Dear Kaylee,
You are one lucky young woman. You are the most vibrant, healthy and happy 20-year old. You have the world in the palm of your hand. You’re doing great in school, have a fun bar-tending job and a great social life. You’re a genuinely kind person, and just beautiful inside and out. If only you could see this, maybe you could learn to love yourself before it’s too late.

I know you’re struggling inside, but we all have body insecurities that we want to change. I understand that you’re most insecure about your flat chest, but I wish you could just embrace it and love yourself in your natural state. Now, let me warn you: implanting two foreign objects into your chest is going to change a whole lot more than your bra size.

I know how determined you are to achieve your idea of the “perfect body”. Even your plastic surgeon will tell you that a breast augmentation will only improve your quality of life and your self-esteem! It will make your decision to go under the knife that much easier. You will trust your plastic surgeon. Why wouldn’t you? He is a doctor, after all.  You’ll think he really has your best interest at heart. He will assure you that saline breast implants are the safest on the market.  He will silence any of your doubts. The only question he will leave in your mind is whether or not you should go bigger. He will tell you that most women wish they had, and that’s the only complaint he had ever heard from his former patients.

Your surgeon will forget to tell you one thing; you are just a guinea pig. He won’t tell you that there is a major lack of research regarding long-term effects of saline breast implants. It must have been lost in translation, as he will continue to rave about all the ways that breast implants will improve your life. He’s going to tell you that your implants will last a lifetime! Deep down, you’ll know it sounds too good to be true. That’s because it is. You will convince yourself that a one-time fee of $7,500 would be worth the money. It’s a lot of money, but he says that they will never have to be removed, and you will be one step closer to perfection. If you only knew the financial burden that awaits you.

That one-time fee of $7,500 will quickly turn to $25,000 over the next 6 years. You’ll have endless medical bills, treatments, medications, and you will ultimately need a second surgery. You will lose wages in the meantime, as you’ll be far too ill to hold down a job. Oh, and you can forget about being able to continue to bartend. Your arms and your legs will start to go numb randomly, and you’ll lose the strength in your arms and hands to even pour a drink. Besides, how are you going to be able to remember any of the customer’s orders with the memory loss and brain fog you’ll start to experience? Some days the extreme fatigue will the best of you. Just getting yourself ready and driving to work will be exhausting. Soon, you will be too sick and too tired to work at all. If your desire is to become extremely sick, broke, and depressed, then this is definitely the perfect procedure for you.

The new clothes and bathing suits you can’t wait to buy after surgery will end up going to waste. Going to the beach or on vacation will become a distant memory. The sun will be far too bright for your sensitive eyes and skin. Your joint pain will be too unbearable to lay in the sand on the beach or even on a cushioned lounge chair by the pool. The social life you once had and your motivation to get dressed up and ready to go out will become non-existent.  So there will be no need for a new wardrobe; sweat pants and t-shirts will become your new go-to outfit. Save that wardrobe money and get yourself a comfortable bed. You’re going to spend most of your time there.

You won’t have much energy at all at this point. You’ll spend what little you have left traveling from doctor to doctor, searching for an answer. You’ll almost always leave the office disappointed and in tears. You won’t even have the energy to convince your family that you’re not crazy or a hypochondriac anymore.

You will reach a place of desperation. You’ll start to hope that your doctors can find something, anything wrong. You need answers, and the years of suffering without any explanation will feel unbearable. You’ll constantly be asked what’s wrong, and you’ll barely be able to simply mutter “I’m sick”. With what? You won’t know. You will know you’re sick, but no one, including you, will know why for many years to come.

After 6 miserable years, you will learn about Breast Implant Illness (BII), and it’s all going to finally make sense. You may think back to your psychologist clearance appointment just before your surgery, which was a requirement of your trusty surgeon. You’ll wonder why he would send you to a psychologist, while supposedly having no idea that women with no mental health issues prior to implanting are still 12 times more likely to commit suicide versus women without implants. Your skepticism will continue to grow, and that high suicide rate among women with implants will come as no surprise to you by this point. Your depression and anxiety will take over your mind. You will struggle to the darkest depths, darker than you could have ever imagined possible. Some days, you will wish it could all just be over. You will have no quality of life, and some days just won’t feel worth living anymore. You will wonder how your life has completely deteriorated right before your eyes. You will feel fooled by the cosmetic surgery industry. You will wish that you could go back and just love yourself for who you are.

