I belong to a few different breast implant support groups. I try to visit them periodically to check in with support friends that I have made, and also to answer the questions of girls who are new to the group and are looking for support and understanding.

I’ve been corresponding with one young Mother who has decided to explant. I would like to share her story because I believe she has a lot of great points that every woman considering getting implants should hear before they make a final decision on breast implants. Here is her story:

I got my saline implants (450 ccs..that’s a lot..I was a small small B) the summer of 1999. I didn’t research. I didn’t care. I was insecure and wanted them BIGGER. My boobs have always been pretty, but they were too small in my mind. I guess I had associated big with sexy. Maybe it’s a Texas thing, I don’t know. Well, I got my wish. They were mammoth on me, and hard, I thought this was normal.

Fast forward one year later, capsular contracture surgery. My body was putting up a good fight against this foreign enemy in my chest. Capsular Contracture is when your body forms a scar tissue around the implant causing pain and tightness. I had a 20 percent chance (gotta love percentiles) of them correcting themselves. Well, they loosened up a little, but in the end they eventually got worse. They never dropped like they were “supposed” to.

Fast forward to breastfeeding Loren. My right breast never produced the same amount of milk as the left one (the one without all the problems) and I seemed to always get clogged ducts. It was painful to feed her, but I felt guilty and tried for as long as I could.

My pregnancy with Loren and the whole idea of nourishing her with my body really opened my eyes to the perfectly “me” breasts that God gave me in the first place. I didn’t view my boobs as these things to be sexy anymore. I never really did after the implants. It was like dressing a doll or something that didn’t belong to me.

I thought about them all the time. What shirts would showcase them. How to balance the lower half of my outfit with the top so I wouldn’t look “too” slutty. I was supposed to have gotten these to boost my confidence, right? I became even more obsessed with how I looked because I thought about the image I gave and I got used to the attention I received from men. I would look to see if they had looked. I wasn’t even attracted to them; it was about getting my fix for the day from their approval. Men are simple. I could have been flat and doing the same things and getting attention. I wondered how many of them would have given me a second look had I not had them in, and why this new me cared so much about some loser’s opinion of the balls under my shirt.

I think about the times I focused on the outer me when all of that wasted time could have been honed into a hobby, laughter, doing what I went to go do that day in the first place! I also started seeing and thinking of myself as a ‘butterface”. Everything is nice, “butterface”. How awful. I never had those thoughts before. It was almost better to be this kind of attractive in a strange way flat girl, then someone whose body didn’t fit her face. That is how I saw myself because no one commented on my legs anymore. Or my eyes. Or my smile. Just my boobs. Not my personality. Because I wasn’t a good person. I didn’t think I was, so I wasn’t conveying it.

I had stopped being funny and more “sexy”. Funny, I still didn’t know how to enjoy myself in the bedroom with my husband, and I couldn’t fully trust that he was attracted to me. This was not all attributed to the implants, but I think somewhere in the back of your mind those implants did not help. I am fake, that was the feeling.

I thought about pleasing him and if he was happy, instead of just letting myself enjoy the moment. It took a long time to enjoy the marriage bed, but when I finally did it was wonderful and it had nothing to do with how my body looked or anything relating to the implants. It was about me, him and all these chemicals and emotions…and sometimes nothing at all! After 3 years of marriage, I finally allowed myself to enjoy it. I thought having those implants would help me be this awesome sexual creature, but it did the opposite. Thankfully, I am married to an understanding patient person. 3 years of marriage it took to finally let go!

It also led me to start researching the effects of having them in while breastfeeding and while I didn’t find too much information tied to it, my common sense told me it can’t be ideal.

Back pain and the tension in the neck and shoulders are constants with me. Pretty bras. Forget about it. We’re talking 1950 pointy boobed Cross Your Heart and hope to die because your carrying these bowling balls where two perfectly good handfuls used to be, your grandmother’s bra that you found draped over the tub along with her nylons. HOT. And forget about them staying perky. They didn’t. They stayed round. All the way around. Not natural. The breast should have a dip and be fuller at the bottom. Not these puppies. They barely move when I run and I have to wear two sports bras when I do just to feel normal. And that used to be one of my spots. Nope. Not anymore. They practically have to be abused to be felt. Haha. That does not happen so please stop. The brain fog is there. I don’t know if it is related to the implants, but I am not waiting any longer to find out.

What was I thinking? I wasn’t. I miss being active, having more energy, wearing fitting shirts and not looking like I am trying to get negative attention. I miss being me. I still had the funny girl persona inside and now I felt like I was pulling off some sort of scam.

I won’t go into the physical side effects from keeping the breast implants in. It’s out there and at the risk of blaming it all on the implants and sounding a bit of a hypochondriac, but most people would rather live in ignorant bliss to keep a firm rack. If you want to research, just get online and look. The truth is, IMPLANTS DO NOTHING BUT MAKE YOUR BREASTS BIGGER. They won’t keep them perky; Mother Nature will bring them back down…and probably faster because they are heavier.

So, if you ever find yourself wanting perky breasts, get a lift or just accept them. It is always best to keep things out of our bodies that don’t belong there. And if you find yourself wanting bigger breasts, just smack yourself! What a burden!

