Credit card refund for PIP breast implants

A woman who was given PIP breast implants that ruptured has recouped the full cost of the surgery from her credit card company.

She said Lloyds TSB refunded her £3,700 on the grounds that she was sold faulty goods.

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) said the move should offer a "ray of hope" to other patients with PIP implants.

The woman, a hairdresser in her 40s from the Midlands who does not want to be identified, underwent a breast enlargement operation in 2008. She discovered she had been given PIP implants last September when she found a lump and went to a breast cancer clinic.

"I was quite worried, but I was told it was just a rupture of my implants," she said. "It was only later I realised there was a health risk. I was really quite poorly with it."

The woman had the implants removed on the NHS in October and contacted solicitors to see if she could get her money back. Because the company that performed the surgery had gone into administration, she was advised to check if she paid by credit card. The woman said the credit card firm was "wonderful".