In your own studies, you will find that there is little to no research linking your symptoms to your implants. Adverse effects of your “safe” saline implants will be especially difficult to research as they are approved by the FDA and have been for many years. You will wonder how your own providers could promise you that your implants are not the cause of your illness. How is it even possible for doctors to come to this conclusion with such certainty? Sure, there’s no research that proves that implants make you sick, but there’s also no research that proves they don’t. These surgeons know the risks that their young, vulnerable patients are signing up for, and they will do a great disservice to many other women like you. They will operate on unsuspecting patients like yourself. They will continue to promote what will make you “beautiful”, and you will never have the opportunity to make an informed decision.

This illness is going to leave a debilitating scar on your body and your health. It will scar you emotionally as well. It will affect your ability to maintain a good relationship with your family and boyfriend. It will destroy your financial state and obliterate any career goals. In essence, it is going to ruin your life and you’re going to have to start all over, rebuilding your life piece by piece. This is why, Kaylee, I am urging you to learn to love yourself. Embrace your beauty and your perceived flaws. You are worth so much to so many people and we love you exactly as you are.

Love, Kaylee

See her story on CBS here.

I had my implants put in March 1996 and removed almost 21 years later on January 31, 2017.   I was a Playmate of the year and a successful model, so the decision to have my implants removed was not an easy one.

I had smooth saline on top of the muscle.  I thought I had 350 cc but they were much larger – so large that my explanting surgeon said they were crammed up under my arms.  I drafted this only 3 weeks after my explant surgery, but I already felt better — my vision wasn’t blurred, my severe knee pain was gone, migraines were gone, dizziness gone.  It’s now 7 weeks after my explant surgery and I’m feeling even better — better than I have in over a year!

I got the implants put in because I wanted a larger bust.   I thought it would make me feel more like a woman, and I guess it did in a superficial way! I did love having them, to be honest.  If I knew then what I know now, though, I would have NEVER gotten implanted!

By the time I decided to have the implants removed, I felt like I was slowly dying.  All I could do was lay in bed, cry and pray to God, asking him to please “don’t take me yet..give me one more day”!

Here’s my story.

Around January 2016 I started getting ‘sick,’ but as I look back, many symptoms began around 7-8 years after getting the implants.  For example, my hormones were disrupted, I had fatigue and thyroid issues, I developed allergies to everything, my eyes were consistently red/sick looking.  In fact, I got sick so much that it became a joke to those around me, “You are the sickest healthy person I know”! I would get sick every few months, and the worst part was, each sickness lasted 6-8 weeks at a time, and I’d have to spend my days in bed when that happened.  I couldn’t understand how someone so healthy and fit could get so sick all the time! Then the headaches became more frequent.

Fast forward to around July 2016: I was getting worse.  My vision was blurred and I was dizzy most of the time –blacking out or almost passing out many times a day, hard to breathe, having trouble swallowing or a choking feeling, chronic fatigue, memory issues, heart palpitations.  Even on my ‘good days’ I was at 50% — but I really looked forward to those days.  I’d have between 3-5 good days and I would try to do as much as I could because I knew the bad days were coming again.  I would get my errands done, work done, play with my animals a lot as I couldn’t do much when ‘down’, I’d work out (even though I had no strength to work out, because I figured a  light workout was better than nothing, especially mentally).  On good days I’d also have nail and hair appointments, take my selfies for my social media, etc.

I was seriously worried about my health and my life! I went to the doctor, neurologist, hormone doctor – but they all said “There’s nothing wrong, you are healthy, maybe you are depressed.”  I mentioned breast implant Illness to them and none really believed in it.  So I stopped wasting money for NO answers.

I prayed and prayed and GOD led me to do what was necessary to regain my health.  It was October 2016.  I had to stop driving because I would have such severe panic attacks, and my vision was blurry consistently now.  The dizziness/blacking out was most of the day, the headaches became severe migraines that were so bad that prescription migraine meds wouldn’t even touch them.  My hearing sensitivity was so bad that  couldn’t handle any noise –not the TV, radio, or even people talking.  Hearing my own voice hurt me!  I also had light sensitivity, which made it hard to even look outside — and when I did, I felt dizzier.

I had NO life!! People just didn’t understand.  I had friends say “you’re always sick” or thinking I was just lazy or just ignoring them.  Nobody had heard of breast implants causing illness, but in their defense, I have to admit I had rolled my eyes when my friend brought it up to me a year before when he told me his wife went through it.  At the time, I had thought “I’ve had mine for years, and I’m fine”.

