I can say I have met Dr. kulb yet, not in person at least. but I emailed her regrding my explant surgery papers the I have not received. I have to say she has been very helpful and attentive and has promptly returned various emails. I'm scheduled for explant surgery on Jan 17th Updated on 31 Jan 2019: This is an update relating to my experience with Dr.Kolb. It might be a bit long but I feel most of you would like as much details as possible like I did when I was looking for answers. Speaking about finding answers, I had a terrible experience with Facebook Nicole "Breast Implant illness" page. I truely belive they are benefiting from our doctors, but thats another issue by itself . My hudsband called Dr. Kolb office in January for a consultation and I had my Implants removed on Jan 17th 2019. From day one Dr. kolb staff was very helpful, we went back and forth with email, and phone calls mainly Insurance questions. I had email Dr.Kolb with questions and concern, she always responded within a few hours or by the end of the day. I live in Connecticut, so my hudsband and I traveled to Georgia for the consultation and surgery with the option the if I didnt feel 100% confident after the consultation, we would just fly back. My insurance would of covered 100% if would stay In Netwok, but Dr.Kolb office were the one who answered all my questions and I felt they were trying their best to help me, so we took the lost, I was very sick. like most of you have read ,there are some bad media about Dr. Kolb, well I read them too prior to my surgery, I was concerned, until I met her. After the consultation, I had no dout I wanted her to take care of me. Dr. Kolb IS NOT your Hollywood 90210 kind of doctor, if you are looking for that, safe yourself the trip, what she is, she is caring and she's knowledgeable. She will let you know about her believe in angels and higher powers, I had no problem with that, In fact, I welcomed it, plus I focus more on the fact the she has over 30 yrs experience and over 3000 precedures done, for me that was way more important. Dr.Kolbs waiting room, is like going to your moms or grandmas house, it has teddy bears, angels, crystals, and magazines, again, do not expect a hollywood kind of place. Her consultation office is the same, some might find it clustered, I found it full of accessible information, some people see the glass half empty, I prefer to see it half full. I would just keep in mind the 30 years experience and the pioneer she is when it comes to Beast Implant Illness. As mentioned earlier, my Explant and lift was on 1/17/19. I had a wonderful experience with everyone in Dr. kolb staff, they were fun and caring. My hudsband and I stayed in Atlanta for 10 days, so Dr.Kolb removed my drains and stiches, everything so far looks great and most Important I feel great. By the 4th day I was going to the mall, little pay, mostly discomfort. I will post before and after pictures in a couple of weeks, once everything goes back to normal, Im just 10 days post OP. In conclusion, If you are not spiritual type, but is willing to go with a Doctor who cares and understand your problem, Go with Dr. Kolb, I would do it all again if I had to. I have her personal # and I plan on keeping in touch with her, she is a wonderful person whom after the way she took care of me, I consider a friend. Good luck to all, is a tough journey, but always...always.. keep the faith and belive. God bless.
Dr. Susan Kolb is truly an incredible doctor. Un like the rest she genuinely cares. She is by far the best doctor I have ever had! Why settle for less when you can have the absolute BEST!! She is passionate about her gift of helping people. She puts her all into everything and everyone she helps!!
I got sick about 8 years ago. Chronic fatique, joint pain, memory loss, sores that wouldnt heal etc... I was sick for 5 years. Went to every specialist for them to say here take this or nothing is wrong, I felt like I was going crazy, I lost my kids, my house, job pretty much my life. Susan Kolb saved my life. She takes all the time she needs to see what help you need. She treats every patient or from the ones I have spoken to, she treats them like your her only patient. She takes her time and listens to you. I had mine removed almost three years ago. I now have my life back. I still go see Dr Kolb when im having any health issues because I only trust her. Thank you Dr Kolb for saving my life...
