PIP implants: 'I needed them out and replaced'

Quoted by <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-16980697"><u>BBC News</u></a>: &quot;Elizabeth Cathey, 24, from Worcester, chose to go under the knife to get Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) implants aged 18.<br /> <br /> She said: &quot;I was bullied at school, it was horrible and I was so unhappy - I just needed them for me and to start my life at that point.<br /> <br /> &quot;The operation didn&#39;t change me, it just brought out who I knew I was underneath already - I just didn&#39;t have the confidence to be who I knew I should be without them.<br /> <br /> &quot;They were the turning point that made me who I am - I couldn&#39;t come out of myself before.&quot;<br /> <br /> Ms Cathey, a model, said the recent cancer scare linked to PIP implants prompted her to get them replaced.<br /> <br /> She had the operation on Friday at the BMI hospital in Droitwich where the surgeon found they were leaking silicon.<br /> <br /> Speaking before the operation, she said: &quot;I&#39;ve had no physical problems but I&#39;m fed up of thinking about them, but they were the first thing I thought about in the morning and the last thing at night.<br /> <br /> &quot;I didn&#39;t have a scan to show if they&#39;re ruptured - if they had, I&#39;d want them out and if hadn&#39;t ruptured I&#39;d still want them out.<br /> <br /> &quot;I just needed them out and replaced asap.&quot;<br /> <br /> Clinical need<br /> <br /> The Harley Medical Group, where Ms Cathey had her original operation in 2006, said they had already contacted more than 5,000 people who had PIP implants.<br /> <br /> The group said its first priority was to look after patients with confirmed ruptures.<br /> <br /> The NHS has said 40,000 women in Britain have had PIP implants and it will remove them if private clinics refuse and there is a clinical need.<br /> <br /> Ms Cathey said she paid &pound;4,200 for her first operation and paid &pound;3,100 to go privately for the replacement implants using money she has borrowed from friends and family.<br /> <br /> She said she wanted them replaced because they had become part of her.<br /> <br /> &quot;To me they&#39;re not just implants, they&#39;re me now - I&#39;ve grown quite attached I suppose and it was not an easy decision to have them in the first place.<br /> <br /> &quot;I feel like I dealt with all those issues [around having them] six years ago and I&#39;m having to deal with them all again now.&quot;<br /> <br /> Ms Cathey said there is a big misunderstanding around the reasons why women have breast implants.<br /> <br /> &quot;It makes me angry - just because it&#39;s under the cosmetic surgery category, it&#39;s still a medical procedure, it&#39;s still a big operation where you&#39;re put to sleep and it&#39;s painful.<br /> <br /> &quot;It&#39;s wrong to judge us, it&#39;s deeper that wanting them to make you look good - I did it to live my life.&quot;