Personal Stories


Augmentation Patients

  • Yvette M. I knew my implants had to come out. The pain I was experiencing was not normal and after months of being deathly ill and seeing multiple doctors without any real diagnosis or explanation for all my symptoms and pain, I was DONE. I choose my health over implants any day. 
  • Kaylee Silcox: A Letter to My 20 Year-Old Self Read Kaylee’s letter to herself when she was twenty years old before she decided to get breast implants to improve her self esteem.
  • Karen McDougal Read the story of another Playboy Playmate, Karen McDougal who removed her implants after they made her sick.
  • Tammi H. Getting my implants removed was the best decision I ever made. My worst decision was getting them in the first place. My body apparently has been fighting these foreign objects for at least 10 of the 12 years that I had them, causing a major autoimmune response.
  • Dollie Voyles 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.
  • Jamee Cook In 1998, I made a decision that changed my life forever: to get breast implants. It wasn’t anyone’s decision but mine. I was a confident young woman, but I guess felt like my femininity was lacking due to my AA breasts. Hindsight sure changes our perspectives, though.
  • Chandra DeAlessandro My name is Chandra DeAlessandro. My 27-year struggle with “Last a Lifetime” implants has been a long journey.
  • Mary McDonough From 1971 until 1981, I portrayed Erin on The Waltons. I was told that bigger breasts would make me sexier. I was advised to get breast implants, but I was reluctant. I carefully considered it, asking the doctors all the usual questions about risks. The plastic surgeon told me that they were safe and would last a lifetime.
  • Kacey Long I received my saline breast implants when I was 19.
  • Sharon Schwengler I was implanted in 2005 and explanted 2 months ago. When I was considering implants, I asked my plastic surgeon what complications could occur. He simply said capsular contracture or they could rupture or leak

Reconstruction Patients

Christina Avila– I started to discover I had a long list of breast implant illness symptoms that I had always attributed to various aspects of my cancer treatment. But, they were getting worse, not better, as time went on.

Kimberly Bowles – I’m happy flat, and I’ve never regretted my decision.

  • Raylene Hollrah I am Raylene Hollrah, a 2-time cancer survivor by the age of 40. Here is my story.
  • Pam Noonan-Saraceni I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a radical mastectomy in 1978. I was just 25 years old at the time.
  • Carolyn Wolf There were no problems in the beginning. By the seventh year, burning, blister-like growths started on my neck and boil-like growths on my forehead. Sixteen years after, three days were spent in ICU because of severe burning chest pains.
  • Carol Remshard In 1974, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a radical mastectomy. I had six weeks of radiation, and six months later, I had another six weeks of radiation because of a recurrence.
  • Karen Mackenzie I had a double mastectomy when I was 30 years old – this was after I had to endure 9 operations to remove various lumps caused by abnormal cells in my breasts. A few months later, I had silicone gel breast implants inserted.