When you read some reviews concerning Dr. Susan Kolb you will see many women state that she saved their life. That is truth! She saved my life, I believe that too. Ten years ago I started to feel joint pain and muscle pain throughout my body. The pain got worse, I literally had pain in every part of my body. I've had 10 years of tests. Tests for Lupus, Lyme, Dermatomyositis, Cancer. MRIs, CT scans, X-ray s. The Rx: Psoriatic Arthritis and Fibromyalgia. Physical therapy was recommended. I had pain 24 hours a day, helpless. I was prescribed strong drugs, some of which have seriously hurt my body and mind. Injected myself with Humira, lost my mind with Cynbalta, killed my immune system with Methotrexate, lived on Tramadol to mask my pain. My implants were not addressed by any of my doctors as a major cause of my illness. A good friend (who also used Dr. Kolb as her doctor) recommended the book The Naked Truth About Breast Implants, which Dr. Susan Kolb called wrote back in 2010. This was a ground breaking book concerning Breast Implant Illness. I quickly realized I needed to detox my body and get my implants out. My first contact with her office was answered back immediately. Her staff were informed and helpful. Before Dr.Kolb emailed me answering questions I had concerning my health before we had even me. I have come to realize that Dr. Kolb cares for her patients long after surgery as well. She answers their questions, quickly, day or night. When I met Dr. Kolb I knew I was in knowledgeable hands. I finally found a doctor that was listening to me. She offered me an understanding as to what was systematically going on in my body. Biotoxin from mold, fungus, yeast. Silicone in those lymph nodes that were tender and swollen . Chemical toxicity from silicone flaking off my old inplants. It made sense to me. The saline implants were encapsulated, hard as rocks. I had them in my body 24 years. (I would have gotten them removed before but I was still focused on being sick...) Dr. Kolb gave me a beautiful lift. She is an artist in surgery. They certainly came out much better than I had anticipated, they had been so bad before the surgery. It's only been several weeks since my ex plant and they already looked better than they did before I even had those implants put in. Another reason I chose Dr. Kolb is because of her extensive knowledge in holistic medicine. She not only uses traditional medications for healing but utilizes natural vitamins herbs and supplements as well. Supplement pricing is significantly lower than if you were to go to GNC or to find it online. A doctor can remove the implants but unless we detox and capture residue from inplants we still may be sick. All toxins need to be removed and order to be put back to full health. Dr. Kolb works out a detox program while getting your immune system back online. For that I'm extremely grateful. I have gone through the entire process with Dr. Susan Kolb. I find her to be an honest, kind, caring heart. This is a woman that helps other people to exhaustion. She is a spiritual God sent. Please don't misunderstand this woman is a genius. I am blessed to have found her. My fibromyalgia pain has decreased relatively 85% to 90 % since surgery and I continue to heal. Chronic pain in every part of my body almost took my life. Thank you for bringing Breast Implant Illness to light Dr. Kolb. Thank you for making me well again.
I have never met anyone like Dr. Susan Kolb. By the time I found Dr. Kolb, I had been sick for more than 5 years & had visited a multitude of doctors in different fields...no one could tell me why my health continued to deteriorate. By some miracle, my husband found Dr. Kolb on the web & we traveled from Oregon to Atlanta to see her. By the time I saw her, I had been using a wheelchair for more 6 months & could no longer hold my head up for more than a few minutes at a time. She knew immediately that my problem stemmed from the faulty/leaking breast implants that I had received following a bi-lateral mastectomy for breast cancer 14 years earlier. My implants & surrounding tissue had become infected & the toxic stew they were leaking was coursing through my body. Within the week, Dr. Kolb had removed my implants & started me on my road to recovery. Living in Oregon, I have only been able to return to Atlanta once in the 4 years since my surgery, but I still consider Dr. Kolb to be MY doctor. She continues to play an active role in my health & treatment. I have never met a doctor who encouraged her patients to email them. The remarkable thing is that I can normally expect a response from her within 24 to 48 hours! She never makes me feel that I am an intrusion or that she doesn't have time to respond to my questions...even 4 years after my surgery! Dr. Kolb is a pioneer in her field & she is MY life-saver. There is no doubt in my mind that she saved my life. The fact that she continues to answer my questions & play a role in my health years after my surgery is amazing & refreshing. I would highly recommend Dr. Susan Kolb without hesitation to anyone.
