Fw: One Woman's experience getting implants

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----- Original Message ----- From: Patty

Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 7:34 PM

Subject: One Woman's experience getting implants

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=003864436460684 & rtmo=pNps3Use & atmo=rrrrrrrq & pg=/et/97/4/26/efboob26.html

Enhancing my figure: the real cost

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Maxine Heasman is fighting ignorance about cosmetic surgery. Lydia Slater explains What women want to know

MAXINE Heasman had never been happy with the size of her breasts, but her 1994 holiday video was the last straw. "I looked awful, all saggy and droopy," she says. "I was too embarrassed to watch it. That was when I finally decided to have breast implants." At the time, Maxine, 36, worked for a healthcare company, where her job involved identifying areas of medical research in which educational material was lacking. She was thus ideally placed to obtain all the available information on breast enlargement surgery. There wasn't much. "I got hold of a couple of books on cosmetic surgery, and read every article I could find. I was lucky, because with my medical background I knew what to ask a surgeon," she says. "But I kept thinking about other women who didn't have the benefit of my knowledge and wondering how they had managed." After a year of research, during which she interviewed three surgeons, Maxine went under the knife in January last year and woke up with her bust enlarged from a 34A to a C. Surgically, the operation was a complete success. So Maxine was unprepared for her subsequent depression. "I read so many magazine articles where women who had breast enlargement surgery said they were delighted with the way they looked. Although I had been warned that depression was a possibility, I was under the impression that I would feel great," she says. "But my new breasts looked absolutely huge and swollen, like two cones, and pointed outwards." She was also unprepared for how sore and battered she would feel. "I could hardly move. I felt bruised and heavy, and found it difficult to breathe." Her boyfriend, , was equally dismayed. "I saw her face fall when she woke up and thought I was witnessing the beginning of the end of a happy, stable relationship," he says. "I was upset, but I tried not to show it." Over the following few weeks, Maxine's depression worsened. "The pain was terrible. I couldn't even turn to pick up my watch from the bedside table. I couldn't dress by myself, bath, wash my hair or flush the loo; even walking was difficult. Thank goodness was there to look after me. The worst period was about three weeks after the operation. The stitches had been removed, but the scars still looked terrible. I was convinced I had been butchered." Her relationship with was put under serious strain; Maxine blamed him for allowing her to go ahead with the operation. Sex was impossible and, for a while, the couple slept in separate beds. "I expected the operation to make me feel sexy and womanly, but it was quite the reverse," Maxine says. It took three months for the swelling to go down and for Maxine to be reconciled to her new shape, which she now loves. "What made me angry," she says, "is that, although I found out as much as I could, I still wasn't properly prepared for the experience." Spurred on by the lack of information, and her unexpected depression, Maxine decided to write a pamphlet to help other women. "I was thinking of a few sides of A4, but there was so much to write about," she says, looking rather apologetically at the 78,000-word opus, The Ultimate Cleavage. Written over eight months, it is an entertaining and thorough work, which deals with every aspect of the operation, ranging from medical (an analysis of the risks and benefits of silicone) to practical (choosing a surgeon) and emotional (how to tell your friends). Even has become involved and is currently writing an appendix for concerned husbands and boyfriends. The couple are looking for a publisher. According to Maxine's research, between 60,000 and 90,000 people each year spend £200 million on cosmetic surgery, and 55 per cent of the operations performed are for breast enlargement. Although the operation costs £3,000, many women will make huge financial sacrifices to improve a figure they see as unfeminine. The controversy about the safety of silicone implants, now banned in America and Australia, may explain the publishers' reluctance. Maxine opted for silicone after she subjected several implants to an intensive test. "I flung them on the ground, stamped on them and tried to stab them with scissors to make sure they were strong," she says. "I was pretty sure they wouldn't leak unless someone actually stabbed me in the chest." The book is brought to life by anecdotes from more than 100 women who contacted Maxine after reading about her experience in a women's magazine. Their lack of knowledge is an eloquent argument for Maxine's crusade. "I could hardly believe what some of them were telling me," she says. "I was shocked to find that almost half knew nothing about capsular contracture." This is a condition in which the scar tissue around the implant contracts and becomes hard, sometimes requiring a further operation. It can occur in around 10 per cent of cases. Similarly, 13 per cent of the women Maxine surveyed had no idea whether their implants were positioned in front of or behind the chest muscle. Maxine has drawn up a lengthy list of questions that every surgeon should answer. "Having your breasts done is sheer vanity," she freely admits, "but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done properly."

Maxine can be contacted at PO Box 1084, Mitcham, Surrey CR4 4ZU. Copies of The Ultimate Cleavage are on sale privately for £35.