The clinic abroad won't answer my emails and I never kept the implant card. How do I find out what implants I actually have?

#1sixweekspost(Joined Feb 2025 · 19 posts)October 12, 2026, 8:03 pm

This is slightly embarrassing. I had mine done abroad a few years ago and the recovery was fine, but I'm now thinking about a consultation at home because one side has started to feel a bit firmer. The first thing the surgeon's secretary asked for was the make, size and serial numbers of my implants.

I have no idea. I think I was given a card at discharge, but I've moved house twice since and it's gone. I've emailed the clinic three times over a fortnight and heard nothing. Is there any other way to find out, or am I stuck?

#2Jade R.(Joined Mar 2025 · 18 posts)October 13, 2026, 7:14 am

Check your old emails and the photos on your phone from that week. I found a picture of my sticker sheet that I'd taken in the hotel and completely forgotten about. Also any invoice from the clinic, mine had the implant brand on it.

#3meglifts(Joined Apr 2026 · 13 posts)October 13, 2026, 12:37 pm

Try ringing rather than emailing, and in the morning their time. Our clinic's emails went to a general inbox that nobody seemed to read, but the patient coordinator answered on WhatsApp within a day.

#4Claire AshleyAdmin(Joined Aug 2024 · 231 posts)October 14, 2026, 7:48 pm

sixweekspost said:

Is there any other way to find out, or am I stuck?

Not stuck, but jade-r and meglifts have the order right: the details can only really come from records, so start with everything you might have kept without realising.

Search your email and phone photos for the discharge week, the invoice, the operation note, and anything with "implant" or the brand names on it. Then ring the clinic rather than emailing, ask for the patient coordinator by name if you had one, and ask specifically for a copy of your operation note and the implant details, including serial numbers. If you paid through a facilitator or agency, they sometimes hold a copy of the paperwork too. If none of that works, tell the surgeon at home: they can still examine you and, if needed, arrange imaging, which can tell them a lot about the implant and how it's sitting, even if it can't give them a serial number.

I very nearly left the clinic without my card, so I'm not judging. It's why I now tell everyone to collect the card and their records before flying home, because the details matter for scans and safety notices. A side becoming firmer is worth that consultation whatever the paperwork says, so don't let the missing card hold it up.

#5sixweekspost(Joined Feb 2025 · 19 posts)October 15, 2026, 8:30 am

Jade you genius. Found a blurry photo of the sticker sheet in a "random" album from that year. Brand, style and size readable, serial numbers half readable. Sending it to the secretary and still trying the clinic by phone for the rest.

#6sixweekspost(Joined Feb 2025 · 19 posts)November 2, 2026, 6:55 pm

Update. Clinic finally replied to a phone call and emailed the operation note within two days. Consultation done last week: surgeon thinks the firmer side is early capsular contracture, mild, and wants an ultrasound before deciding anything. Very glad I had the paperwork before I walked in. Now in a folder AND in three places in the cloud.