Wait until we are old and need artificial hearts or something! Now that makes a little more sense. Or start to look at your boobs in the mirror and love their squishiness, their floppiness, their soft touch and how you can actually “feel” something rubbing against them..like your lover’s breath or your sweet infant’s mouth. That is what life is about. Not jelly filled bags buried into your chest. Just think about it.

I have made the decision to explant. My surgeon will be removing my implants and giving me a lift. I feel like I am in good hands. After speaking with him, he said it does not look like I have much breast tissue so I will pretty much be flat. Can I live with that? Yes, I can. I am nervous at the thought of going under again, but I am excited to be implant free! Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I am getting these out for my health, my mind and my daughter.

Okay, I feel a little bad for re-posting these pictures of Tori Spelling, because I am actually a fan of her’s. But, I ran across some recent photos of her today, and I really felt the need to re-post them, not because I am making fun of Tori, but because I really think it is important for women out there to know what can (and usually does!) happen when you get breast implants, then get pregnant and breastfeed. This is not a pretty site, and this is NOT uncommon!  Tori is going to need additional surgeries to fix this problem.

Dr. John Di Saia, an OC Plastic Surgeon had this to say about Tori’s appearance:

I wouldn’t really be beating her up. Take into account that Tori went for larger implants and has had children with weight gain and loss. Larger implants are very likely to descend over time and more surgery is in the cards for her. She also has a mild case of Pectus excavatum meaning her breast bone (Sternum) dips in a bit. She would not have been a typical breast implant case even if she had not gone large.

I also read here that Tori has had a difficult time breastfeeding her children. She says:

He’s SUCH a good baby. He’s a good sleeper, he’s a good eater…ish. I’ve been breastfeeding…The only trouble I’ve had with him has been the breastfeeding thing. It’s been a little difficult, cause, I didn’t know this before, but sometimes you don’t produce - you’d think these things would produce (points to breasts) - an abundance of milk. I’m trying to breastfeed him and he wasn’t very happy with it. So I had to supplement him with a bottle to get enough milk, and he found out that the bottle is easier to consume, it’s faster and comes right to you. He doesn’t have to do all the work. So, he started to eat angry.

He’d be attached and pounding on the boob (with his fists), and I’m like, ‘Don’t eat angry little man, don’t eat angry!’ And then he got to the point where he realized, ‘Well, no matter what I do she’s going to stick me on that thing,’ - which, it is literally larger than his head - so now he’s kind of learned to pacify me and kinda just sit there like (makes lazy sucking noise) and suck on it until he can get to his bottle.

And last week, I was feeding him, and he seemed to be like this little angel baby eating, and I looked down, and he was sucking on the boob, and he was holding it, and he had his middle finger up…he was all, ‘F you!’

The FDA has this to say about breast implants and breastfeeding:

It is not known if a small amount of silicone may pass from the silicone shell of an implant into breast milk. If this occurs, it is not known what effect it may have on the nursing infant. There are no current methods for detecting silicone levels in breast milk.

These are all things that every woman should take into consideration before deciding on breast implants. In my opinion, implants might make you happy for a short time, but in the long run…they will make you miserable!!!

All of us here at Beauty and The Breast were discussing the episode from July 24th on The View. The entire episode was centered around plastic surgery. Now, I know that plastic surgery is a big part of our society today and that in order for these types of shows to keep the interest of their viewers, they have to talk about the “hot topics” in our society today, but I can’t tell you how much these types of shows annoy me.

First of all, they always seem to glamorize plastic surgery. And, let me tell you ladies, there is nothing glamorous about plastic surgery. Having been through it, it is quite the opposite of glamorous. Anesthesia, hospitals, scalpels, pain medication….what about that is glamorous? I suppose that people think that it is worth it to go through all of the pain and torture for what they hope to look like afterward, but as we have pointed out here at B&TB, plastic surgery is too often not all it is cracked up to be. Too many times patients end up either looking like the bride of Frankenstein, are “overdone” or “underdone,” or still aren’t happy with the outcome for various reasons.

Speaking of the outcome, I found it very interesting that one young girl on the show had a breast reduction, reducing the size of her breasts from a size DD. Another girl on the show had her breasts enlarged from a A cup to a DD. Now, how does that make sense? What that tells me is that women just aren’t happy with what they are given and are always looking to find that “one thing” that is going to give them all the happiness and success that that they desire. What women fail to understand is that no procedure is going to give you all of these things that you so desire. Success and happiness cannot be found from a plastic surgeon and a scapel.

Another thing I want to point out is the fact that a young girl, Amanda was on the show with her Mother and Surgeon talking about her recent breast reduction. Amanda is only 15 years old! I should also mention that she had liposuction on her stomach in addition to the breast reduction. Amanda’s Mom claims that Amanda needed the surgery because she was being made fun of at school, her teachers were “trying to cover her up,” and because Amanda would have developed at eating disorder if she didn’t get the liposuction.

