June 7 2000

BRITAIN

'I saw Trilucent as safe option'

BY ALEX O'CONNELL

ELAINE COOMBER had her Trilucent implants removed last week after five years of pain and acute discomfort.

Mrs Coomber, who founded Survivors of Silicone, explained yesterday that she had had small silicone implants inserted when she was 29. By her late forties they had ruptured, leaving her in pain and with health complications. Because the operation to remove the silicone would remove breast tissue, Mrs Coomber, 54, of Hextable, Kent, was advised to have another pair of implants.

The Transform Medical Group advised her that Trilucent was the safest option. But the expected tenderness that followed her operation in 1995 developed into severe pain and her breasts became inflamed. She had the implants removed before the official warning was issued.

"Those implants did not react well with my body, but I'd be dismayed if women thought all of them were dangerous," she said. "However, my advice to anyone considering having implants would be: 'don't'."

Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd.