CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — More than 300,000 women in the United States get breast implants each year. The majority have no significant problems, but for the approximately 40,000 women who have them removed each year, breast implant disease is a familiar term.
‘BII’ is not recognized as an official medical diagnosis and there are no specific tests to find out if you have it, but many women believe that this is exactly what they have been suffering from.
“The amount of pain and suffering that I had to go through, and I was going to, like, clinics and hospitals and doctors and saying, like, I’m so sick,” cried Naomi MacArthur.
Felicia Murphy is also a breast implant patient and said: “I started getting sick straight away.”
“The joint pain was so bad. I felt like every bone in my spine was going to break,” explained Julie Christie.
A list of symptoms experienced by some women around the world. The term “breast implant disease” is described as a variety of systemic symptoms that follow breast reconstruction or augmentation with breast implants.
Some experts believe that “BII” symptoms may be caused by an autoimmune or inflammatory reaction to the implants, but “BII” is best explained by the women who say they experienced it.
“Mine started with headaches, migraines, palpitations, anxiety, my hair was falling out, my eyelashes were falling out, I had rashes all over my body, I had severe pain, fatigue, insomnia,” said Robyn Towt.
Towt is a household name in the “implant” community. Implant surgery or breast implant removal has taken the internet by storm.
Hundreds of thousands of women share their personal stories of pain, frustration and fear.
Towt is a breast cancer survivor and co-founder of the Global Patient Advocacy Coalition. She has worked with lawmakers in the state of Arizona and shared her personal testimony before the FDA.
“Women have to look at the benefits and the risks and make a decision that’s best for them, but it has to be an informed and informed decision, and for the most part, that hasn’t happened in the last 35 years,” she said. . added.
The FDA now requires breast implant manufacturers to provide a patient decision checklist.
In this leaflet, patients are warned about the risks that can arise from implants, including systemic diseases, breast implant disease and the risk of cancer, specifically “breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma”.
Dr. Theodore Foley is a board-certified plastic surgeon based in Camp Hill at Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery of Central Pennsylvania.
“So a few months ago I had heart pain, like chest pain. I went to the ER, I went to the cardiologist and they couldn’t find anything wrong with me, and then I printed out this list of ‘BII’ symptoms,” explains Jasmine Brooks.
“It may not be the breast implants that are causing the problem, but sometimes it is the breast implants, and some patients do manage their symptoms by removing the breast implants,” Dr. Foley said.
Not everyone is lucky enough to receive such clear information.
“I felt like I was going crazy because six surgeons and an MRI said I was fine,” Andi Lew explained.
Andi Lew is a slimming and wellness coach and author of “Treasured Chest.”
“Women have to go through, as you do, this deep shame and then the revelation of why we did this to ourselves, because unfortunately there was an international narrative that you did this to yourself,” she said.