So I stopped talking about it to anyone.  It became my ‘silent’ misery, my nightmare. Lying in bed for 4 months (with fewer “good days” now), I was just praying to live and get healthy again! It was at that point, after a year of researching breast implant illness and doctors who are experts in explanting, that I knew that I desperately needed these toxic bags out of me immediately. I truly think I would have not made it another few months had I kept them.  Or if I had, it would have been pure hell.

Ironically, I had a fitness cover shoot (Muscle and Fitness Hers) in early January 2017.  I was sick (again) with a nasty flu for 6 weeks, and on top of my other symptoms, trying to do a photo shoot – I was an emotional and physical mess. But, I’m a ‘warrior’ as so many of the women are who have been ill because of their breast implants, so I got it done.  The crew that day was amazing — they helped me through the day.  I appreciated their compassion.  That cover came out February 21, 2017, and I dedicate it to all the beautiful women who have suffered from breast implant illness.  Stay the brave warriors you are !

For my explant surgery, I choose a surgeon who knew the importance of removing the entire capsule (as a lot of times it grows into our breast tissue, ribs, etc and has to be scrapped off) –not fun, trust me.  And for me, the cosmetic results were still important, and I felt he was the best choice for me as a healer and an artist.

You can read other stories about me in USA Today and People Magazine. But the most important thing for you to know is that, like many other women, I got sicker and sicker for years before I finally realized that there was one solution: getting my implants removed by a plastic surgeon who was an explant expert.  I am making my story public because I hope that other women can be helped.

My name is Dollie Voyles and I am 48 years old. I’ve had  3 sets of breast implants over the past 21 years, starting in 1995.

I later learned that my plastic surgeon was originally an Ears, Nose, and Throat doctor . When I arrived at his office I was given a form to fill out for my basic health information. I went back to meet the doctor and he told me I would be in pain for a while and wouldn’t be able to move or lift my arms. That is all he told me about any possible risks .

I had smooth saline implants put under the muscle.  Initially, everything seemed fine. However, less than three years later, my right breast implant ruptured. I woke up flat . I called my plastic surgeon frantic and he said it’s ok because it’s just salty water. He had me come back for surgery 2 weeks later . I asked him why and how this happened. He  said he’s never had this happen in his practice and I believed him.

My second set of breast implants, which replaced the ruptured ones, were  textured saline implants . My plastic surgeon said he’s using this style because he thought my body didn’t take to the last kind, and by putting in textured saline it would have something to grab on to. I trusted him. He never talked about risks at this meeting either. Over the next 7 years they became  so misshapen and physically unappealing that I was so embarrassed and felt so self-conscious.

I decided I needed to change doctors and get a new opinion so I went to a more experienced doctor. This doc seemed very confident and I wasn’t going to let him do anything to my body until I get some answers. This plastic surgeon said I needed silicone gel implants instead. He said they feel more real and they don’t change shape. I was immediately conflicted because I did hear somewhere where silicone was bad for your body. He assured me that the gummy bear silicone that he’s going to use  was the best thing for me, especially with all the FDA approvals! I asked him about ruptures and he said if they did it’s just like a gummy bear, it will stay in place. He said they hold their form. I thought well, he’s the professional. Again , I wasn’t given any information about implants and definitely I wasn’t given information about silicone implants .

For over 6 years these ” safe silicone gummy bear implants – FDA approved ”  changed shape and became  painful to touch.  And they burned. I was diagnosed with severe allergies,autoimmune reactions that caused pain in my joints and legs , itchy breasts, shooting pain in my breasts, headaches, anxiety,depression, brain fog and finally fatigue. In 2012 , three years after my silicone breast implants, I suffered a stroke. I was told that the reason for my stroke was that I have low potassium and I’m anemic. These findings was startling since I was completely healthy prior to my last set of implants .

With all my pain in my breast and how crappy I was feeling I finally had an MRI and its showed that I had intracapsular rupture in my right breast. I knew something was wrong. When my explant doc opened me up my breast gushed of silicone and apparently he had to scoop silicone off my chest wall. This was nothing like a gummy bear that keeps its shape.

And it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I learned that gummy bear implants were not FDA-approved in the U.S. in 2009!  Was I in a clinical trial that my doctor never told me about?  I certainly never gave my doctor permission to put experimental implants in my body.