Ready for implants to be removed - Newport Beach, CA

Hello, I've turned to this forum several times during the course of my decision making process and found it to be so helpful and supportive that I would like to reciprocate with my own experience. I am single 44 years old, 5'9 and 130 lbs. I have had my implants now for 13 years, having had them put in in 1999 when I was 31 years old. I have not had any health problems related to the implants that I am aware of. I do have a torn disk in my lower back and while having the extra weight of implants probably adds to the soreness I do not feel the implants had anything to do with instigating my back condition.

I believe I injured my back from sports related activities: a lot of snowboarding, some surfing, and lots and lots of step aerobic classes since I was a teen. My implants are Mentor saline. My records say they are 375 filled to 410 right breast and 375 filled to 425 left breast. I went from a 36B to a 36D. I have no rippling or anything that looks weird. Don’t believe what they tell you about silicone not being as good as saline. Mine were great. Who knows, maybe they make more money off silicone?

Before my implants my breasts were slightly saggy and I felt my areolas were too large, about the size of a silver dollar. I thought having larger breasts would make my areolas look more proportionate but after the implants were in my areolas increased in size, so no gain on that end. All in all, my implants look very natural as I have a good amount of original breast tissue.

So, why am I taking them out? Last year I got to thinking about how long I had had them and I wondered if I should have a check-up. I way thinking to myself, "How long can these implants last? Is there a shelf life?" So I went to see my original surgeon. He said as long as I wasn’t experiencing any illness the implants were fine but that I might want to revise them as I had a bit of sagging. I hadn't noticed my breast were sagging till he pointed it out -isn't that always the way it is, ladies? - but alas, after much turning and swaying to and fro in front of the mirror, I concluded he had a valid point. I have gained and lost anywhere from 5 to 15 lbs a dozen times over so yeah, that would make sense. So this led to more thinking, "New implants? Leave as is?"

This ping ponged back in forth in my head for a couple of months until one day I saw an E Channel biography on Kimberly Stewart, Rod Stewart's daughter. Both she and her super model mother had had them and took them out. OUT!!! What a novel idea. It hadn't even occurred to me as an option. So it's been a year since then and I'm ready to go for it. My surgeon and his staff look at me as if I'm a little off balance, warning me that I won't have the fullness, I might go into shock, followed by depression. But this is what I want...I think. I'm set for surgery March 22, 2012 to have my implants removed and a lollipop mastopexy to give me lift.

My surgeon is also going to downsize my areolas.

Fears: I am worried the scars will be hideous, that no man will stand to look at me, and more, that I won't be able to look in the mirror without shuddering. I look about ten to seven years younger than my age and for the most part date guys in their late twenties to mid thirties. Aw hell! I suppose at worst I’ll just have to date older - more forgiving- men? If they can over look my boob scars, I can overlook their beer bellies, bald spots, and hairy backs. LOL. Oh God, I don’t think so!!!

Pluses of Explant: Free of unnatural objects in my body, less weight on my back, never having to deal with unnecessary surgeries, no more huge expenditures, and free from awkward and uncomfortable conversations with dates and new acquaintances about having breast implants. Prayers: My areolas are correctly placed, symmetrical and -pardon the pun-all around cute.

Best Outcome: Natural, perky, well shaped breasts with minimal scarring. I will add before and after pictures when I get a chance because no matter what I can tell you about how it went nothing can replace a visual image. Here's to freedom, damn the scars of war!!!

It's been a week and a few days since my surgery and I definitely feel like a before and after girl, meaning I was weak where now I am strong! Too all those still on the other side of the fence: pre-surgery, contemplating,or just doing a little preliminary investigation into the idea of an explant, I can tell you this much, I am stoked!!! Hurrah. I passed the finish line and I am triumphant.

Okay, for anyone interested, here are a few details about coming out if it. Let's face it, surgery isn't a cake walk. I had general anesthesia, so I was knocked out entirely. When I woke up I was groggy as a Brandenburger at Oktoberfest. Hell, I felt like I was the grog that had been slurped down and vomited back up. But where it comes to pain my big weakness is naseau. I can take a lot but not that. So if you can handle the upside-down belly bronco thing you'll be in better shape than I was.

