Breast Implant Illness- BII •my journey of explanting my toxic tatas• (2024)

It’s officially NYE! As I’m reflecting on this last year 1 change I made stuck out to me the most…my breast explant surgery!

I’ve had so many women still messaging me about how it went and how I am feeling. I was originally planning to make this post right after the surgery, but I decided to wait it out for a while to make sure that I was giving you ladies the right info.

Before I explain why I had my implants, and what led to me explanting, I want to explain a bit about Breast Implant Illness, also known as “BII.”

There are no studies on how safe silicone or saline implants really are. All implants have a toxic casing. Therefore, these chemicals CAN & DO leach into our systems overtime. How our bodies function in fighting against these toxic chemicals, depends on whether the burden on our immune system affects us or not.

Many women who suffer from BII are not even aware that this is the problem. Instead they are spending thousands of dollars trying to find why they are sick, but haven’t made the connection that their toxic tit* could be causing it all! The lucky ones of us who have made this connection and had the explant surgery completed, have seen improvements in our symptoms and some of us even a CURE for ALL our problems!

My Decision to IMPLANT

I’d lived with being made fun of my whole life about never having boobs, (I was a small 32AA,) so I jumped at the opportunity to have this surgery the second I could. I chose a surgeon in OKC, (Dr. Michell Cohn,) after a quick search online and that was it! On my 19th Birthday (March 2009,) I had 350cc saline implants placed, under the muscle, through my armpits. After surgery I measured at about a 34D.

The surgery was easy, I was so happy with the results and thrilled to no longer be “the girl with no boobs!” I loved the way I looked, the way I felt, and basically everything about the decision I had made…until about 2015 (6 years post implant.)

BII Symptoms Began

I started having headaches, (a headache actually,) that did not go away for almost 3 years! Every day I dealt with pain behind my eyes and in my neck, and terrible fatigue. Over the course of that 3 years, I saw specialists of every kind, from Oklahoma to California trying to get a diagnosis, and no one was able to figure it out. Not even exaggerating, I bet I tried 100 different medications/treatments, and nothing improved. My symptoms were getting worse, neck and back pain, severe orthostatic hypotension, dizziness, confusion, and the list goes on and on. One neurologist even said I needed brain surgery! Of course I went for a second opinion somewhere else, and that neurologist reached the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. I began new meds and did notice some change, but I was still averaging about 3 days a week in bed.

Then one lucky day in March 2018, my amazing massage therapist, Terra Barker, sent me an article about Breast Implant Illness (BII.) I started crying before I could even finish the article; I knew in my heart that this was the explanation for all the pain I had been going through. A quick decision at the age of 19, not knowing the facts about breast implants, had led to all of this trouble.

My decision to EXPLANT

I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice, so I did TONS of research on BII! I don’t blame the surgeons for placing implants- but I do think that women should make themselves aware about what exactly they are putting into their bodies, and the severe risks that come with it. The FDA’s website even shows that women not “If” but “WILL,” have complications. From the research I have seen- and the thousands of women’s stories I have heard- these complications can start anywhere from immediately post-implantation, but the average complications start between years 5 and 7!

–FDA website, info on Breast Implants

I immediately scheduled a visit with Dr. Cohn to have her check my implants and discuss explant surgery. At that visit, I learned so much! No surgeon is going to tell you that BII is the cause of your health problems, because there is no scientific way to “prove” that YET. But I did feel a lot of reassurance since the doctor had her own implants removed as well. We scheduled my explant surgery for August 2018.

The Explant Surgery

You do go under anesthesia just like the implant surgery. Overtime, your body begins to form a capsule around the implants because it is your body’s natural defense mechanism to fight against a foreign body. Because I had mine almost 10 years there was a lot of scar tissue to remove. Note: you want the capsule fully removed! There were a few complications with my blood pressure during the surgery, and I think a lot of my soreness was from them having to rub my sternum so much. Overall, the surgery went very well. It was a quick operation, in and out in under 2 hours. My husband drove me home and I slept most of that day.

-The Ride Home-

Post-Explant

This part was a little more difficult. Typically the recovery time is less than an implant surgery, but I was in a LOT more pain than when I got them placed. I’m a stomach sleeper so of course that made things difficult to begin with. Luckily I had an amazing support team- shoutout to Seth, Camryn, Pam, & Nancy for being my caregivers!

It took me about 3 weeks to get back up to 100% and able to lift my kids, see patients, etc. But even as I was in bed recovering, I could tell a difference in my day to day pain and headaches improving.

Today!

My surgery was 5 months ago, and I cannot even begin to explain how much it has changed my life! Since the day of my surgery, I have had only 1 headache!!! My neck and back pain have almost completely subsided. I can breathe a full breath of air, without feeling like there is an elephant sitting on my chest. I have so much more energy, and haven’t been in bed all day since recovery (except for the latest unrelated viruses that made it to our household lol.)

People are always asking me (and my husband mostly,) “don’t you miss them?” and the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT! I am all for plastic surgery, do whatever you need to do to feel good about yourself. But breast implants were not for me. Never sacrifice your health for something that makes you “look better.”

I love my all nature itty bitties, I feel beautiful, and most of all I feel healthy again!

I believe that BII is real, because I’ve lived it. I believe women should be informed if these facts before they opt for the surgery. And I believe that there are likely hundreds of thousands of women who are suffering through the same things I did, all because of implants. DO YOUR RESEARCH LADIES!

Happy New Year & HAPPY EXPLANTING!