Fourteen years after getting breast implants, Chrissy Teigen is opening up about her experience—and why she’s getting them taken out now.
After posting a May 26 video of herself getting a COVID-19 test on Twitter, Teigen elaborated on Instagram:
“I’m getting surgery soon. A lot of people are understandably curious (and nosey!) so I’ll just say it here: I’m getting my boobs out! They’ve been great to me for many years but I’m just over it. I’d like to be able to zip a dress in my size, lay on my belly with pure comfort! No biggie! So don’t worry about me!”
This isn’t the first time Teigen has talked about her desire for explant surgery. In a March 2020 interview with Glamour UK, Teigen says she got breast augmentation early on, to help in her modeling career.
“Yeah, I did my boobs when I was about 20 years old,” she says in the interview. “It was more for a swimsuit thing. I thought, ‘If I’m going to be posing, laid on my back, I want them to be perky!’”
According to Teigen, she kept her breasts the same cup size but “just filled them out, so they are rounder and firmer.” She claims she “had a quarter ‘teardrop’ cup in the bottom and filled out the breast line.”
However, since having children Luna, 3, and Miles, 1, Teigen claims her view toward her implants and cosmetic surgery, in general, has changed. “Then you have babies—and [your breasts] fill up with milk and deflate, and now I am screwed,” she says, adding that she eventually wants to get her implants removed and undergo a breast lift instead.
According to New York City board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. John Paul Tutela (who did not treat Teigen), breasts with implants in them can change drastically after giving birth. “With the fluctuation of weight and with engorgement from lactation and breastfeeding, the breasts get stretched and deflated,” he explains. “This can cause sagging of the breast tissue, [which] is exaggerated with multiple pregnancies.”
Related: Why Fitness Influencer Bec Donlan Got Rid of the Implants She Loved
As the breast tissue and the skin that overlies the implants begin to sag, the relationship of the skin with the implant becomes less uniform—and often the breast can hang off of the implants, creating a less desirable look. “Visible implant edges and rippling can get worse, and the implants can often shift position,” says Dr. Lisa Cassileth, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California.
Luckily, there are plenty of surgical techniques available for correcting implants that have been affected by childbearing. “[These techniques] were in development for years and are at their best. [They] allow for the removal of implants while giving women sexy, restored breasts,” adds Dr. Cassileth. “The first is high-quality fat grafting, where fat replaces all the lost volume from implant removal and volume lost from breastfeeding. Breast lifts are also getting [better] as well, with small internal lifts and shorter or hidden scars.” Dr. Cassileth claims that many women don’t know about these advanced techniques and feel that they are stuck with their implants forever, but that’s simply not the case. “These techniques are safe and used successfully every day,” she explains.
Even if Teigen chose to keep her implants in, there’s a good chance she would need surgery in the future anyway. “I think you’re supposed to replace [implants] every 10 years,” she says in the Glamour interview—and she’s right. Implants are not a lifelong device and will require replacement. The average implant lasts only between 10 and 20 years. Those with silicone implants should get MRI scans every three years, to check for ruptures. But regardless of whether you have silicone or saline implants, 20% of women who have the devices get them removed (and, often, replaced) within 8 to 10 years.
“All good. I’ll still have boobs,” says Teigen of her decision to remove her implants. “They’ll just be pure fat. Which is all a tit is in the first place. A dumb, miraculous bag of fat.”
