact your clinic to find out what type of implant you have. If, as has occurred in some cases, they no longer can be contacted, visit your GP for advice.
"It may be necessary to have a breast scan, and if there is a rupture both implants should be removed. Yet again this demonstrates the difficulties patients who travel abroad for cheaper cosmetic surgery may have when something goes wrong with the treatment."
Fazal, who is sitting on the government’s review panel, says that there are no firm figures in the UK on what proportion of devices have ruptured and that there could be a “significant number” of silent ruptured implants that nobody knows about, the Press Association reports.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said in a statement today that concerned women fitted with Rofil M implants should contact their GP or surgeon.
"Our records show that no Rofil M implants were supplied to UK clinics and hospitals
"If women have been abroad to have Rofil M breast implants, our advice to them, as for women with PIP implants, is that they should not be unduly worried.
"If they have concerns they should speak to their implanting surgeon or GP."
The breast implant scandal has also raised concerns about other areas of the plastic surgery industry. Former President of BAAPs, Nigel Mercer, warned The Huffington Post UK that dermal fillers could be the next big industry scandal.