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A Lincolnshire woman removed her own breast implants using a 99p scalpel and £2.50 bottle of Dettol because she couldn’t afford the surgery.

Tonia Rossington, 49, from Skegness had the F-cup implants installed in 2004 but started to hate them not long after she had them enhanced after she lost weight.

She pleaded with her doctor to have them removed, but was told the NHS would not fund the surgery unless the implants had ruptured, had left bad scarring or were causing severe pain.

But she could not afford the £3,000 bill to have them removed privately, so the desperate mum-of-three started to think about performing the surgery herself.

“At that time, all the big boobs were in fashion and I’d had three children and thought: ‘I want big boobs’," she said.

“For a time, I thought they were great but that soon wore off.

“As I lost weight they just looked ridiculous. Plus, I’d lost some of my own breast tissue, so they’d started to sag really badly.

“A year later I started to think ‘Oh God, I’ve got to have these for the rest of my life’

She wrote to her GP and said she was suffering depression and anxiety linked to her implants and also told him she had considered taking them out herself.

But a reply letter simply detailed the only ways that surgery could be performed on the NHS in her area - if the implants were ruptured and causing severe pain or if there was capsular contracture, where extreme scarring forms a hard shell around the implant.

So Tonia began to think about doing the job herself. She even mentioned it to one of her daughters, who naturally assumed she was joking.

She said: “When I started thinking about doing it, I googled it.

“There was only one lady who’d tried in America, but she only got one out before she passed out and went to the hospital.

“I was only working part-time and in this country explant is a lot more expensive. I just couldn’t afford it.

“The NHS only do it in really severe circumstances, like if one’s ruptured. You need a really valid reason and you can be on the waiting list for years unless it’s a serious emergency.

“Even if I’d had gone with the NHS I knew it would be a long wait and I’d got it in my mind that I just wanted them out there and then.”

(Image: Triangle News)

Unable to cope with the discomfort any further, the part-time cleaner went into Skegness and bought a small bottle of Dettol, surgical gloves and a knife from a DIY store on March 16.

Then using a painter and decorator’s blade, she carried out the procedure after watching a YouTube video showing her how to do it - and says she didn't feel a thing.

“At this point I was still thinking “Are you mental?” she explained as what she was about to finally hit home.

“I was still trying to talk myself out of it. I kept saying to myself ‘Don’t be crazy. You’re not thinking straight.’

“I went upstairs, I got the mirror in front of me. I sat there for a while and thought I’d just cut a little bit to see if it hurts.

“I put the ice underneath where the original scar is. I lifted my boob up and held the ice there for five minutes until I couldn’t bear it any longer.

“After a bit I pinched the skin and I couldn’t feel anything. I just got the knife and I did a tiny little incision on the original scar tissue and I couldn’t feel a thing. I thought ‘Oh, this doesn’t hurt - great!”.

(Image: Triangle News)

She traced the line of her 14-year-old scar, not going further so she wouldn’t hit any major veins or arteries, before cutting through fat and scar tissue until she began to see lumps of silicone.

“God it was awful. The implant had clearly ruptured," she said.

“There was all this jelly which was my fatty tissue. It sounds disgusting.

“Then I came to something that looked like a pocket, which I’d read about. You get a breast pocket which forms around the implant. I came to that and thought ‘I’ve got to get through this now.

“That took ten minutes to get though but there was still no pain. Seriously I’m not joking, there was no pain. It was unreal.

“I was looking at myself in the mirror thinking ‘I’m dreaming this. Am I really doing this? Then I saw the implant and that’s when the adrenaline kicked in.”

She then grabbed the silicone to remove it but realised it had ruptured.

“As I pulled, a chunk of it came off in my hand and that’s when I panicked. I thought, I’ve got to get this out of me now. I have to do this.’

“There was silicone everywhere. It was just turning to mush”.

She pushed down on her implant and the remaining implant popped out before repeating it again with her left implant, which was intact and came out immediately.

Afterwards she put on some makeshift dressing, held in place by a bra, and drove herself to Boston Pilgrim Hospital.

Before leaving, she left her husband, who was working a night shift, a note to say she’d had to go to A&E but not to worry.

(Image: Triangle News)

On her arrival, the A&E staff believed that she had removed her contraceptive implant, but doctors couldn’t stunned when she said: “No, my boobs!”

Saline was squirted into the ruptured side to remove the excess silicone, and her dressings were changed before she was discharged at 1am with no stitches as it was thought the scars would heal themselves.

Since then she has had a scan at Pilgrim Hospital’s breast clinic which showed that none of the silicone is still inside her body and her scars are healing well.

(Image: Triangle News)

She said: “I’m not ashamed of what I’ve done. I think it raises awareness of exactly how desperate some ladies can get.

“If I want to say one thing, it’s don’t get implants, ever. I see these adverts on TV for MYA and these girls bouncing around on horses saying, ‘I got breast implants and my life is great!’

“And I just think ‘You’ll regret it!’ I wouldn’t advise anybody to get them.

“And once you’re desperate to get them out, you basically get ‘Well you paid to have them put in, so you should pay to get them out.’”

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She said that the stigma attached to removing transplants and the cost to the NHS made her decide to try elsewhere.

Having had time to reflect she said: “To be honest I think the NHS should only pay for explants in emergencies.

“I probably saved them thousands. The nurses at the hospital even said that in A&E, trying to lighten the mood.

“Now they’re gone I love it. I’ll be honest, they don’t look pretty… there’s a lot of saggy skin.

“But I would never have implants again. They were the worst mistake I ever made.”

However, medical opinion is that it should never be performed by someone who isn't qualified.

Plastic surgeon Dr Naveen Cavale, of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), said it was possible that the previous surgery had affected the nerves at the bottom of Mrs Rossington’s breasts, prevent her from feeling pain.

But he added that performing an explant at home was extremely dangerous, with a risk of hitting arteries and causing excessive bleeding, and infection.

He said: “She has been amazingly lucky to get away with it.”