Our Stories…There Are So Many
The information and dialogue on this site is a refreshing and major step in the right direction, and I want to commend all of you for your dedication and courage. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity and freedom to comment on these important issues!
Explantation.Com was born out of a desire to help women who need permanent breast implant removal. Rose and I remain overwhelmed by the magnitude of this need. We knew there were others, but had no clue how many women were out there! Our support forum and stories are only a small representation of what we have witnessed behind the scenes. “Our Stories” have been written and contributed by the most intelligent and amazing people we have ever met. These courageous women have shared their photos, time and personal experiences, and the kind, caring way they have come forward to help us is truly humbling. Without their fearless honesty and trust, there would be no Explantation.Com. These unique and beautiful individuals have risked their privacy and reputations with absolutely no compensation or selfish agenda. They simply want to make certain no other woman will be alone on this confusing implant journey. Thankfully, the majority of our stories have had positive outcomes. We are proof that with proper medical care and expertise, it is possible to successfully remove unwanted implants.
We are convinced that many surgeons are lacking adequate skills and have been brainwashed during their education. Many confess their inexperience in proper implant removal and honestly believe there will likely be deformity if removed. They sincerely warn women to re-implant and never consider permanent removal. But, if they know and believe that a woman’s decision to have breast implants means they must keep implants forever, regardless of their ability to tolerate or enjoy them, why are they not warning young women about this during their first consultations? Unfortunately, some are deliberately deceiving women for their own monetary gain, with little regard for the ongoing financial burden to their patients. Plastic surgeons are skillfully convincing women that they are the “savior” needed to remedy her physical flaws. By the time most women leave a consultation they will do nearly anything to be “normal.” Sadly, most of our women have admitted they had to convince their mates that their breasts were seriously abnormal in order to get approval for the surgery! After explantation, many share that their partners confessed never liking their implants, but didn’t want to hurt their feelings.
If implants are going remain on the market, someone needs to figure out the cost to women and to our society. If these devices are as safe as everyone claims, then someone needs to explain why insurance companies are not competing to offer reasonable policies for implants. If complications are so rare, they should be cashing in on this lucrative financial opportunity, don’t you think? One can buy a policy for contact lenses, but no one will insure breast implants! If we can’t choose to own a vehicle and drive without proof of insurance, why not require women to have insurance coverage on their breast implants? The fact that no one is willing to provide coverage speaks VOLUMES about the safety of implants. Implant advocates should pool their resources and form an insurance company for this purpose if they want us to believe they are so safe. Does anyone know if the FDA has ever done any in-depth investigative research as to why all insurance companies have ceased to cover all augmentation surgeries except for breast cancer victims? Maybe it’s because insurance companies are businesses, and it’s a “no-brainer” that covering breast implants is bad business. If the FDA feels these devices are safe enough to approve, then the government needs to put pressure on the insurance companies to provide coverage for women. This is a women’s issue, and it is a travesty that there are so many women in America who suffer in silence.
It is so socially unacceptable to divulge implant problems. When women find our site, they feel as though someone has given them hope and validation for the first time. Sadly, we have nowhere to direct those women who have exhausted all their financial resources and cannot remove their implants. Some have had only the means to remove their implants, but are unable to repair the damage left behind. While the media pushes the need for women to have bigger breasts and the importance of improving women’s self esteem and quality of life, they have totally ignored the rising number of women who have far more scars, flaws and poor quality of life after having had implants. Where are the free makeover shows for repairing women damaged by implants?
I have been communicating with a beautiful woman who is dealing with necrosis. Soon, I will be posting her photos and story. When women suffer from complications, it breaks my heart. It has been so helpful to encourage these women to use their experience to warn and help others. I thought I would never get through my own ordeal, and had I not had Rose and Tracey, I honestly don’t know what I would have done. Please read my story. I so hoped I would not see any other women go through this, but I honestly doubt she is the last case we will see. Complications are not as rare as they claim…
Welcome, Jeena. Your first post with us is informative, sensitive and talks about issues that are so important.
In early 1991, in my testimony before the Food and Drug Administration, I suggested a surcharge on the cost of every implant so that insurance coverage could be purchased for each implanted patient whether cancer or augmentation. Or a surcharge could be the basis of a well-invested fund to pay for explants. Of course my testimony fell on deaf ears. And any business person who was smart enough realized immediately that the actuarial charts for this project would make the surcharge so high as to be prohibitive. Still, it is all that breast implanted women would have.
Along with the economic costs of breast implants, there are physical costs that are never talked about.
If implants are removed it is impossible to remove them without taking some breast tissue along with them leaving the woman who sought implant so that she could have larger breasts, smaller breasts than she started with. And they will have scars on them, as well.
Breast implants have a permanence in the life of a woman who has chosen them. You are right - the cost both financial and physical is enormous.
And we who understand this from personal experience must make sure that women making a decision about getting implants realizes that they are going down a one-way street and that street is a dead end.
I look forward to hearing from you again, Jeena. Keep up the good work!
