Why Women Get Implants: Our Stories

Lisa G., Lansing, Michigan

I am 35-years old and have three children, all of whom I nursed. My breasts went from a C-cup to an A-cup, and I looked to recover them by getting saline implants after nursing my last child. For me, it was about restoring the sense of sensuality I thought I had lost.

I felt educated and assured by my surgeon and by the information posted by the FDA. I got my implants more than two years ago. Over time, and then more rapidly last year, I became very ill. I felt as though I had the flu everyday and keeping up with my family and daily responsibilities was, with my exhaustion and joint pain, like fighting a wind tunnel. I visited five doctors, all of whom leaned toward auto-immune disorders, but did not like to label it as such. They put me through very toxic treatments, including a form of chemotherapy. They told me that my immune system was overactive, but as I don’t get many viral infections, my immune system must have been attacking the good areas of my body, which I began to believe was a sign of rejection of something foreign in my body. I can honestly say I never felt so sick in my life. I was going crazy because of the misinterpretation of so many doctors. And not being able to keep up with the daily demands of my family and my life, which was slipping out from underneath me, left me psychologically depressed.

Each doctor I consulted dismissed my implants as a possible reason for my sickness because I had no breast pain and, at least externally, I had great surgical results. They told me there is not medical evidence of problems with saline implants. Finally, I started researching on my own and came across so much testimony - unfortunately not from doctors, but from women who had symptoms that matched mine identically. It was then I decided to have my implants removed, as my health is worth more than any level of vanity. I desperately wanted my life back.

I went back to the plastic surgeon who had originally put them in and she was very emotionally supportive of my decision. Today, I am still somewhat symptomatic, but have to say I see improvement on many of the symptoms that once overtook me on a daily basis. I am smiling again. I am laughing again. I am enjoying my family, and most of all, I love my body and I have no regrets. I have made it a priority to educate women about this product I thought could make me feel so good but ended up making me so sick. If I had known the risks, I would have never have had the implants.

[ No Comments ] Posted on 07.26.07 under Why Women Get Implants: Our Stories

Brenda B., Alberta, Canada

I got my silicone gel breast implants in 1991. After nursing my children, I was left with nothing. The smallest bra didn’t fit. The smallest padded bra didn’t fit.

I went to a plastic surgeon to find out about getting breast implants. Never heard of silicone before, wanted saline. He talked me into silicone. Said they were safer than saline and would last a lifetime, only if I was in a car accident would they rupture. So, of course I would believe him, he is the professional.

One year later I started to experience joint pain in my upper mid-back. I’d always kept fit and led a very healthy life style. Went to several doctors and specialists. Could never find out what was causing this pain. I went for years in pain. Told it was all in my head. Stopped going to doctors for a while, tried to deal with the pain. The pain started to spread, causing terrible chronic headaches. Had a hard time breathing sometimes. My body wouldn’t tolerate medication. Back to the doctors and specialists, asking if maybe it could be my implants causing all of this. Every single one said no. I went for an ultra sound. It didn’t show any leaking. So, of course then I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, neuropathic pain. I was even sent to retrain my brain to tell me there is no pain. I did every alternative medicine you can think of. I spent so much money on trying to get well.

Finally I went to get yet another ultra sound done. This time it showed a lot of leakage in one breast and some in the other. Then I was told I had to get the implants removed right away and that Alberta Health Care would pay for the removal. Now you tell me: If Alberta Health Care was paying and I had to get them removed right away, shouldn’t implants be considered a HEALTH RISK?

So back to a plastic surgeon, who still tried to talk me into silicone, that he didn’t think that the silicone was causing my pain. I just wanted them out. My operation was Jan 25. They had to scrape the silicone from the chest wall and breast. It turned out that the other one wasn’t leaking.

Through a lot of thought and more research and pictures of the deformities after implant removal and what I would look like after, I decided to replace the silicone with saline, hoping that saline was a healthy choice. A very hard decision on my part — I was so afraid of being deformed. My husband has been very supportive. It was up to me, he would love me no matter what.

I am not huge, 34B. The reason I had wanted them in the first place was self-esteem, to fit clothes and most of all fit a bra, a padded one even, but in the early 90’s, the smallest padded bra didn’t fit. I felt deformed then. I am a very petite woman — 5 ft. 2 ins. and weigh 114 lbs. My rib cage is 26 inches. So you see, when I lost every thing after breastfeeding, I was very discouraged. Finding a bra was impossible at that time, but now I look at all the bras out there for so many different sizes, and it makes me sick that I had this procedure done in the first place. For I would rather be flat than deformed. So being 46-years old, I felt that my choice was to replace them.

How am I feeling? Well, not as sick as I was, but still suffer chronic headaches. Which, I am still told has nothing to do with the implants. Maybe when I’m in my 60’s, I will be ready to be deformed and make the decision to have them removed, period.

What I would like to say to anyone who is deciding to get implants…. don’t do it! If only I had been told they are not safe and that they don’t last, honestly, I would have never had them done in the first place. Also wouldn’t have had to make the decision whether to look concave or not, after the fact. I would have just stayed flat and healthy and wearing all the new bras they have on the market now. If I only I could have gone back to the way I was, I would have not replaced them.

