New guidelines have been issued for doctors performing breast implant surgery in NSW. 

“We have seen class actions, breast implant illness and women dealing with ongoing pain,” Anand Deva, the head of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Macquarie University and co-author of the guidelines, has told reporters.

“These guidelines put a bottom line on safety. Doctors need to get proper, educated, informed consent from patients and make sure women have regular check-ups so problems are picked up early,” he said. 

“Too many patients regret implants.”

Australians have raised thousands of allegations of botched surgeries that left patients in extreme pain, triggering a wide-ranging review by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). 

It is expected that the NSW guidelines will help pave the way for the national regulator to assess the standards of care of doctors across the country. 

“It is the first time any state has had a comprehensive breast implant guide available in a public document that clearly states what we expect medical practitioners to do, and how we expect doctors to behave,” says Professor Mark Ashton, former president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons and a co-author of the NSW guidelines. 

“It helps patients understand what they should be asking when they go for that first consultation.”

The new standards include a minimum of two in-person consultations with patients, ultrasounds and mammograms conducted pre- and post-operation, cooling-off periods, and the reporting of implants and adverse events into the Australian Breast Device Registry, as well as ongoing surveillance of breast implants after surgery.

One of the major issues is a lack of transparency about individual medical practitioners and their qualifications. In fact, any GP, dermatologist or person with a medical degree can call themselves a cosmetic surgeon.

“There is no transparency that some doctors are just unskilled in certain types of operations. We hope guidelines like these will be implemented Australia-wide,” Professor Ashton says.

“Guidelines are helpful, but they aren’t legally enforceable. We need AHPRA to have real teeth to punish outliers in cosmetic care who are performing surgery outside the guidelines of accepted medical care.”

The new guideline is accessible here.