I spent much of my childhood and adulthood preoccupied with my labia minora and felt ugly and freakish. I had labiaplasty done in 2004 in my late 20s using the trim method along with hood reduction. Recovery was very difficult and healing took a few months but I don't regret the choice. My sensation did change and reaching orgasm was different and always will be and it took getting used to. My advice is 1. be sure you are ok with not getting perfect results and look at lots of before and after pictures to see what is realistic for your specific issue. 2. don't have too much removed or it will affect your feelings of dryness, arousal, and ability to orgasm. Most women should still have 'something' going past their labia majora. (If you really just want everything to look tucked in consder fat tranfers to the labia majora) 3. IF you find a reliable surgeon, I think you need to be on high alert for negative reviews which show gross negligence, such as doing something drastically different from what the patient wanted or showing callousness/not returning calls. And truly run if you see even one review like that; it takes a great deal of courage post op for patients to post a negative review and you can bet if there is one it is not the only person who feels that way. 4. Make sure you check with a female gynecologist whether you qualify for insurance covering the procedure, as it is a commonly covered procedure since the longer labia interfere with intercourse and clothes.
She is amazing at what she does and is heads above the rest and practices 21st century medicine and with that comes a lot of skeptics. My experience was nothing but stellar she did an amazing job of bringing back my health by removing my ruptured silicone implants. Also had an internal lift as it was much needed after 29 years of implants in which was at one time A cup before implants. She stresses the importance of detoxing after explant and I follow her detox protocol to a t... This is what is critical to healing and where many people drop the ball. She gave me back my life and I am forever grateful to her and her staff. Even a great anesthesiologist she has working with her! Best waking up from surgery that I had ever experienced and I have had a lot!! She has a Facebook support group that she takes time to answer questions from her patients who are still healing from surgery. She practices muscle testing and it works! Just because you don't completely understand it doesn't mean it doesn't work. Again a 21st century medicine and she gets it!
I don't even know where to start. At 33 years old, I was a walking dead woman. I had been sick for 9 long years but the year and a half that led up to my explant last April was the worst time of my life. I was just barely hanging on by a thread. It sounds so cliche' but Dr. Kolb literally saved my life. I was so sick that I didn't care what the aesthetic outcome would be but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm very happy with my results, she did a great job. She is caring and compassionate and takes on a little more than she probably should only because there are so many sick women who are looking to her for help. One year later and she still answers my emails any time I have a question. How many Plastic Surgeons do that ? Yes, her office is extremely busy but I never had to wait for an extensive amount of time and never had any problems with her staff. 11+ months out and I have my life back. I've been doing things that I haven't been able to do for years and it feels wonderful. I will be forever grateful for Susan Kolb. I don't understand those reviews full of malice but the truth will always find its way.
I thought I would die before a doctor could figure out what was making me so ill. I was very sick for several years and my health kept rapidly decling. Doctor after doctor and nobody could figure out what was wrong with me. My sister started doing research for me and read some articles on breast implant illnesses and then she found Dr Susan Kolb. My husband and I flew to Atlanta, Georgia on October 19th for a consultation with Dr Kolb. I instantly felt a bond to her and knew I had come to the right place. On October 21st Dr Kolb removed my saline breast implants. They had been leaking and I was sick from the mold and toxins. As soon as I woke up from my surgery I could tell some of my symptoms were already gone. Today I feel better than I have felt in 10 years. Grateful to the good Lord and Grateful to Dr Kolb for saving my life.
