In 1996, at a age 25, I choose to have my breasts enhanced to feel more like a woman. My implants were smooth saline placed on top of the muscle. I loved having bigger breasts and defiantly felt I looked sexier but in time it cost me my health. After several years of chronic sickness and symptoms that matched others with BII, I decided being healthier was sexier then big boobs and had an explant on January 31, 2017.
Many of my symptoms began 7 years after getting the implants. They included hormone decline/disruption, adrenal fatigue, thyroid issues and migraines. I developed allergies to numerous things, my eyes were consistently red with dark circles and I got sick so much that it became a joke to those around me, ``You are the sickest healthy person I know”!
At the beginning of 2016, besides chronic illnesses, my symptoms increased to include blurred vision, daily dizziness, blacking out, restricted breathing, a choking feeling, chronic fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations and severe migraines.
I saw several Dr’s, including a neurologist and hormone specialist, but they could not find anything wrong with my health and suggested that maybe I was “depressed”. A friend suggested several times that I may have Breast Implant Illness, I had never heard of this and thought he made the illness up. I remember rolling my eyes and telling him, ``I've had mine for years, I'm fine``.
Extreme noise and light sensitivity were my newest symptoms in October 2016, along with severe panic attacks, blurred vision and debilitating migraines that kept me bedridden most days. I no longer went to the gym, nor could handle spending time with family and friends, I was becoming a complete recluse and felt like I had NO life! Implant Illness was now seeming like a realistic diagnosis for my declining health. As dramatic as it sounds, after laying in bed for several months praying to live and get healthy again, I knew I desperately needed those toxic bags out of me!
I chose Dr. David Rankin to do my explant because he knows the importance of removing the entire capsule that is believed to contain toxins from the implants. He took the additional care to remove the scar tissue that had grown into my breast tissue and ribs. It literally was scrapped off. Additionally, my cosmetic results were still important and I felt Dr. Rankin worked both as a skilled surgeon and an artist to assist me on my journey of improved health and feeling good about how I looked.