Explanted and No Regrets, Just Wish I'd Had the Courage to Do It Sooner - London, GB

Wow - has it really been three years! I meant so many times to come back on here and update but the time has just flown by! I guess part of me avoided this site because I was afraid of my weaker side being sucked into to all the surgery stories and that I'd start convincing myself another surgery was a way to solve my problems with life in general. I feel a bit stronger now I guess - older and wiser lol - I've most definitely been there and done that anyway!

I don't have any regrets about removing my breast implants, I still quite like my au natrel look lol - yeah my boobs aren't picture perfect but they're soft and comfy and they're all mine and I'm happy with that feeling. I also managed to successfully breastfeed my baby girl for 10 months which felt like going full circle in a way, having been a young mum to my oldest daughter and the insecurities of post baby boobs pushing me to have surgery in the first place. I'm a year post breastfeeding now and don't get any of the niggling nerve pains in my left breast left over from the scar tissue of the hardened implant capsule anymore - I think the breast feeding and couple of bouts of mastitis cleared that up once and for all happily :) So this is just a little note to encourage anyone who might stumble across my story and is in a similar situation - just go ahead and explant - there is life in your boobs after implants lol :)

Ok here are my pics so far, I'm looking forward to getting the dressings off on Friday and being able to shower and really moisturise my damaged skin, that's probably been the worst part for me, realising just how thin and fragile my skin is, the implants stretching my skin really disguised that but I'm hopeful things will keep improving : )

Thanks so much to everyone who has posted their stories and photos here, I really couldn't have made the decision to explant without the benefit of all your experiences and I'm one hundred percent certain I made the right decision as hard as it was to get there.

My op was last Thursday, my discharge sheet says I had a bilateral removal of implants, internal mammopexy and left capsulotomy and that it was an uncomplicated procedure despite all my fears. I can't describe just how anxious I was about it and how I would look and feel afterwards, I felt like backing out out so many times and just going with replacement. I'm so glad I didn't, I'm still in some discomfort but its not worse than the pain I was in before the op and the painkillers really help and its honestly nothing compared to the way I felt after they were put in. I had my dressings changed today and the nurse said I'm healing really well (they were removed through my original incision in my crease) my breasts are still far from perfect but such an improvement to how they were before and I'm so happy the implants are out now.

I had my BA at 21 years old, 13 years ago now. I became pregnant with my daughter at age 15 and my breasts grew rapidly from a 34B to a 34D/DD. I got stretch marks all around my breasts, the deepest ones are on the underside of my breasts and I also have many on the top of my breasts that became really noticeable after I stopped breastfeeding after a year and my boobs shrank and sagged and I became incredibly self concious about them. I was really happy with results of my BA, they felt and looked as they had when I'd been pregnant and breastfeeding, they weren't perfect but I was happy to regain the lost volume, fill the empty skin and my stretch marks became much less noticeable. I had 300cc silicone over the muscle, they were a nice size for my frame and I didn't have any regrets.

Looking back I think my left breast started developing capsular contracture pretty early on, it was always slightly smaller and firmer than the right. It was three years ago that it became an issue, when out of the blue it became red, swollen and sore and my doctor told me I had mastitis. I was given antibiotics and it gradually became less inflamed but remained harder and distorted in shape and the asymmetry between my breasts became extremely noticeable. I had an ultrasound and was told I had a baker grade 3 capsule on the left side but the implants were both intact.

I tried massaging to try and soften them but felt like it was making it worse not better and my doctor advised me it was probably best not to at this point and I should look into replacing or removing them. it was almost dead on ten years after my BA this all happened, I'd always been vaguely aware I'd have to think about changing them at this point but had never given it much thought. Since then I've had consultations with ten different surgeons but became increasingly confused with each one and the vastly varying opinions and options given to me and found it next to impossible to make a decision to what was the best thing to do. The capsular contracture got worse over this time and my left breast became increasingly painful and distorted, I just wanted symmetrical soft breasts again but the decision on the best way to achieve this was agonising, I just didn't want the same thing to end up happening again and end up back at square one but was terrified how I'd look without them because I remember just how insecure I was about my breasts before my BA.

Coming here and reading everyone's stories and doing my own research into everything I read finally gave me the courage to go with explant. I decided for me personally the explant experiences of other women were overall more positive than the implant revisions and finally decided to go with this option. I also researched fat transfer to help even out any asymmetry and am going to see how things go with my recovery and give my poor breasts a chance to recover before doing anything else. It turned out my right implant was ruptured which was why it looked so sad and deflated next to my swollen contracted left breast. My capsules were washed out and left in because of the thinness of my skin and my breast tissue was rearranged in an internal lift to better fill the stretched skin. I'm so grateful for what the surgeon was able to do, I had fears of the outcome being so much worse and am hopeful my breasts will keep improving over time as they recover.

After seeing eight surgeons and still no closer to making a decision I went back to my doctors surgery as I was so anxious by this point about the condition of my left breast. I saw a female doctor this time who talked me through my anxiety, referred me for another ultrasound at the breast clinic who this time offered to remove them for me, I was given the option to pay for a replacement but ultimately decided against it.

I've been taking photos to post up for everyone here thinking of explanting and will put them up asap. If anyone has any questions please ask, I can't over emphasise how much being able to read everyone's stories has helped me and hope I can do the same for anyone trying to make this decision, it was so comforting to know I wasn't alone in this.