Jane had a double mastectomy in 2011 and, two years later, had a reconstruction using fat and muscle from her abdomen – the surgeon then reinforced her stomach wall using mesh.

It is a common way that surgeons create a new breast for cancer patients and is known as a TRAM flap operation.

The mother-of-three underwent the double mastectomy when she was in her early 40s and, two years later, had a reconstruction – but she was never warned it would include a surgical mesh implant.

“Within days I knew there was a problem. The pain was unbearable, as if I was being stabbed and the knife was being twisted inside me. That was in April 2013 and I’ve been in constant agony ever since.”

Jane didn’t know surgeons had used mesh until she needed a hysterectomy, six months after her reconstruction, because of suspected womb cancer. The operation should have taken a couple of hours but lasted nearly all day.

“The surgeon later said my insides were in a mess because of the mesh. I had no idea it was even there. I was in too much pain and worried about my recovery to make a complaint. But when I later raised it with doctors, I was basically told it was all in my head.”

Jane is from the UK

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• FACTS
• Around 57,000 women a year in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer. Roughly 15,000 undergo a mastectomy, where the whole breast is removed. About 3,000 a year have an immediate breast reconstruction, while another 1,500 have this at a later stage.
• Surgeons use a variety of techniques to fashion a new breast.
• An increasingly popular method is to use a mesh that works like an ‘internal bra’ to hold the new breast tissue – either a silicone implant or fatty tissue taken from the abdomen or buttocks – in place.
• Another procedure involves taking muscle and fat from the abdomen to make firm new breast tissue, then implanting mesh into the stomach area to strengthen it.