Committee publication · Report · 18 February 2026 · HC 869

Large Print – 11th Report – Cosmetic procedures

Inquiry: Health impacts of breast implants and other cosmetic procedures

Government response deadline: 18 April 2026

Summary

The Women and Equalities Committee's 11th report examines safety in cosmetic procedures, focusing on breast implants, non-surgical treatments, cosmetic tourism, and body image. It finds regulation has failed to keep pace with demand, exposing patients to inadequately trained practitioners and harmful procedures. The report demands mandatory breast implant registry participation, a ban on high-risk liquid BBL procedures, new licensing for non-surgical treatments, and strengthened post-market surveillance of implants.

Key findings

47,000 UK women received substandard PIP breast implants; over 13 years later, many report ongoing physical and psychological harm, but official guidance claims no long-term health risks based on limited research.
Breast Implant-Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a rare immune-system cancer, affects approximately 1 in 12,187 implants; textured implants carry higher risk, yet the UK refuses to ban them despite France and Australia restricting them.
Breast Implant Illness is not formally recognised as a diagnosis, leaving affected women dismissed by clinicians; two-thirds of women show symptom relief after explantation, but research remains inadequate.
Non-surgical cosmetic procedures operate in an unregulated 'wild west'—treatments occurring in Airbnbs, garden sheds, and toilets with no requirement for practitioner qualifications; high-harm procedures like liquid BBL have caused fatalities.
Young people increasingly pursue cosmetic procedures driven by social media, filters, and edited imagery; a 2024 survey found 27% of 11–16-year-olds and 48% of 17–21-year-olds would consider procedures within 20 years.

Recommendations

The Government should mandate recording of all breast implant and explant procedures and adverse outcomes in the Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry by end of 2026, with annual publication of adverse outcome data by implant type.
Ensure improvements to the Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry are not delayed by NHS England reorganisation; work with practitioners to improve ease of use.
Introduce a mandatory cooling-off period of at least two weeks between initial consultation and breast implant surgery to allow patients time to consider risks and alternatives.
NHS should remove PIP implants from women who request explantation, as per existing NHS guidance, not deny such requests.
Post-surveillance regime for breast implants must include regular testing of approved implants to ensure continued compliance with safety standards, preventing undetected substitution of substandard materials.
Government should increase transparency on medical device approval by publishing the evidence base underpinning approval decisions.
Liquid Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) procedures should be banned immediately without further consultation due to fatalities; a licensing system for lower-risk non-surgical procedures should be introduced within this Parliament.
Evidence-based body image and social media literacy programmes should be adopted into school curricula to tackle growing pressures on children to alter their bodies.

Tone

Critical

Topics

public-healthmedical-devicespatient-safetyregulationbody-image

Key actors

Sarah Owen, Professor Michael Coleman, Professor Prabath Nanayakkara, Professor Carl Heneghan, Dr Alison Cave, Professor Aidan Fowler, Rieka Taghizadeh, PIP Action Campaign

Notable line

“Regulation has not kept pace, allowing inadequately trained individuals to carry out high risk procedures, often with devastating consequences.”

Key Quotes

“Even if the implants are removed, silicones from the implants can be detected in women's blood for years afterwards. The silicones enter the body and leave very slowly indeed.”
— Professor Michael Coleman · On persistence of silicone compounds in the body following breast implant removal

“Obviously we are continuing to look at any evidence as it emerges, but we have no current evidence that PIP implants carry greater risk of either cancer or other symptoms than any other breast implant.”
— Dr Alison Cave · MHRA's position on PIP implant safety risks

“Anybody who says no evidence is basically saying we've systematically failed to take this seriously and collect the right data and the right evidence. This is an area that is under- researched.”
— Professor Carl Heneghan · Criticising the MHRA's claim that there is no evidence of PIP implant health risks

“I remain traumatised, I will never be able to live a fulfilled normal everyday life. PIP breast implants have affected my life.”
— Leanne Schofield · PIP implant patient describing 22 years of physical and psychological harm

“The problem with BIA-ALCL is that you have to look for it to find it. When most private clinics remove the implant and remove the capsule, they do not check it under a microscope.”
— Professor Prabath Nanayakkara · On under-reporting of BIA-ALCL cases due to lack of microscopic examination

“Most patients who come to us are frustrated and angry, and I understand that because they have been sick for, let us say, 10 years. These women lose their jobs, they lose their relationships, they are divorced, they are about 50 years old, and they have nothing.”
— Professor Prabath Nanayakkara · On the impact of Breast Implant Illness on women's lives

“No scientific link between breast implants and these symptoms has yet been identified, however, many women who identify as having these symptoms experience varying degrees of relief after their implants are removed.”
— Marc Pacifico · BAAPS President on Breast Implant Illness and symptom relief following explantation

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