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Former ‘Bachelorette’ Clare Crawley Is Removing Her Breast Implants Over Health Concerns—Here’s What to Know

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Korin Miller, Health: July 06, 2021

Clare Crawley is opening up about her decision to have her breast implants removed over concerns they’re impacting her health.

The Bachelorette star shared the news in a video posted to Instagram that she titled, “Coming to Terms.”

“I’m sharing this in hopes that it might help others going through something similar feel not so alone,” Crawley, 40, wrote in the caption. “I feel that this was important to share so I can be a resource for anyone going through this as well. I know how being your own health advocate is hard sometimes, and can feel like an uphill battle. This is the reality of life for so many people though! I’m just so incredibly thankful to all the people who are in my life that support me not only in my peaks but in the valleys as well.”

In the video, Crawley revealed that she’s been struggling with persistent medical issues over several years. “I’ve been going through things medically with my body that I have not had answers to, to be honest,” she said. “My skin has been having really bad hives and rash. My whole body is just inflamed and itchy.”

Crawley said that she’s also had “blood test after blood test” and seen several doctors. But test results didn’t give her answers about what is going on in her body.

After having two mammograms and an ultrasound—which revealed what she said were sacs of fluid behind her implants—she consulted with her doctor and decided to have her implants removed. “As much as I love my implants, my body is fighting them and recognizes it as something obviously foreign in my body,” she said, adding that blood tests showed an elevated white blood cell count over the past few years. “My body can’t heal. My body is in fight mode, constantly. It’s exhausting, it’s frustrating. It’s all making sense.”

While Crawley said that her decision isn’t the right one for everyone, it’s what’s best for her. “My health is the most important thing. They are coming out,” she said.

Crawley received messages of support in the comments, including from Kayla Lochte, wife of Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, who shared in March that she had her implants removed over health concerns—specifically she specifically cited as breast implant illness (BII). “Best of luck Clare! Get those toxic bags out,” she said.

While Crawley herself didn’t specifically say that she has BII, she implies it. Here’s what you need to know about the condition—and what to do if you think your breast implants may be impacting your health.

What is breast implant illness, exactly?

It’s important to get this out of the way upfront: Breast implant illness (again, BII) isn’t a medical diagnosis, and there are no hard numbers on how often BII happens.

[….]

That said, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded last year that breast implants should have a “black box” warning to help women make “informed decisions” about potential risks associated with breast implants, including BII, which the FDA labels as “systemic symptoms.” It’s also important to note that BII is different from breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that can develop following breast implants, per the FDA.

BII is tricky to diagnose. “The symptoms women report are pretty nonspecific, and could be related to another illness,” Janie Grumley, MD, a breast surgical oncologist and director of the Margie Petersen Breast Center at Providence Saint John’s Center and associate professor of surgery at Saint John’s Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, Calif., tells Health. “It ends up being that, once we’ve worked out everything else and can’t figure out what’s going on, that’s when we think the issue may be breast implants.”

Research has suggested this is a real health concern. One July 2020 retrospective study published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery looked at 750 patients who had their breast implants removed by a surgeon over a two-year period. Researchers found that patients had “significant and sustained improvement” in 11 different symptoms after surgery. Patients found their symptoms improved within 30 days after having their implants removed.

Another study published in the same journal in January 2019, found that people with silicone breast implants had higher rates of the autoimmune conditions Sjogren syndrome, scleroderma, and rheumatoid arthritis than those who don’t have implants. They also had a higher risk of stillbirth and melanoma.

Why might breast implants make some people sick?

“All breast implants have a silicone shell that also contains various chemicals and small amounts of heavy metals,” Constance M. Chen, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon and breast reconstruction specialist, tells Health. “Some breast implants also have a silicone filling that can leach off an intact implant or spill out of a ruptured implant. The silicone, chemicals, and/or heavy metals in the body can make some women sick.”

[….]

