Whatever your thoughts on breast implants, they’re still the most sought-after cosmetic procedure in Australia and they can be transformative for confidence and self-esteem.
There is a scarier side however, with more and more women speaking out about how their breast implants led them down a scary path of autoimmune disease, as their bodies attacked the foreign-invader implants.
Although the medical community does not recognise breast implant illness as an actual illness yet and they continue to peddle breast implants as safe, it’s important to remember that they are the very people who stand to lose a helluva lot of money if this knowledge was mainstream (#conspiracytheorists, y’all).
Here’s what you need to know:
Complications
Breast implant illness occurs in both saline and silicone implants and is a very multifaceted illness. Ultimately, breast implants are serious foreign objects implanted in your chest near vital organs and glands, and your body cannot help but respond to the perceived invasion—which sees your body mount an all out war. This can cause immune deficits, immune dysfunction and eventually autoimmune symptoms and diseases, as your overwhelmed immune system eventually switches over to attacking itself instead of attacking invaders.
According to the Healing Breast Implant Illness website, it’s—terrifyingly—not a matter of if your implants will make you sick, it’s simply a matter of when.
The site contends that “breast implants cause endocrine disruption and immune system dysfunction and steadily deteriorate in your body from the first day of implantation. Silicone particles, toxic and carcinogenic chemicals and heavy metals in the silicone damage your body glands, organs and good health processes.”
Symptoms & misdiagnosis
Symptoms of breast implant illness vary from body to body—depending on genetics, the type of breast implants and the progression of the illness. However, it appears that a few symptoms show up a little earlier and more consistently.
These include fatigue and low energy, cognitive dysfunction (brain fog, memory loss), headaches, joint and muscle pain, hair loss, recurring infections, swollen lymph nodes and swollen glands, rashes, IBS and problems with thyroid and adrenals. For a more exhaustive list of symptoms, see this post.
Because so many of these symptoms are similar to other types of auto-immune conditions, a lot of precious time and money is often wasted on different types of testing, which leaves your compromised body at greater risk of exposure to disease.
There are no definitive tests to prove that breast implants are the cause of symptoms and illness. While there are medical tests that can be done in order to investigate common problems caused by breast implants, silicone, silicone chemicals, heavy metals and biotoxin from fungus and other infections, many women show just inside normal ranges in regard to testing and are still very ill and symptomatic.
Removing the risk
Due to the nature of the illness, the only cure is to explant your breast implants; aka, removing from the body. A timely and proper explant of breast implants (and the capsule tissue that grows around the breast implant) is the most crucial step to recovery.
Alongside this, detoxification is integral—to allow for the removal of the dangerous chemicals that have leaked into the body through the breast implants.
The worrying news? It’s not a guarantee. This source says that many thousands of women who were symptomatic and had proper explants feel that they recovered their health within one or two years after removal of implants, however some women heal faster than a year and some take longer than two years to heal. Unfortunately, there are some women who do not recover their full health or quality of life due to breast implants and some women who develop deadly diseases due to breast implants.
