A twin has spoken of her guilt after advising her sister to have breast implants that later burst.

Anna Jacomb had breast implants in 2001 – and advised sister Rachel to do the same thing in 2005 after she became envious of her twin's new 34D breasts.

But while Anna's implants have caused her no problems, Rachel's later burst – leaving her in terrible pain.

The twins, who are both 32, signed up to promote a firm called Transform Plastic Surgery after both paying for an operation with the company to boost their breasts to 34D.

Anna had no problems, but Rachel had PIP implants that are now at the centre of a wave of legal claims after thousands of women reported the material used in them was faulty.

Anna, said: "I do feel guilty as I recommended the implants to Rachel.

"It has been so sad seeing her go through all this.

"We are both party girls but this whole thing has knocked Rachel's confidence for six."

Rachel had no problems at first.

But in 2010, her implants burst and industrial silicone leaked into her lymph glands, causing pain and distress.

Rachel is a mother of four and now struggles to breastfeed ten-week-old daughter Bela.

She said: "The whole situation has affected my family mentally and physically.

"The infection took over my whole body and life.

"I had to leave my job as a support worker and I couldn't do anything for several months."

Rachel said her partner Manj had been very supportive.

She said: "Manj said to me he didn't care what I looked like and did everything for me.

"I couldn't bathe myself and I could barely move.

"It really upset my children to see me so ill and had a huge effect on them."

Rachel initially had no problems with her implants but noticed in 2010 that she was starting to lose a dramatic amount of weight and her breasts became swollen.

"I went to visit my little sister in Cyprus in August and had no energy, felt very poorly and didn't want to go out," she said.

"When I got back, my right breast became hot to touch and was boiling. It felt like there was a hot water bottle under my skin."

Rachel said her right breast became five times bigger than her other breast and she went straight to her GP.

She was then taken to Grimsby's Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital and given antibiotics, before going to see a breast specialist in Leeds.

Rachel said: "The surgeon said he had never seen a breast infection so bad and the implants needed to be removed immediately."

Rachel had her implants and right breast removed in September 2010. She said: "There is just a flap of skin left. It has killed my confidence."

Surgeons were unable to remove all of the gel.

In January last year, her left breast became infected and she had to get it drained on a regular basis for months.

"At the moment everything, has settled down and I hope to have the rest of the gel removed and complete reconstructive surgery soon," she said.

Transform Plastic Surgery declined to comment.

PIP is no longer in business.