Venezuela's newest shortage: breast implants

[Zorro]

Venezuela's chronic shortages have begun to encroach on a cultural cornerstone: the boob job.

Beauty-obsessed Venezuelans face a scarcity of brand-name breast implants, and women are so desperate that they and their doctors are turning to devices that are the wrong size or made in China, with less rigorous quality standards.

Venezuelans once had easy access to implants approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But doctors say they are now all-but impossible to find because restrictive currency controls have deprived local businesses of the cash to import foreign goods. It may not be the gravest shortfall facing the socialist South American country, but surgeons say the issue cuts to the psyche of the image-conscious Venezuelan woman.

"The women are complaining," said Ramon Zapata, president of the Society of Plastic Surgeons. "Venezuelan women are very concerned with their self-esteem."

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-newest-shortage-breast-implants-040319918.html

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Maybe they could do some PSA's

to encourage Venezuelan women not to tie their self esteem to breast size? (Although knowing how these things go, 'self-esteem' might be the wrong translation for what was actually written, I suppose.)

[Bacchus4.0]

2. They could go to Colombia, there are plenty there

I assume they can't access dollars though in order to pay.

[valerief]

3. Oy vey, another fuckin' non-problem in the world.

They should save the quality implants for mastectomy victims and tell everyone else to put on their big girl pants and stop whining.

[hack89]

4. Why shouldn't they expect to buy things they have purchased for decades?

Refusing to graciously accept economic decline is not whining.