Scar tissue usually develops around the implant inside the body in an attempt to protect it from the “invader,” Diana Zuckerman, PhD, president of the National Center for Health Research who has researched breast implant safety, tells Health. “For some women, the scar tissue provides the protection they need, and they feel fine,” she says. “For other women, their bodies react more strongly, with an autoimmune reaction or other kind of reaction.”

What should you do if you suspect your implants might be causing your health issues?

You should talk to your doctor, Dr. Grumley says. Just know this, per Dr. Zuckerman: There’s no test that can tell if the implants are making you sick while they’re still in your body. But, she says, “if women find that they are developing symptoms that don’t go away, they should consider getting their implants and the scar capsule removed.”

It’s important to see a doctor who has experience in breast implant removal, Dr. Zuckerman says. Not only do they know what they’re doing, they’ll also know to remove the scar tissue that’s formed, which can contain silicone gel. If they don’t, “the chances of your health improving is not as good,” she explains.

[….]

To read the entire article, click here.

My breast implants are making me sick — and I’m not alone

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Pamela Appea, Salon: June 20, 2021

In November 2016, a few weeks after I had breast implant surgery, I came down with an unexpected case of thrush (an unappealing fungal infection characterized by a thick white coating on my tongue). As a Black married mother of two, even though I was still sick, I tried — but failed — to power through and take care of my kids. With intense flu-like aches, pain, and fever, it hurt to eat, drink, swallow, or even open my mouth. I couldn’t properly brush my teeth for several days.

Unfortunately, my primary care physician was on vacation. Panicked, I called the Manhattan oncologist whom I had seen a few weeks earlier. He’d been very kind to me following my DCIS breast cancer diagnosis, unilateral mastectomy and post-surgical treatment. The officer’s medical team could barely understand me when I tried to make the appointment on the phone.

“I don’t think you have thrush — didn’t I just see you a few weeks ago?” he said, trying to put me at ease as I stared at his cheerful neon tie. (I think he prided himself on his fun ties.)

It was torture opening my mouth so the doctor could diagnose me.

“Okay, that’s the worst case of thrush I’ve seen in some time,” the seasoned specialist said. He said he was putting me on antibiotics stat. I asked — or rather, wrote on a notepad, since I couldn’t speak clearly — if there could be any connection between the my immune system and the very new breast implant that was now in my body. The oncologist emphatically dismissed the notion as impossible.

Once he got the results of my lab work back, my physician said there was no evidence of anything wrong; I should bounce back in a few days. “These things sometimes happen,” he told me, smiling as he ushered me out.

While the antibiotics eventually cleared up the thrush, unfortunately I have never fully bounced back. In subsequent years since my breast implants were put in, it became even more clear that something was going on with my immune system. But none of my doctors really listened.

Although it was not formerly recognized by the medical community until recently, Breast Implant Illness (BII) has, in the past few years, finally received attention from both media and researchers. Nicole Daruda founded a Facebook’s support group, called Breast Implant Illness Healing by Nicole, in 2013; now, it boasts over 145,000 members. Daruda tentatively estimates that 50,000 women in the US have BII, although precise research-backed numbers are not readily available

“We are overwhelmed by women trying to join the Facebook group to be educated about Breast Implant Illness,” Daruda said. She estimates that 3,000 to 5,000 women message the group’s moderators every month. To try to meet the demand, Daruda later founded a nonprofit, Healing Breast Implant Illness Society of North America.

Research is just barely starting to emerge on BII. One study, published in Annals of Plastic Surgery in 2020, followed 750 women suffering from Breast Implant Illness over a multi-year time period. Once these women surgically removed their breast implants, the vast majority reported the majority of their symptoms had significantly improved or disappeared entirely.

Awareness appears to be growing, too. A wave of celebrities are talking more openly about breast implants and their health and wellness — including Victoria Beckham, Ayesha Curry, Ashley Tisdale, Chrissy Teigen and others.

A documentary that touches on the subject of BII, “Explant,” is screening right now at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film follows Michelle Visage, one of the celebrity judges on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Visage, a media personality, singer, DJ and actor who was well known for her signature Double-D breasts, found that doctors didn’t take her seriously when she told the specialists her immune system was out of whack. Visage experienced chronic health issues, including Hashimoto’s disease, that she now attributes to her breast implants.

