Today, I am 3 years post Explant.
On January 9th 2019, I under went explant surgery , full enbloc, no lift, no fat transfer. One of the biggest and easiest decisions I had to make in a really long time…Heres why.In 2016 I started to notice that I was having a lot of brain fog. My recollection of things and occurrences wasn’t great and at 32 years young, I should be as sharp as a whip. But I wasn’t. Granted, I was going through a lot in my personal life and thus had a lot on my mind, but something was off. Fast forward a couple of years and things were getting worse. Brain fog was in full force, my memory was fading, I was having trouble remembering words and anything really that was going on in my life. I was suffering from constant migraines that were occurring weekly if not multiple times a week, headaches every- single -day!. It was horrible really, but I never put 2 and 2 together that something in my body could be causing all of this. At this point it was 2018, and I was already considering downsizing my implants. They were my 4th set in 15 years of having implants and at 500cc, they was just not practical anymore.
I remember posting about wanting to downsize my implants on Instagram and someone reached out and asked me if I had heard of BII ( Breast Implant Illness). At the time I had not, so I quickly jumped to google and found a few amazing Facebook pages and a ton of information on it. When I started reading the symptoms that these women were experiencing I could not believe it. It resonated with me on every level. I had that “ah-ha” moment where I instantly knew “THIS is what I need to do”.
I consider myself a pretty healthy person. I was strictly vegan for 3 years, use all natural cleaning products and household products, I eat organic, I do my best to reduce my carbon footprint, you know… Health conscious yet balanced; but I never even thought about these plastic bags in my body and what they could be doing to my health. I was shocked and profoundly excited at what I had discovered because I felt like I found the reason behind all of my strange symptoms. I was grateful that someone shared this with me when they did. After reading stories upon stories from women all over the world, all different ages, with these crippling symptoms and misdiagnoses , I felt like I was one of the lucky ones. Lucky that I caught this when I did and had possibly discovered the answer to what was going on with me.
I remember telling Danielle about BII and that I was going to remove my implants. I remember her being super supportive but really worried as to how confident and sure I was of this decision I had made practically overnight. I’ve had large breasts for the past 15 years my life. I LOVED my boobs, and so did she, but you know what she loves even more? ME, and a healthy me at that! I can’t tell you what am amazing feeling it was to be able to make that decision for myself and not feel like I needed to ask permission, or worry what my partner would think of my decision OR of me with no boobs… I’m grateful to have her in my life.. She’s my person and I love her for loving ME unconditionally!
I quickly started taking notes and researching doctors and information. I found a list of the top rated Explant doctors and ended up choosing Dr Lu-Jean Feng who is located in Ohio (at the time I was living in NY). I chose her for many reasons 1. she is Vegan and has a vegan and raw food cafe at her clinic. I read how nutrition played a huge part in the healing and detoxing process after explant and liked that I would have full access to the cafe and her amazing food after surgery. 2. She believes in natural medicine combining eastern and western beliefs and practices 3. Some of the other people who have gone to her have been “ high profile” clients and I too wanted the best of the best. 4. Her before and after pictures. And 5. she was much closer to me than flying all the way to California to see a different surgeon and I just felt like she was the perfect fit for me.
I’m very happy with my choice. Dr Feng is amazing. Her clinic is immaculate, the staff was super friendly and made me feel comfortable at all times, her attention to detail and the amount of time she took at my pre-op really made an impression on me. The fact that her clinic also has a spa and a cafe all under one roof was also a great feature. It’s because of her reputation and work that she is booked up for months in advance. I scheduled my surgery in August 2018 and had my surgery January 9th 2019, and it was well worth the wait.
Below is a passage I wrote prior to my explant that I found on my phone. Some is repetitive to what I wrote above but noteworthy.
“Explant : 1/6/19
In 3 days , I say farewell to something that has given me so much confidence and been a “part of me” since I was 18 years old… my breast implants.
Time and maturity are an interesting thing. There was a time in my life when I felt like boobs gave me power. Where I felt like I needed them to be attractive and to be accepted… to fit in. Now at 33 years old, I’ve reached a place where I am comfortable in my skin. I don’t feel that I need D’s to feel sexy anymore and I can give 2 poops if I’m “accepted” by societal norm or not. But it didn’t happen over night. I didn’t get here without having gone through all that I did. For me, it took having implants first in order to get to a place where I’m ready and able to remove them completely.
I found out about Breast Implant Illness on Instagram. I had already planned on going smaller with my implants the following year but had no idea about all of the women who had been suffering and claiming it’s caused by their implants. The more and more I read, I instantly knew I had to remove mine. For almost 2.5 years I’ve noticed a change in my mental and physical health. On the list of BII symptoms, I related to nearly 3/4 of them and consider myself really lucky to have found out while my symptoms were still somewhat mild. Long story short, I remove them Wednesday and I’m terrified and excited all at the same time. This surgery isn’t like any I’ve had in the past. Usually when you get cosmetic surgery, there’s instant gratification after. Explanting is certainly instant but not very gratifying, to me anyway. I LOVE my boobs, even more so after kids. I do feel sexy with them and I feel so womanly not wearing a bra and being free. If it wasn’t for my health and all thats come out and being discovered about about how toxic implants are, I don’t know if I would be removing them. I don’t know if I’ll need a lift or not. I’ve never had one- I’ll find out on Tuesday for my pre-op appointment.
To answer some of your questions and speculation- No, I won’t be getting small implants put in and No, I won’t be getting fat transfer at this time either. My surgeon won’t even do fat transfer at the time she’s explanting. I’m simply removing them completely and will wait to see how I feel and heal over the next year. I’m totally open to fat transfer only if I am not happy with how I look, but Im going to give my body a chance to heal on it own first.
Anyway, that’s it. I’m scared, I’m excited , and I appreciate all the love and support from my family, friends and complete strangers online . As always, I’m an open book and will share my experience raw and candidly.”
Today was my pre op appointment with my dr @drlujeanfeng. I was there for 3 hours. We did blood work, a breathing test to see how well my lungs are functioning, then spoke about my symptoms and on to my boobs. The facility is amazing. I can’t even begin to explain how welcoming the staff was and how immaculate the facility is. This was the first time I met Dr Feng as she’s located in Cleveland, I booked her purely off of reviews from other girls who have explanted with her, reading about her procedure and the importance of complete en bloc capsulectomy and hearing their experiences with her.
Quick update : I don’t need a lift which is exciting news as it saves me close to $8k alone. I initially wanted one because I was fearful of loose skin, but she assured me I didn’t qualify for it, so I’m trusting her judgement. Clearly she knows what she’s talking about.
I go in first thing tomorrow. I’m feeling pretty calm and excited at the same time. I told Danielle today, that I feel like I’m just along for the ride. Like I’m following my gut as if it’s leading the way. I hope that makes sense.
Here we go !