My Explant Story & Breast Implant Illness

My Explant Story & Breast Implant Illness:

I'm not even sure where to begin this story of mine.  Let's just start with SURPRISE!!!  I've had breast implants for over 13 years!  I got them in December 2009, 6 months after I stopped breast feeding my youngest and had lost a ton of weight really fast.  I literally weighed 105 pounds and nursed her for 13 months, so I was FLAT chested!!! I did some research about implants and did not find much except that saline was the safest option versus silicone.  All I knew was that this was due to if there was a leak or rupture, saline would not be harmful to my body.  They make you feel all safe about things and say they have a lifetime warranty, but that's only on the bags themselves if they rupture.  They also say that they are pressure tested and very unlikely to rupture.  So the only thing past that, that I was concerned with was finding the best doctor to do the job and to not die during surgery since it was elective!  I did consultations with 5 doctors and chose Dr. Buckspan in Green Hills, right outside Nashville, TN.  He was wonderful and did a fabulous job and I was very happy with them and the look even up to my explant surgery!  To be 100% honest, I did not want to have them removed at all!  But the reason I chose to was 100% for my health.  If you've been here since I started this blog then you will remember that I have had lots of health issues for many years.  In the beginning they were all a mystery and I was on a mission to find answers and feel better!  When I targeted my gut health and blood sugar balance I started feeling so much better and really felt like I was good to go for many years.  Then some things started creeping up slow at first that were a bother but I could deal with it!  I first heard of breast implant illness in 2018 when Dani Williamson was interviewing one of her patients who had just explanted on her instagram channel back when it was IGTV.  At the time there weren't many symptoms associated with BII and I didn't have any of those listed, so I dismissed it and moved on.  Then in May 2020, I got this really dry spot on my face between my eyes and it would not go away no matter what I did!  Then it became more like a rash and then it spread on my face.  Then in November I had a spell of high blood pressure out of no where.  I managed to get it under control with breathing techniques for about a year and then my kidneys started hurting and the BP was so high I felt like I was going to stroke out!  I saw a cardiologist and he ran every test on me with no answers.  He sent me for a CT scan with and without contrast of my kidneys to look at the renal arteries and adrenal glands. Everything looked and appeared normal.  He referred me to an endocrinologist and she ran more tests and labs and again, all normal.  After dealing with this for 6 months, I started having bad join pain in my feet.  This was so miserable because I am a fitness instructor and a health coach and here I am falling apart even though I am doing all the things to be healthy.  BUT... I had these toxic bags in my chest that had been there for 13 years.  A friend of mine came on instagram and shared that her implants had been recalled linked to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  She shared the link to find out more, so I of course clicked it to read about it.  As I was reading I went to find my info to see if mine were on the list.  They were not but I did have the same brand, Natrelle, made by the same manufacturer, Allergan.  You can read more about that here: https://www.breastimplantcancer.org/blog/allergan-implant-recall/

So with that information, it was close enough for me to know that due to my family history of breast cancer, I needed these things out!  So then I began my research to chose the right surgeon to remove them.  When you get implants your body starts to form a capsule around them because they're a foreign object and the body does this as a way to protect itself.  This capsule is very vascular and must safely be removed as a whole with the implants inside.  Once the capsule with implants inside are removed then the capsule can be removed from the implant.  This is call a total en-bloc capsulectomy.  If you are in the Nashville area, Dr. Nicholas Tarola in Murfreesboro is who I used because my original surgeon had retired. It's also important to have a surgeon that believes in BII, because it is not yet recognized as a medical diagnosis.  

This is me on the way home from surgery.  Looking a little pale but feeling pretty good actually!

These drains were with me for 8 days and let me tell you, they were NOT fun!  But necessary to get all excess fluid out of my body so that it didn't get infected or make me really sick!

Found this on another gals social media and thought it was pretty funny!  

Day 2 post op, I've showered and got all wrapped up again!  These boho overalls were the best!

These are ingredients of the silicone shell which all implants have!  Even saline!

I had about 28 of these symptoms on this list here!

I still have the drains, but have moved into a soft surgical bra here!

Not sure why but the rash on my face seems to be coming back.  Can you see the bruising on my chest?

This is where the drains are inserted and they bothered me so bad because they felt like they were up against the rib bone.  I went back to the wrap to hold them more in place because even to breathe deep hurt because it moved them and pulled on the stitches.  These suckers were about 12" inside of me!

This rash on my face seems to fade at times and then flare back up at times.  I guess it's part of the detox.

Ok, so here are the capsules around the implants after they were removed, and then implants removed.

Another list of symptoms

Finding encouragement from other women who have also explanted like this on social media is the best!

As of today writing this I am just shy of 4 weeks explant date!  Can't wait to see how things are improving at the 3 month mark!  

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions and I will do my best to point you in the right direction, or answer them to the best of my knowledge!  I am in no way saying that you NEED to explant if you have implants, just sharing my story for anyone who has been sick and has been told everything is normal and you feel like you're crazy because you don't feel normal at all!  The FDA agreed to put a black label warning on all breast implants in 2018 I believe, but the problem is that most patients never know about this warning.  New laws today are trying to be passed that requires the Doctors to inform all patients about the risk so they can actually give an informed consent to have the surgery performed.  

I encourage anyone interested in learning more about the history of breast implants and their known problems and health risks and issues since the 1960's to watch the documentary "Explant" with Michelle Visage.  You can watch it on Amazon Prime Video, Paramount +, and YouTube (primetime subscription).