Awareness of BII is crucial given the popularity of breast implants. Since 1998, the number of breast augmentation procedures in the US has increased threefold; now, they are one of the most sought-out cosmetic procedures.

“The desire for breast augmentation seems so powerful regardless of what else is going on in the world,” said Dr. Diana Zuckerman, founder of the National Center for Health Research. “What most concerns me is how reluctant most plastic surgeons have been to make sure their patients know the risks before making a decision.”

Because breast implant technology has existed for decades, many women erroneously believe they are safe.

[….]

In the years after my implant, some of my symptoms mirrored women on support groups I found online, which is how I figured out I had Breast Implant Illness. While symptoms sometimes waxed and waned, I got used to experiencing a host of autoimmune and other symptoms like insomnia, brain fog, extreme breathlessness, cuts that took weeks to heal, rashes, frequent colds and much more.

But BII is no longer regarded as a myth. Many or even most doctors, including plastic surgeon Dr. Anthony Youn, believe Breast Implant Illness is real. Dr. Youn acknowledges it is a controversial topic among many of his fellow American plastic surgeons.

“If you’re happy with your breast implants and you don’t believe they are adversely affecting your health, then there is no need for treatment. If you are sick and believe your implants may be the cause, speak with your primary care physician and a board-certified plastic surgeon about whether explantation may be a possible solution for you,” Dr Youn said. “There are many causes of the symptoms of Breast Implant Illness (BII) that don’t involve breast implants, so it’s often best to rule those out first,” he continued.

In his 17 years of practice in the metro Detroit region, Dr. Youn, a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and The Aesthetic Society, has performed surgery on thousands of women who elected to get breast implants. Anecdotally, he estimates the number patients who later returned to his practice stating they had Breast Implant Illness symptoms is an extremely small percentage.

[….]

Though not all women with breast implants go on to develop Breast Implant Illness, all women deserve education, informed consent, insurance coverage and most important information about potential risks. If, in 2015, there had been an FDA Breast Implant Black Box Warning (which was officially unveiled in late 2020), I honestly never would have gotten breast implants in the first place.

To read the entire article, click here.

Breast Implant Illness: Two Metro Women Say Implants Caused Years of Complications

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Ben Oldach, WHO TV: May 21, 2018.

Breast implants are the most popular form of plastic surgery in the United States. Katie Krug’s followed a botched breast reduction.

“There were quite a few people that asked me when I was in a bathing suit if I had open heart surgery, so it was something that I was really self-conscious about,” said Krug. […]

“About a year later is when I started noticing some really small symptoms. I was tired a lot more, started having some brain fog, started being really sensitive to smells, and then it just seemed like every year it got worse,” said Krug. […]

Both women say they went to doctors who couldn’t figure out what was wrong, all while new symptoms were developing. […] and after doing some research found a Facebook group of 35,000 women, all claiming similar symptoms.

The women in the group believe they are suffering or had suffered from something being called breast implant illness, although experts say it’s a symptomatic reaction rather than an actual disease. […]

Miller and Krug consulted with a local plastic surgeon who performs explants and had theirs removed. They say they immediately started feeling better. […]

Read the original article here.

Woman with Rare Cancer Linked to Breast Implants Seeks to Spread Awareness

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CBS News: July 13, 2017.

[…] The American Society of Plastic Surgeons says around 550,000 women last year received breast implants, but the FDA published a report this year linking a rare cancer to the implants.

So far, there have been 359 reported cases globally, including nine deaths.

The risk is low, but one in 30,000 women with implants could develop it, including one patient who says she is battling the disease and her insurance company, reports CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.

Kimra Rogers was shocked to find a tumor under her arm. […]

Then she learned it was cancer, possibly connected to the cosmetic breast implants she’d had put in 17 years ago. […]

It’s called breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, a rare cancer the FDA says can develop following breast implants, something doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston have been studying for five years.