I am beyond pleased with my results!! I have wanted to do this for a very long time. I watched Dr. Kolb interviews and her thorough way of dealing with capsules, lymph nodes, and detox won me over. My aesthetic result is better than I thought it would be, wow! I felt she was totally focused on me as if I was her only patient when I was with her. She is tireless in her responses to your email questions once you fly home. Her final statement in interviews regarding lymph nodes convinced me, "patients stopped dying when she removed the infected ones." It is horrific that I authorized saline implants on my consent form in 1990, but woke from explant to Dr. Kolb informing me he had put silicone in me! I never suspecting that the 25 yr autoimmune illness, debilitating and bedridden for 5 years is likely due to leaking silicone, plus texture flaking off. So I'm a $9000 paying patient in 1990 and did not received my authorized & empathetic choice. And, throughout this illness, $35,00 in paid medical claims, 3 surgeries, $10,000 out of pocket and a home equity loan to keep me going while I pursued every top doctor in Scottsdale, AZ for my system wide failure and near death. All the frightening ER visits not being able to breathe, the many nights praying and feeling I would not wake up because I couldn't breathe and futile to go to ER every night. I ended up using a nebulizer with abuterol. I NEVER had allergies at all in my life, live in dry AZ. I was skin and bones and had canker sores that were other-worldly large, completely debilitating and not healing for months, stuck in bed with them and couldn't breathe at the same time. It drove me to prayer and bible reading. At 5 years of near death I stopped all searching and prayed God you are the only wisdom in this, I will wait and do nothing more, I've done it all, been to the "best of the best" with great health insurance. Phone rang within a week of that, was directed to Naturopath by friend. He discovered multiple autoimmune sources from a specified blood work ups that top Scottsdale hemotology does not know about doing and said no, "not that." Thank you Jesus, I wait, you answer. I may have died and that could have been my answer, win-win, I am with Him. But I had 16 y/o twin sons, I am a single Mother, I am not ready to leave my kids. This started my career in integrative medicine. I suffered intermittently & severely even after the integrative immune protocols that got me back to work, I have basically been on cancer protocols for 20+ years. I am very thankful to have a new outlook for the rest of my days. Preserved for a purpose, Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Capsular tissue left behind does not go away as some plastic surgeons believe. If the capsular tissue has a biofilm or elements of textured silicone or other silicone oils, then it is more likely to cause problems with future infection, seroma formation, ALCL risk with textured implants, and problems with cancer detection in all cases most likely. The safest route is total capsulectomy to prevent future problems as recommended in the plastic surgery peer reviewed literature.
This disease is most likely due to chemicals involved in texturing as well as elements of the biofilm including fungal elements which produce known carcinogens. Treatment and prevention is total capsulectomy and removal of any silicone laden from texturing axillary lymph nodes (usually one per side in my experience in the lower axilla) along with chemical detox of hydrophobic chemicals (known carcinogens) and antifungals.
The peer reviewed literature in plastic surgery recommend total capsule removal in order to prevent future problems with infection, seroma, and cancer detection. Biofilms around implants are difficult to diagnose and may contain bacteria and fungal elements so capsules may not be so benign. I have had several women become very ill when their contaminated fluid inside the implant was released by the method you are describing. They required months of antibiotics and antifungals to regain their health as well as a total capsulectomy as the scar tissue remains contaminated despite treatment if not removed. In addition, the capsule does not dissolve, so this pocket remains as a potential problem for life with the risks noted above in the study. Biofilms can contain fungal elements which cannot be detected and in 75% of the population cause no symptoms, so total removal of the capsule is the safest route. An article in the Journal of Long Term Effects of Medical Implants reported that 44% of tissue expanders and 28% of implant capsules had positive cultures from bacteria in the biofilm. In my personal experience of treating women who are ill from defective breast implants, we see fungal contamination in most of these patients, so I would predict that near 100% of women who are ill from defective breast implants may have fungal elements in the biofilm. Since 25% of the population can become ill from fungal biotoxins due to genetic factors, that leaves 75% of the population who may have fungal elements in the capsule left behind but are not currently ill. If fluid builds up in the pocket however, the mold will grow and eventually cause problems due to biotoxins. The common problems due to biotoxins are blurred vision, nausea, headaches, immune problem, endocrine problems and neurological issues. The study of biotoxins from fungus is politically incorrect and is actively suppressed due to the economic implications for government and big business so it is not understood by doctors other than a handful of integrative holistic doctors or environmental doctors that treat patients exposed to mold. This is why your plastic surgeon says it does not exist. I have had most of my patients who are ill from defective saline implants report that mold grows inside the implant after explantation but only have seen one or two cases a year with a great deal of evidence that mold is growing inside their saline implants (ie. black or brown discoloration with elements that are floating inside the implant). In addition, patients has sent their saline implants in for testing, and mold that grew out often matches that with the mold that was found in their toxic environment.
