Sale of used breast implants online on the increase in Russia as women battle economic crisis

Russian classified advertisement platforms have been reporting a noticeable increase in the number of used breast implants being sold online, the country’s media reported.

The popularity of breast implants has been steadily dropping in Russia, with plastic surgeons reporting that breast augmentation surgeries have dropped by about 40 per cent over the last decade.

But what really caught people by surprise recently was the increase in the number of classified adverts for used silicone implants flooding the Russian internet in recent months.

“I gave birth,” “I’m fed up with them,” “They made me feel unattractive,” “My body hurts,” or simply “I want to at least get some of the money from the surgery back,” are some of the reasons listed by the women selling their breast implants online.

But while most of these reasons explain why the women decided to have them removed, only one of them explains why they are selling them, which has led some analysts to suggest that the bizarre trend can be connected to Russia’s current economic woes.

Fluctuating exchange rates, declining purchasing power, the withdrawal of Western banks and large companies from the Russian market, and the current fuel scarcity have all had some effect on all but the richest of Russians.

Some of the citizens are trying to make ends meet by selling whatever prized possessions they still own. More worrying still is the fact that some of the sellers come from affluent parts of Russia.

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The BAZA Telegram channel reported that high-end used breast implants are being sold online for three or four times less than their original cost.

For example, Mentor implants, originally priced at $1,820, are being sold for $455, while Motiva implants, originally priced at around $2,600 are listed for $390.

But just in case that kind of bargain sounds too good to be true, people should know that probably no surgeon would agree to work with a used silicone implant.

After removal, they retain a lot of biomaterials from the original owner, and the material’s properties make it impossible to boil the implant or clean it properly with formalin.

Experts warn that using another person’s implants could lead to tissue necrosis, or even death, as there is a high likelihood that your immune system will reject an implant featuring another person’s biomaterial.