“This is a type of lymphoma. It is not a breast cancer. It’s actually a cancer that develops in the scar tissue around a breast implant,” said Dr. Mark Clemens. […]

But insurance companies don’t always agree to pay. Rogers says her insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, denied payment for removal of her implants three times, telling her it was a contract exclusion because her implants were cosmetic. […]

But Dr. Clemens said, “We can’t wait months or years till an insurance company say, ‘okay, we’re gonna cover it.'” […]

But if you notice any changes in the implants or your breasts, such as swelling, head to your doctor’s office as soon as possible to have any problems checked out.

Read the original article here.

Former Playmate of the Year on Removing Breast Implants: ‘I Literally Thought I Was Dying’

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Kris Pickel, AZ Family: May 4, 2017.
Karen McDougal
Karen McDougal

It wasn’t a decision Karen McDougal took lightly.

As a former Playboy Playmate of the Year, her career is built on beauty and fitness, but McDougal says her health deteriorated to the point she felt like she was going to die.

In January, McDougal made the decision to explant & have her breast implants removed.

McDougal says she battled health problems – issues she now believes stemmed from her implants — for more than a decade. Her health issues began eight years after she got her implants.  McDougal said she would get sick for six to eight weeks at a time, get better for a month or two and then get sick again.

It became a running joke among McDougal’s family and friends that she was the “healthiest sick person.”

For a decade, doctors failed to diagnose the cause of her sickness.  She said one doctor told her she was suffering from depression. Another told her that her implants looked great there was no need to replace them. […]

I talked to Dr. Diana Zuckerman, the president of the National Center for Health Research in Washington, D.C. She has a long history on breast implant safety.

“From 1983 to 1993, Dr. Zuckerman worked as a Congressional staffer in the U.S. Congress, working for the House subcommittee that has oversight jurisdiction over the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including the FDA,” according to her biography on BreastImplantInfo.org. “She was responsible for more than a dozen Congressional investigations and hearings on a wide range of health issues, including the first Congressional hearings on breast implants. It was Dr. Zuckerman’s congressional investigation of breast implants that first raised questions about the lack of safety data, which led to the FDA requiring safety studies of silicone gel implants in 1991. When the companies did not provide evidence that implants are safe, the FDA restricted their availability in 1992.”

Zuckerman said many studies over the years have been funded by organizations representing plastic surgeons and implant makers, all of which have a financial interest in making implants look safe.

She says the companies and organizations sometimes help shape studies with results that are not scientifically valid.

Zuckerman also said some studies might have been manipulated in a number of ways.

“I’ve spoken with some of the women in some of the studies who said as soon as they started complaining to their plastic surgeon about how sick they were feeling, suddenly they stopped hearing from the plastic surgeon about coming in to continue the study,” she said. “Suddenly, they weren’t in the study anymore. One very effective way to have studies proving that a product is safe is to just get rid of the patients in the study who aren’t feeling well — just stop talking to them and stop asking them how they are.”

Zuckerman said there are additional problems with some studies, including basing data on hospital records when most symptoms of chronic illnesses, such as fatigue and hair loss, do not require hospital stays. Also, many studies are done over short periods of time, between two and five years after the implant surgery, when illness may not start showing until several years later.

Zuckerman says if a woman decides to have her implants removed, there is a specific procedure. The implants must be removed with the scar tissue that forms around each implant, the capsule, still in place.

Read the original article here.

Crystal Hefner Shares The Health Problems Breast Implants Can Pose

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Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes: July 24, 2016.

Crystal Hefner, formerly Crystal Harris and the 30-year-old Playboy model and wife of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, announced the recent removal of her breast implants by […] sharing a post on Facebook that began, “My Breast Implants Slowly Poisoned Me.” She rattles off a litany of health problems that she says she suffered from the implants such as:

  • Intolerance to foods and beverages
  • Unexplained back pain
  • Constant neck and shoulder pain
  • Cognitive dysfunction (brain fog, memory loss)
  • Stunted hair growth
  • Incapacitating fatigue
  • Burning bladder pain
  • Low immunity
  • Recurring infections
  • Problems with thyroid and adrenals
  • Days  when she couldn’t get out of bed

She explains that at first she was diagnosed with Lyme disease and toxic mold, but then learned via social media that her symptoms resembled “breast implant illness.”