There are several reasons that fat transfer should be delayed. One is due to the problems with co infections of the chest wall due to defective implants that may be difficult to diagnose including bacterial and fungal contamination which could lead to complications of contaminated fat with death of the fat cells. There is a growing body of evidence on biofilms around implants that most plastic surgeons do not understand despite information in the peer reviewed literature as well as textbooks on biofims. There is evidence in the peer reviewed literature of fungal contamination of defective implants and despite this, the majority of plastic surgeons say "they do not see mold" which is a statement showing their ignorance of the biology of the contamination as one cannot "see" microscopic mold until it grows out several weeks after explantation especially in saline implants with defective valves. Twenty five percent of the population will become ill with a illness causing fatigue, nausea, headache, and neurological symptoms due to mold contamination because of genetic factors where they cannot get rid of the biotoxin. This means 75% of the population can have mold contamination and no symptoms. Many plastic surgeons do not remove the entire capsule as it is difficult and therefore the bacterial and fungal contamination of the chest wall may be greater. In addition, I have always been concerned with fat transfer at the same time of explantation, due to the risk of fat getting into the pocket and possibly increasing the risk of fat embolism. I have seen quite a few serious complications of fat transfer (done elsewhere) when the patient was still ill with an immune problem from the co infections especially yeast and mold due to defective implants. Most plastic surgeons do not treat these co infections and the antibiotics given will increase the risk of fungal elements growing. The safest route is to delay fat grafting until the co infections have been treated and the patient's immunity is restored. Also, at this point in time, without stem cell fat transfer being approved in the United States, claims of stem cell fat transfer must be analyzed carefully as most will not actually be accurate. There are stem cells naturally in fat, especially in the abdominal fat, and this is mostly what is claimed online which is misleading in my opinion as these are natural. The FDA has clinical trials for stem cell fat transfer, so unless you doctor is enrolling you in one of these trials, chances are that that doctor is not performing stem cell transfer or is risking being closed down by the FDA. There are other doctors in the world performing stem cell fat transfer to the breast, and methods that have increased survival of fat due to this are claimed and probably true from the science that is known. You need to do your own research on this. I have spoken with leaders in this field, and the laser or light activation method is worth investigating. Be careful of chemically induced stem cell activation at this time however as this emerging science is still in its infancy and the reason for the clinical trials in the United States. For example, if stem cells are activated to make bone, there are results that are very damaging. I have also found the detoxification of the chemicals, silicone, and heavy metals that are often present in patients with detoxification defects (30% of the population) is important in order to regain health and immunity along with the treatment of co infections. So, in general, I recommend delaying of fat transfer for at least six months after explantation, only doing fat transfer after detoxification and treatment of co infections, and if possible using a plastic surgeon who is able to perform the fat transfer with stem cell technology (not one who is claiming to but is just using what is naturally in the fat). This is especially important if you do not have excess fat to work with as more that one fat transfer may be needed in order to restore volume, treat asymmetry, and indentations if present.
It is important to remove capsules from textured implants as they often have foreign material in the capsule. The peer reviewed literature recommends total capsulectomy in order to avoid future problems such as seroma, infection, and problems with cancer detection.
