person:ignacio sousa

  • In Venezuela, lining up for removal of #implants - Philly .com
    http://articles.philly.com/2012-02-05/news/31027301_1_breast-implants-silicone-breast-enlargement-surgery

    CARACAS, Venezuela - The office of plastic surgeon Ignacio Sousa is so packed that women are lined up outside the door. College students in their 20s, homemakers in their 40s, middle-class office workers: Nearly all are fearful that their #breast implants may be leaking.

    Thousands of women worldwide are consulting their doctors about health concerns that have sprung up since December because of faulty silicone breast implants made by the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese, or #PIP. In some cases, the implants filled with industrial-grade silicone have split open, prompting growing demand for their removal.

    “It’s like a snowball,” said Sousa, who has been receiving dozens of patients every day since the news broke that French authorities recommended removal of the implants.

    The scandal has hit beauty-obsessed Venezuela particularly hard. An estimated 16,000 Venezuelans have the implants, one of the highest figures among Latin American countries, along with much-larger Brazil, where about 20,000 women have PIP-made implants.

    #cdp