Nicholas Parkhouse, a consultant plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the McIndoe Surgical Centre in East Grinstead and a spokesman for the British Association of Plastic Surgeons, said the infection rate in the UK would be well under 1%.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Infection risk of breast implants

Hamish Laing, honorary secretary of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) and consultant plastic surgeon at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, said it was a novel idea to make artificial skin that would not only cover the wound but actively fight infection.

BBC: NEWS | Health | 'Modified' skin cells resist bugs

Estimates of PIP implants in each country are based on the number sold to plastic surgeons, but no one knows how many were actually inserted, said Simon Kay, a plastic surgeon at the University of Leeds and past president of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons.

WSJ: Breast-Implant Risk Remains a Fluid Question