After visiting a breast implant illness website and Facebook group with almost 3,000 members, she realized that her symptoms matched. On June 15th, 2016, plastic surgeon Dr Lu-Jean Feng removed Hefner’s breast implants. […] Her Facebook post continues: ”Instantly I noticed my neck and shoulder pain was gone and I could breathe much better. I know I won’t feel 100% overnight. My implants took 8 years to make me this sick, so I know it will take time to feel better. I also have other illnesses to address, but with the toxic bags removed, my immune system can focus on what it needs to.” […]

Read the original article here. 

Crystal Hefner Removes Breast Implants, Says They ‘Slowly Poisoned’ Her

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Chloe Tejada, The Huffington Post Canada: July 21, 2016.

[…]On Tuesday, Crystal Hefner posted an update to her social media accounts, revealing to her fans that she removed her breast implants after they caused several major health problems and bad side effects. […]

“My Breast Implants Slowly Poisoned Me,” she titled her post. “Intolerance to foods and beverages, unexplained back pain, constant neck and shoulder pain, cognitive dysfunction (brain fog, memory loss), stunted hair growth, incapacitating fatigue, burning bladder pain, low immunity, recurring infections and problems with my thyroid and adrenals,” she wrote. Hefner went on to explain that symptoms started a few years ago but she ignored them, despite the fact that she was not feeling well.

“The aches, the bladder pain, brain fog, fatigue. I ignored it, labeling myself a hypochondriac, despite truly worrying that there was something wrong with me. I joked about losing my memory to age, and about getting ‘lazy.'”

As the negative side effects worsened, her work as a model and DJ suffered […]

After announcing that she had been diagnosed with Lyme Disease and toxic mold, commenters said her symptoms were similar to the effects of those suffering from Breast Implant Illness.

She became a patient at The Lu-Jean Feng Clinic in Ohio, where, after discussing it with Dr. Lu-Jean Feng, she had her implants removed.

“Instantly I noticed my neck and shoulder pain was gone and I could breathe much better,” she wrote about how she felt after the surgery. “I know I won’t feel 100% overnight. My implants took 8 years to make me this sick, so I know it will take time to feel better. I also have other illnesses to address, but with the toxic bags removed, my immune system can focus on what it needs to.” […]

Here’s to wishing Crystal a safe, and healthy recovery.

Read the original article here. 

Stephanie March Opens Up About Breast Augmentation Health Scare

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Katie Kindelan, ABC News: June 30, 2016.

Actress Stephanie March, best known for playing an assistant district attorney on “Law & Order: SVU,” has opened up about a dangerous reaction she experienced after undergoing breast augmentation.

March, 41, described the episode in a candid essay she wrote for Refinery29. The actress said she decided to have the surgery during a painful time in her life — her split from her then-husband, chef Bobby Flay. […]

March wrote that just two months after the surgery she experienced complications and learned her right implant was infected and the seams of her scar on her right side had burst. Her surgeon removed the implant and sent her to an infectious disease doctor.

“I [had] a hole in my breast for 6 weeks while I blasted my body with antibiotics. I had the implant put back in. I had another infection and rupture on Christmas Eve. I had it taken out again. I had more cultures and tests and conversations with doctors than I care to recall,” March wrote.

March said she came to the conclusion that her complication was not something anyone could have prevented but that, “I am allergic to implants. Plain and simple. My body did. Not. Want. Them. I kept trying to ‘fix’ my body, and it kept telling me to leave it alone.”

The actress, whose divorce from Flay was finalized in July 2015, ultimately had her implants removed. […]

March told ABC News in a statement she is “overwhelmed” and “very moved” by the “positive reaction” to her article.

Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News Chief women’s health correspondent, said today on “Good Morning America” that even common plastic surgery procedures like breast augmentation are “not without complications.”

