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.