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November 8, 2013

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Cancer-causing breast gel used in filler injections

WOMEN going to beauty parlors for filler treatments are being injected with a banned breast implant linked to cancer, local cosmetic surgeons warn.

Surgeons say they have had to deal with the aftermath in dozens of patients who went to parlors for anti-wrinkle and facial procedures.

Instead of being given legitimate dermal fillers to remove wrinkles and plump up tissue, they were injected with polyacrylamide gel.

Polyacrylamide gel, which was injected as a breast augmentation treatment, was banned by the State Food and Drug Administration in 2006.

More than 300,000 women who had been injected with it suffered health problems, including infections when the gel leaked to other parts of their bodies. It is also linked to breast cancer.

However, some beauty parlors use the banned gel as it’s cheap, passing it off as legal treatments like hyaluronic acid, a popular filler absorbed by the body.

“Cosmetic injections like Botox and dermal fillers are popular,” said Dr Tang Ling from the No. 455 Hospital of People’s Liberation Army.

“But anyone seeking such treatments must go to hospitals and medical clinics. Staff at beauty parlors have no license and may cheat customers with banned products,” warned Tang.

Doctors try to remove polyacrylamide gel when it leaks but complications arise when it bonds with the patient’s tissue.

 




 

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