“You need to know about these possible complications and they do differ based on the type of implant used, the approach used, the incision and generally the skill and the expertise of the surgeon, although these can happen with the best surgical technique,” Ashton said, adding that March noted in her Refinery29 article she did not blame her own surgeon.

Ashton recommends that patients ask their doctor the following three questions before undergoing plastic surgery: Are you board-certified in plastic surgery? How many of these operations you do per year? What is your complication rate?

“If you think that having cosmetic surgery is going to change your life, it’s not,” Ashton added. “And there’s no such thing as minor surgery. You get a complication, it becomes major real fast.”

Read the original article here.

Janice Dickinson Regrets Getting Breast Implants, Believes It Affected Cancer Diagnosis

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Ali Venosa, Medical Daily: May 21, 2016.

Breast implants are one of the most popular cosmetic procedures on the planet, but that doesn’t mean they’re never regretted. Supermodel Janice Dickinson, 61, told Entertainment Tonight that when her doctor told her she had stage 1 breast cancer, she wished she never went under the knife.

The mammogram technician added it’s more difficult to detect abnormalities in the breasts when a woman has implants, to which Dickinson replied, “Take them out! Take them out, cut them out! Just take them out now!” Luckily, she doesn’t need to undergo a mastectomy, and instead will begin radiation treatments next week. If she had to do it all over again, Dickinson said she “would have never gotten breast implants in the first place. […]

Though breast implants do not appear to increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer, there may be a link between implants and an increased risk of anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). In 90 percent of breast cancer cases, women find a breast lump themselves and bring it to the attention of their doctor. With implants, it can be a little more difficult to recognize changes in the breasts. According to one study, 55 percent of breast tumors were missed in women with implants compared to 33 percent of tumors in women without them. […]

For women worried that a mammogram will damage their implants, Bevers said not to worry: The benefits of a mammogram far outweigh any small risk of implant damage. But if women do have them, they should tell their clinician so that it’s easier for them to spot any unusual changes that may be taking place. Regardless of implants, though, the best defense against breast cancer is to be familiar with your breasts and to attend screenings regularly.

Overall, Dickinson herself doesn’t plan on slowing down. It’s not a “big pity party,” she said. “I am living and I am happy.”

Read the original article here.

Implants, Mastectomies Linked to Problems

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Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press: December 5, 2005.

Breast implants in women who have undergone mastectomies often result in complications that require more surgery, a study in Denmark found.

Over a period of up to four years, about one-third developed at least one potentially serious complication, including thick, tight scarring and infections, the researchers reported. Implant ruptures were rare, with only five reported among the 574 Danish women studied.

Overall, about 20 percent of the women studied required surgery to treat the problems, according to the study by Danish Cancer Society researchers and scientists at the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockville, Md.

One surgeon said in an accompanying editorial that the numbers are “alarmingly high and arguably unacceptable.”

The study appears in the December issue of Archives of Surgery. It was paid for by the institute, which receives funding from the Dow Corning Corp., a former maker of silicone breast implants.

Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women and Families, said the complication rate for implants in mastectomy patients is actually much higher than the study suggests.

Most participants got implants several weeks after breast removal surgery, whereas most U.S. mastectomy patients who choose implants get them when their breasts are removed, Zuckerman said. That method, involving a single round of surgery, is often easier psychologically because women wake up from their mastectomies with refashioned breasts, but it is also more stressful on the body, she said.

Also, she said the participants in the study did not undergo MRI scans, which are the best way to detect ruptures.

“This study is really missing the boat,” said Zuckerman, whose group has opposed efforts to return silicone implants to the market.

All of the women studied got implants, most of them made of silicone.

Silicone implants have been restricted in the United States for over a decade because of fears that ruptures and leakage might damage women’s health. But some mastectomy patients have continued to receive them.

The American Cancer Society estimates more than 200,000 U.S. women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. At least half will have mastectomies, and Zuckerman said about two-thirds of those patients choose some type of reconstructive surgery. […]

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