Today we made payments for two UK ladies to have their PIP implants removed and replaced. This could not have been accomplished without the tireless fundraising of our friend Tina and her generous MFI supporters. Tina selflessly fundraised for women in great need while she personally was dealing with capsular contracture. Thus, we have invited Tina to create her own account and raise funds for a revision.

Although Tina’s pay if forward for PIP account will close, it was a successful endeavor. Fundraising for a charitable cause directly through MFI has never been done before. This was a watershed event and we appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience throughout the process. Allowing Tina to utilize MFI for a different outcome made a huge difference to two women in need (Rebecca and Sue). Below I’ve attached a letter of gratitude from Sue Coates, one of the women who will undergo surgery on June 13th, because of your assistance. We’ll conduct a follow up interview with both Sue and Rebecca after their operations.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello MFI,

My name is Sue Coates, I am one of the ladies you have offered to help with the removal & replacement of PIP implants.

I found out in January of 2012 that I have PIP implants, and I must say the news came as a very big shock. After several letters from my local NHS hospital I was seen by a consultant, who offered no help at all. I was devestated and didn’t know where to turn.

I contacted a PIP implants help group on Facebook, where I met Antonia Mariconda, Tina, and other supporters. They offered assistance in getting a removal and replacement, which has been wonderful. I really dont know where I would be without the support of our small group of wonderful women.

As for my upcoming surgery, I cannot stress to you how greatful I am for your kind donations. This has been such a hard time for my family and I, but your generosity and Tina’s fundraising has made such a difference to us. I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I am an emotional girl but when I got the call telling me about your support I nearly fell off my chair. Honestly, I cried quite a lot, which is no surprise considering what was being offered to me.

What you are doing is a wonderful thing, and if there is anything I can do in return then please dont hesitate to ask.

Thank you again you are a truely wonderful people.

In Slate, Jezebel.com staff writer Lindy West has an interesting review on a new book by Florence Williams that came out this week: Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History. According to West, the book offers a comprehensive social, cultural, medical, and scientific history of the human breast, with writing that is “scientifically detailed yet warm and accessible.”

An excerpt from the review:

Williams’ journey begins when, alarmed by a news article about toxins in breast milk, she decides to get her own milk tested. And, surprise! It’s packed with toxins—specifically, chemical flame retardants—that Williams is funneling directly into her baby. (“Well, at least your breasts won’t spontaneously ignite!” her husband jokes, because that’s exactly what you want to hear when adjusting to the news that you’re a human baby-poison factory.) This sends her down a rabbit hole in search of deeper understanding of her own anatomy— into the evolutionary history of mammals, to Peru to investigate nursing and weaning, back to the first breast augmentation surgery, and all over the world to interview more boob experts than you can shake a pasty at.

And she discovers that breasts are complicated. Impossibly so. She learns that it’s the breast’s permeability that make it such an evolutionary powerhouse (lots and lots of estrogen receptors help human puberty occur at the optimal time; nutrient-rich breast milk makes for giant brains)—but that same permeability is also, partially, what causes one in eight women to develop breast cancer. Our breasts make us great but they also make us vulnerable, and you can’t help but come away from Williams’ book feeling a bit helpless. (Self-examinations! Self-examinations are key!) While she makes the story as dynamic as possible, there’s no escaping that this is science journalism—there are lots of PBDE levels and octa-203 and penta-47 and dioxin and “lobule type 4” and other such enemies of lively prose. But that’s OK—there are enough surprises and genuinely horrifying learning moments to keep a reader (especially a lady-reader), uh, latched on.

The review concludes with “Five Things I Learned About Breasts From Florence Williams’ Breasts,” with West taking a comedic approach, surprisingly, without undermining the book’s implications. Parting quips aside, the book appears to delve into uncharted areas of breast science and sociology, offering a fascinating exploration of the past, present and future of breasts, and what we can do to save them.

Amazon.com, I’ll take two please.

You can read the full review here: Your Breasts Are Trying to Kill You.

[ From slate.com (via: boingboing.net) ]

One of America’s top providers of streaming adult content and one of the biggest names in the business teamed up this week to raise awareness about breast cancer and they took that mission all the way to the streets of Manhattan. Riding across the Big Apple in a vehicle dubbed the Boob Bus by Pornhub.com, adult film star Bree Olsen and a team of medical professionals offered free breast exams to women for a few hours on Tuesday.

Apart from Olsen, passengers on the the “Boob Bus”, as it was dubbed by PornHub, included Dr. David Shafer of the American Board of Plastic Surgery who lectured customers on conducting examinations of their own and screening services free of charge.

[ RT Question More ]

A breast augmentation procedure marketed to women as the “lunchtime boob job” has been withdrawn by manufacturers due to concerns it could mask signs of breast cancer.

The Macrolane gel used in the £2,500 treatment makes it more difficult to spot tumors in standard mammogram scans, doctors say.

The procedure was marketed as the “lunchtime boob” job because it takes just 45 minutes and boosts breast size by a cup.

More than 5,000 British women chose to have the filler as an alternative to surgery, despite the fact that the treatment is unregulated because the gel is not officially classed as a medicine.

Over the past decade, tattoo artist Vincent “Vinnie” Myers has created three dimensional nipples and areolas for around 3000 women who have undergone breast cancer surgery.

Myers uses precisely mixed pigments that create a perfect three dimensional illusion of the real thing, which he says is “far more rewarding than anything else I have ever done.” The 49-year-old artist revealed to the AFP. “When it’s completed and they see the final results, most women feel very emotional because they realize: ‘The thing is over, I’m whole again.’”

Having spent the last ten years of his career concentrating on post-op cosmetic tattoos, Myers is truly amazing at what he does. You can view some examples (NSFW) of his reconstructive tattooing on his website here. He’s so good at what he does that he has recently been asked by the revered Johns Hopkins Hospital to work for its Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Department.

Some hospitals also offer post-mastectomy tattoos, but Myers told the AFP they are typically carried out by nurses with no more than “a couple of days” training. It takes Myers about two hours to complete his work, during which he determines the color, the size, and the shape of the areolas of each patient.

[ From: jezebel.com ]