Breast Implant Removal: Stories

Back in the early 80's I just had to have implants. Seemed like everyone did. I was 25 and a skinny, slim young woman with AA breasts. My husband was fine with them but I was tired of being out of balance. Dresses, bathing suits did not fit right. I went through Military Boot Camp training in 1975 and while standing in the "dress" uniform, a drill sergeant pressed on my chest and asked me why "it was empty"! Memory says breast implants was always on my mind. In 1980, several friends of mine got implants one summer. Then I felt left out. I had to have them!
So we finally had enough money and I got a size "B". I actually wanted to go larger but the doctor said I would regret it because of my frame, etc. My doctor was "Dr. Billy" of Little Rock, AR. He was quite well known at the time for being a very successful PS. He appeared on Oprah's show that summer because he had been responsible for 'augmenting" several of that year's Miss America contestants.
I didn't ask a lot of questions before hand - I didn't know what to ask. I just wanted them.
Initially, they were incredible, the greatest thing. I was proud of them and wore clothes that placed emphasis on them - like I'm sure many of you did. But the problem was... I was never comfortable with them. Oh, I couldn't keep my hands off them and my husband (and later other male friends) loved touching them and often flattered me with compliments. It is ironic, but I had to go through 'self-esteem" questions before the surgery and counseling with not just the doctor but with a psychologist in his office. They wanted to make sure that I already a confident woman without self-esteem issues before the surgery. HA - I must have fooled them. I did have serious poor body image issues and the implants never did fix that.
I don't have any memory of any time that there wasn't some discomfort with them. I had pain if I laid on my chest, etc. Mammograms were horrible as they attempted to "move" the implants out of the picture (no body told me about that). As I grew older, I started gaining weight. I was told not to gain more than 20 lbs after getting implants, but I eventually gained 80 lbs. Even though I still received compliments on how great my breasts looked, I thought they were ugly. I could see the implants sitting up higher than they should have. I've wanted them out for at least the last 15 years. They had hardened so much, that I avoided hugging everyone for fear someone would yell out "you have breast implants". (I had a man do that to me about 6 years ago.)
I found out last summer that they had ruptured and I had silicon leaking into my body following an annual mammogram. Last year, about this time, I had a cyst appear right above the scar on the right breast. It stayed irritated and inflamed. My primary care physician had me putting neosporin on it and wearing a band aid to keep the bra from irritating it but it refused to heal. He finally sent me to the outpatient surgery center to have it cut out and that is when the doctors looking it over decided it was silicon trying to escape!!!  I had just had a mammogram and so they looked at it. Apparently the mammogram report for the past "several" years said they were ruptured but no one bothered to tell me about it. They probably figured I knew and yes I did suspect that something was wrong for the past 5 years.They had been ruptured for several years. I noticed about 3 years ago, that I had these hard knots forming and I had pain in my lymph nodes under my arms. I didn't have the money to do anything about it but this past summer the doctor said they had to come out. They said that they could be a cause of my constant aches in pain throughout my body and that it just wasn't healthy to have silicon running through me. So I scheduled an appointment and finally got them out last Friday, the 22nd. (Long story on why it took so long to get the surgery.) During the past 6 months, I have been visiting this site and others and reading and following people like "Plasticnation". I didn't know what to expect - I was afraid to look at them after the surgery.
But they look great! and feel even better. (still swollen). My PS did a fantastic job. He went in through my old scars and got as much of the silicon as possible without having to open me up more. My implants were above the muscle. He did a complete capsulectomy. He told me that they would look like a deflated balloon. He suggested I might want to consider having implants put back in later on and I said definitely NO!