For the first 10 years, Leslie Zakian loved her breast implants. But then, about 20 years ago, she began experiencing a series of strange and increasingly disturbing symptoms.
“I started experiencing these horrible night sweats,” the 56-year-old said. “I started going to all kinds of doctors.”
But they couldn’t find the cause, so they proceeded with the blood test.
“They would call me back and say, ‘Your blood levels are really low.’ I was sent to an oncologist. I did all kinds of tests. Nuclear, this, that. Nothing [worked]Zakian said.
Then he developed Bell’s palsy, a neurological disorder that causes paralysis or weakness on one side of the face — not once, but twice. Then she said she started having problems with her eyes.
That’s when she heard a friend urge her to research breast implant disease, or BII. She soon found a solution – and realized she wasn’t alone.
Thousands of women from around the world have taken to social media to describe what they call their ‘BII journey’, creating groups such as Breast Implant Illness Warriors, Fake Breasts, Real Women and Breast Implant Illness Mystery.
While breast augmentation is the second most popular cosmetic procedure in the United States according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, a 2023 report found a 12% increase in breast implant removals in 2022.
A very real solution for many
The medical community has yet to recognize BII as an official diagnosis, but for so many women like Zakian it’s very real.
Last December, the New Jersey Realtor came to Miami for her implant surgery – the removal of her implants.
He immediately noticed the first change.
“Normally, I would use these drops every day so I could open my eyes to wake up. I didn’t use the drops. Look at me. I’m getting emotional. I haven’t used them since,” he said.
Her plastic surgeon was Dr. Dev Vibhakar, or Dr. Dev, as he is known in the transplant community.
The founder and medical director of Aqua Plastic Surgery in Miami said his training and practice initially focused on breast cancer and breast cancer reconstruction, as well as graft procedures for cosmetic procedures.
But as the years passed, more and more women came to him complaining of BII symptoms. So, she said, she made the decision to stop getting breast augmentation surgery.
“I just felt it [implants] were causing great harm to patients. I just didn’t feel good putting them on. And I became a big proponent of implants and I almost felt hypocritical if I put implants in someone and I was such a big advocate of removing implants. So I stopped completely,” Vibhakar said.
In his experience, symptoms can take anywhere from three months to 20 years to appear. Vibhakar recommends that women consult their primary care physician first to make sure the symptoms are not related to other conditions.
Not everyone who has breast implants will develop BII symptoms, and there’s no guarantee that removing the implants will help, she said. The only way to find out is to remove them.
“The biggest fear is not feeling better after the operation. Anecdotally, looking back, it’s between 90% and 95% improvement, and that can range in symptoms from improving fatigue and joint pain,” Vibhakar explained.
For Yaglin Medina, who lives in Miami, the improvement was dramatic and immediate.
The 40-year-old had her breast implants removed two years ago, after 17 years. He said before he made this decision, there were many symptoms.
“Chronic fatigue, brain fog. Low libido; chronic pain in the back, neck, shoulders. night sweats. I had swollen lymph nodes,” Medina said. “I had very dry skin. My nails were very brittle. Shortness of breath. You know, it’s just, it’s quite a long list.”
She is a different woman today, she said.
“All 44 symptoms I had are completely gone. And I’m grateful and blessed for that,” she said.
Medina was an elementary school teacher for 14 years, and her experience led her down a new path as a nutritionist and BII advocate. She has created a support group for those dealing with BII and considering having breast implants removed.
“This is a very lonely journey. It was for me. I have shared everything since day one and created a support group where we can help each other. You are not alone. You have a friend in us,” Medina said.
While some are skeptical, others are pushing for an official diagnosis
Not all plastic surgeons agree with the correlation between symptoms and breast implants established by the BII movement.
Dr. Harry Salinas, chief of breast reconstruction at the Cancer Center at Baptist Hospital in Miami, acknowledges that the symptoms are real, but said it’s hard to tell which ones are directly caused by the implants.
“Most of the literature has shown some association with these complaints and breast implants. But a correlation doesn’t mean cause and effect,” said Salinas, who performs about 500 breast procedures a year in a cosmetic surgery office.
Although in his experience, some patients who have implants removed “will get better,” the “vast majority” do not, he said.
According to Salinas, “the only ones who will improve are those with rheumatological symptoms, with autoimmune syndromes that started at the time of the implant.”
“So it’s a very difficult situation because even though for a small subset of the population it’s ‘real’, the majority of patients who complain don’t get better when you transplant them,” he added.
A breast implant is a major surgery and can cost anywhere from $7,000 to $15,000, but most insurance policies do not cover the cost because BII is not an official medical diagnosis.
For years, the National Center for Health Research has been working to get it recognized as a medical condition that would give it a code and pave the way for insurance companies to cover the procedure.
The number of women who decide to have their breast implants removed continues to grow and continue to share their stories online to help others.
In October 2021, the Food and Drug Administration began requiring breast implant manufacturers to include information about the risk of symptoms affecting the whole body in a boxed warning on breast implant packaging.
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