Comment by Sybil — November 12, 2007 @ 8:31 am
Thanks, Sybil! I have been an admirer of yours for a long time.
You are so right about the prohibitive cost of a surcharge or even an insurance policy–because we KNOW how prohibitive the cost would have to be! So do they, which is why it was swept under the rug! Still, if we keep putting pressure on the powers that be on forcing this issue, someone would do the math at some point, and expose the real point of our suggestions. They are NOT safe, complications are NOT rare, and they are costing everyone a lot of $$$. They cannot answer these questions, nor can they allow meaningful discussion on this insurance or surcharge topic. It exposes the truth.
One pro-implant person once attempted to address this question. She made the excuse that no one would insure them, nor should they, because this is an elective procedure. What kind of answer is that??? It’s a non-answer. That’s the point–this is an unnecessary, elective procedure that is effecting our economy or our country, and our personal lives. So those who elect to have them, should try to take the burden from others in some way. No longer is augmentation an election for the rich only, so the majority of women who will ultimately be economically costly, will be women who are incapable of footing the bills.
When the manufacturers put a warranty on implants, the pro-implant forums were applauding this product warranty. Some warranty. They will replace your defective implant with another implant exactly like the one that failed. And YOU have to pay for the replacement surgery!
You were brilliant to bring up the idea of a surcharge–did anyone ever do the math on your idea? Comment at all? Discuss your idea? If they had seriously done that, it seems the REAL math would have come to light.
Comment by jeena — November 12, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
You know, now that I think of it, I haven’t thought seriously about the insurance for a long time. And you’ve reminded me that I should, again.
Would’t it be wonderful if there was an activist actuary (say that 10 times really fast) who would crunch the numbers on the cost of carrying insurance for breast implanted women - and just cover the implant surgery and re-surgery and re-surgery?
Hello, out there! Anybody interested?
Comment by Sybil — November 12, 2007 @ 1:18 pm
I would love to see someone interview reperesentatives of the major insurance companies who insured augmentation surgery and related problems in the past. Surely they have records.
One of two things could happen is someone actually took the challenge to crunch the numbers: 1. They would have a kick-off point to see the cost of implants and stats or 2. They would find out insurance policies are a possible financial solution for those who have problematic implants. If the answer would be 2. then it means someone could make money on insuring implants. It would be a win/win situation. Of course, that’s a huge IF. Unfortunately, our suspicions are probably correct.
Also, since you have been an activist in this area, do you have any specific facts and figures on the suit the gov’t filed against the manufacturers to recover the money paid out for women with implant related problems? I once heard that the gov’t filed a claim, too. Did anything ever happen with their attempt to seek compensation to the system for breast implant related claims? Was this ever a discussion factor when the FDA was considering silicone implant approval?
Comment by jeena — November 12, 2007 @ 6:27 pm
As to an insurance for breast implants… My guess is that the premium would be so extremely HIGH that the women would not even consider buying it to go along with thier implants. Years ago when I applied for a private health insurance policy they added an exclusion that I would not be covered for any problems or illness related to my silicone recostructive surgery.
Comment by Pam — November 13, 2007 @ 11:25 am
That’s our suspicion, too, Pam. This is why I would love to see the topic discussed in the media, because it would be one of the best and yet subtle ways, to illustrate the real numbers and cost of implants to women, as well as their families, and society.
So far, being straight forward and frank about the fallacy that women rarely have implant complications has not been believed. Thanks for sharing this about the exclusion clause. I am quite certain this reduced the cost of your premiums, but I wonder if they even insure implant and implanted related problems at all now. Do you happen to know? Most of our women are reporting great difficulty in getting any type coverage on their breasts unless they can prove cancer, without or without an exclusion clause.
Comment by jeena — November 14, 2007 @ 8:27 am
There were two settlements with the Department of Health and Human Services. Once was in the Dow Corning bankruptcy and the other was in MDL 926. The essence of both is that all claims of the Federal Government (eg Medicare) for reimbursement of medical costs from the women’s breast implant settlement checks were released.
It is ironic that at the very time that the settlement with Health and Human Services was made, the FDA, a section of the Department of Health and Human Services, was poised to approve implants. That means that the government was being paid for problems with a product that they would later approve anyway.
There are no words…….
Comment by Sybil — November 14, 2007 @ 8:10 pm
So they DID pay the Federal Government reimbursement for the medical costs they were payingn out? I knew they filed claims, but never heard if they received any reimbursement! Is there a way to get hold of the facts and figures they submitted in their claims? Or is this a sealed up record as well?
Oh, i have some words…but I couldn’t say them around the clergy….
Comment by jeena — November 15, 2007 @ 2:37 pm
The settlement with the Department of Health and Human Services was a negotiation and I believe that the only documents that exist are those that outline how the money is to be paid and an affirmative statement that the government would no longer go after women for reimbursement. The idea, of course, was to repay the Federal government for the monies they spent on breast implanted women who were ailing and needed public support. And I am still in shock over the fact that the very same agency sanctioned the approval of implants.
Comment by Sybil — November 16, 2007 @ 11:37 am