But to be concave like what I saw, it was so scary.

[ No Comments ] Posted on 07.26.07 under Why Women Get Implants: Our Stories

Terri Lenee Peake, New York, New York

I am a former Penthouse centerfold. I got implants because Penthouse paid for them, and it seemed to be a requirement for the job. I already had naturally large breasts, so being told that I should get implants was a little strange, but my large Double D breasts had sagged at 25 and when you test shoot for a centerfold they want those breasts perkier. When Penthouse advanced me the money for the surgery before I even shot the centerfold, I knew I was going to get in the magazine.

I knew a surgeon in Beverly Hills with the reputation of being one of the best. He told me saline implants were just saline and salt water, so if they ever leaked it would just be like salt water in my body and perfectly safe, because only the silicone was harmful. I didn’t find out until 20 years later from the pathologist report after I had them removed that I was positive for silicone in the breast tissue.

I was shocked. I had expressly never wanted silicone, but found out I had been given double bilumen, which is part silicone and part saline. And all implants have silicone shells that expire and need to be replaced after 10 years. Mine were 20-years old, and one had hardly any fluid still left in it. The other had hardened 18 years ago, which turned out to be capsular contrapture. When I had gone back to the surgeon after the hardening first appeared, he literally got on top of me on the table in his office and used his hands to try to pop it. When that didn’t work he said that it was just scar tissue and not to worry about it.

I had been told breast implants were safe, but I got sick. Going to all those consultations, finally discovering that I had to have the implants taken out, and being told I would be deformed – I heard the word “gutted” – was frightening. I finally found a surgeon who reassured me that I wouldn’t be disfigured. The implants came out in 2004. I then had the residual capsule removed in 2005 on the left side, so I have additional scar on the left on top of my left areola. Luckily, maybe because my breasts have always been large, the breast tissue has filled back out. As a matter of fact, when I went for a breast ultra sound recently because my breasts were very tender which I thought could be additional problems, the doctor told me that, while there might be duct issues, it was also like going through puberty all over again because the breast tissue is so new.

[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 07.26.07 under Why Women Get Implants: Our Stories

Julie B., Louisiana

My name is Julie. I am 53-years old. I was in my early thirties when told about my breast condition. Actually, at that time, I was employed as a nurse by an outpatient ambulatory hospital. We performed all kinds of surgeries every day, including plastic surgery.

One Friday afternoon, the director decided all the nurses needed to go to the Breast Center in our building for a mammogram. Afterwards, one of the surgeons and the anesthesiologist came to me with tears in their eyes, saying, “Julie, you have a very large mass in your right breast. Looks just like cancer.” I was horrified and shocked. “You need surgery immediately, like right now,” they said.

They explained to me the mass was so large that it consumed almost my entire breast. I could not talk, think or move. No other options were given to me. I worked with these doctors and trusted them. Breast cancer is very prominent in my family. I had lost my aunt, two cousins and grandmother. So, the following Monday, the surgery was performed and silicone implants were inserted on both sides. I did not want the surgery, but thought no other choices were available. This was in the eighties, and quite honestly, I had never heard anything negative about silicone. I worked around it all day.

For one year after that surgery, I experienced horrible pain and was sick all the time. So, my doctor and a second-opinion doctor did more tests, after which they said I needed a subcutaneous mastectomy, the cancer lesions were on the other side. No other options were given. So, I had the surgery, which was major because of my weakened condition due to the cancer and my previous surgery the year before. I never returned to work as a nurse because of the pain, weakness and all kinds of other illnesses.

In 1994, I moved to Seattle where I was diagnosed with silicone poisoning. The silicone implants came out, replaced with saline implants. I contracted a staph infection post op, but my doc refused to take the implants out to treat it, because he did not want me to know he had neglected to remove a growth behind the implant, which ended up being full of silicone and staphylococcus. I found out about it a week later from another plastic surgeon who saved my life. He dissected this capsule for 10 hours, but could only remove 75 percent of it, leaving the other 25 percent to just filter through my body. He removed my breasts and informed me of his findings. The debilitation of my body increased.

I have had at least six breast surgeries, thoracic outlet surgery, and eight other major surgeries. My husband left me. I could not work, sold everything to make ends meet and engaged in unending battles with the Social Security Office. I am in the process of detoxifying my body of bio toxins, including silicone, mold, mildew, fungus, candida, etc. My last operation was in May, by a plastic surgeon who had had silicone implants and almost died. Along with the silicone and other toxic waste, she removed my lymph nodes, another capsule, and part of a silicone implant from my chest wall. Detoxing my body will take a long time.

My point is, breast cancer in itself is terrifying and horrible. But, silicone and biotoxins ripping through my body, wreaking havoc on my immune system, is much more traumatic because the diseases continue and the surgery ongoing. Thanks to all of the research and alternative ways of treatment today, women have choices. I was not informed of other choices. My surgeries were based on fear, which caused the inability to think clearly. Please research and study the detrimental effects of silicone.

[ No Comments ] Posted on 07.26.07 under Why Women Get Implants: Our Stories