Aside from the naseau the only other discomfort I felt was, surprisingly, in my arms. This confused me. Especially in my foggy state. Wasn't it suppose to be about the breasts? What was going on with my arms? They hurt. I kept slurring this complaint between anesthesia induced burps to the nurse, but I never got an answer as to why, just a lot of, "Okay, okaaay, there,there -pat-pat- Now, you in the hall, are you her transportation?, let's get her home- pat-pat- nice belch, bye-bye-now." And off I was ushered, out the surgery center doors, into the break of day, me and my two, new bouncing, twin, baby-boobies.

I guess the discomfort in my arms had to do with the fact that I had tubes coming out my boobs that empty fluid and blood into a little bottle to be emptied a couple times a day. Nobody had told me about this prior so I had no idea why my arms hurt. So much for pre-consultations where they go over this stuff with you. I suppose one is expected to to be psychic and just know what's going to happen?

So far as the ride home, the nausea continued on and I just couldn't wait to get to my bed. I strongly suggest having something to eat in the car for that ride home if you can manage it. I felt better as soon as I ate something. Keep it light cause, most likely, food will sound horrible to you. Anything in the stomach will help. At least for me it did. Maybe some mashed potatoes or the like, possibly a smoothie. Though something a little more solid would probably work better. I had a quarter of a Happy Star fed to me in little bites. Yes, I'm a big baby.

For the next couple of days I laid in bed and took not more than two hydrocodones. I don't do well on pain killers cause they make me nauseous too. Anyway, the pain was there but manageable. As I've mentioned, I'm the poster child for cry babies so in such a case, the best thing to do is to plan to give yourself a large enough window of down time so you can just relax and sleep without worrying how you'll ever get out of bed again. I think more than anything my body just wanted to sleep.

Something nice you might do for yourself is to put some together a nice CD/playlist of sleepy time music. I spaced out to Ambient Music Therapy that I purchased on Itunes. Between that and the pain klller I was gone, Daddy, gone. And when Snow White awoke, she found she had a great pair of dwarves to look down on. ;-)

It's been just over a month since the day of my implant removal and mastopexy. I am doing fine though the recovery from the mastopexy has been a bit harder on my body than I had thought it would be. My surgeon never went over the issue of pain/discomfort. Since he didn't discuss this with me I never thought about it.

Turns out I am feeing it. It's not horrific but there is a level of pain that I deal with. For the most part, my breast and general chest area feels really tender. I keep a wide physical distance from people for fear someone will bump into me. It's difficult to lift things or do household chores. I'm not dying or anything, just healing. I thought I would be back to normal in one to two weeks. Now I see how that was a ridiculous assumption. Duh! I have a bunch of stitches inside my breasts and all around my areolas. I guess I was too focused on what I would end up looking like and I zoned out on obvious stuff like this.

If I knew all this would I do it again? I think so. I like what I see so far. My breasts are perky and the size is about what I asked for. They are getting bigger and fuller but I prefer how they looked right after my surgery; I like my cup half full, so to speak. ;-)
Maybe they are a bit blown up do to swelling? Anyway, I think this may be good news for most implant removal cases because it seems more women want their breasts to be full.

The bandages are still on so I have not seen what the scars are up to. I've no doubt I may go into shock when I first see them but hopefully as time passes I'll either get use to them or they actually won't be too bad.

To help with the healing process I am taking Vitamin C, Zinc, and my daily vitamin. Also, I am trying to drink at least one 2 ounce shot of wheat grass everyday. I would do more if I could. I am staying a way from alcohol and cigarettes though I have had a few of each over the last month. I 'd like to say I had zero but that would be untrue. I want to heal by ingesting positive energy. I try to eat a lot of organic fruits and vegetables. I've eaten no meat or chicken.

To deal with the pain I have taken about one to one a half Hydrocodones in a twenty four hour period. I don't like to rely on pain killers but I had a lot of obligations to attend to and it helped me take care of biz. Just letting you know how I dealt with all this.

Hope this is helpful to someone out there. Best wishes to you all.

Will update with new pics once my bandages are off.