One of my favorite blogs, Jezebel wrote a great piece on this segment of the show. This is what the ladies at Jezebel have to say:

Amanda is small, so you can see that DD/E cup breasts might be a strain on her tiny frame. But since she is obviously not obese, why would lipo be necessary? To prevent an eating disorder, of course! Amanda’s mom explained that everyone in their family has belly fat, so she knew that even though her daughter was “eating less and less” it would never go away. Amanda’s doctor had no problem doing the surgery, since “not everyone is blessed with the right looks,” and he likes to “give children who are disadvantaged a chance to look better.”

Some of the comments are priceless, which I must share here:

My mother wouldnt let me wear make up until i was 14 (i totally did anyway but you know…she tried). I just recently joked around with her about me getting a chin lift and if looks could kill i would have imploded.
Whatever happened to loving your daughter for who she is? And encouraging her to enjoy being young and a teenager? Way yo go, mom of the year! Way to catupult your poor 15 year old daughter into a world of constant surgeries to maintain the LIPO you got her before she actually FINISHED developing.
I’m going to get a tub of ice cream and a hamburger. who’s with me?

In my day, “disadvantaged” meant children who couldn’t afford a fancy schmancy education, or basic necessitites such as food/clothing, not being “blessed with the right looks”. And I know I’m not even old, things just got messed up fast.

This is sick, and that doctor is horrible. Whatever happened to “do no harm?” And really, if you want to preempt an eating disorder, send a kid to a counselor, not a plastic surgeon.
Even her breast reduction seemed frivolous. She had no health problems, but she was self-conscious because people teased her. Isn’t that just part of being a teen? Although if her teachers were seriously picking on her for that, that is appalling. Does this girl have no respectable adults in her life?

I, of course agree with the comments made above. What exactly are we teaching our children if, at the age of 15 we are letting them have plastic surgery? Are you kidding me? This is just perpetuating the problems in our society today. Teenagers are so totally obsessed with their looks and material possesions, and the parents are the ones encouraging them to be this way! Instead of instilling values, responsibility, good work ethic, love and compassion, acceptance of oneself and others, we are teaching our children starting at a very young age that they are not to accept and love themselves as they were created. This is setting them up for complete failure down the road in life.  What about this picture is completely wrong? A LOT!

Feministing showed us a new video game recently, and although the video game industry isn’t exactly known to treat its female characters with respect, we’re still disgusted. It’s called “Fat Princess,” and Feminist Gamers (a site we haven’t seen before but are glad we know about now!) has some choice words about it.

Every little girl wants to be a princess, right? But no one wants to be a FAT princess! Then no prince will come to rescue her; instead, they’ll fight an army… just to get rid of her! LOL!

Don’t little girls have a hard enough time having a healthy body image without more not-so-subtle messaging telling them how to objectify themselves? Then again, if we can find this, this and this for our kids, it’s really not anything new. We say: Don’t buy it. There are plenty of other games out there, and even though these games are released and played by lots of people, we can teach our children better.

More feedback below.

Broadsheet:

“A new video game from Titan Studios/Sony has taken the cliché of the beautiful princess in distress, turned it on its head, and fed it lots and lots of cake. So much that — ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! — it apparently takes a whole crowd of soldiers to carry her. See, because she’s fat. Joke’s on you, Mario.”

Melissa at Shakesville:

“…[T]he only thing I can’t figure out is why anyone would want to rescue a fat princess in the first place, since everyone knows that fat girls are unlovable human garbage at whom any sensible bloke would sooner hurl invective than cast a longing glance.

I sure hope there’s a clever dénouement like the Fat Princess magically becoming thin once she’s rescued! ‘Cuz that would rock, yo!”

This article really sickened me.  This woman, Alicia Duvall, a British Model has had numerous breast augmentations.  She said that she wants to continue to have this surgery done to ’sort things out’.  I think she better try to ’sort things out’ by having the implants removed and learn to accept what God has given her. 

These things look terrible and rock hard!  What is even more disturbing about this story is that she is encouraging her daughter to have her breast enhanced as well.  However, at the ripe old age of 12, Alicia believes that her daughter she should wait until she is 16. 

She states that she knows it will eventually kill her so she wants her daughter to experience this same fate???  I’m stunned!

Sorry, but in my opinion, women like this should not have children.  I can’t imagine a Mother would want her daughter to go through what she has.  This is very hard for me to believe. 

This in my opinion is a woman that really has some serious problems that she needs to sort out and it shouldn’t be in the way of another breast augmention (14 in all and an estimated 50 cosmetic procedures total!)

Beth

Forget the weird cosmetic things happening in Florida (dentists performing breast augmentations, surgeons putting in used implants, etc.), now a Manhattan gynecologist is jumping on the cosmetic bandwagon. Apparently it’s not enough to do pap smears and deliver babies, the big bucks are in coming up with new cosmetic procedures to market to everyone with a pair.

The vagina appears to be the new frontier for cosmetic medicine.  There’s a whole array of proceduress that the good gyno has designed just for us.  Dr. Romanzi (in a New York Times interview with Natasha Singer) claims that she’s focusing on helping women with bladder issues post-babies, but what it really sounds like is she’s targeting women that will do anything to obtain and retain a man.  The main focus seems to be on strengthening Kegel muscles (like the fancy gyno exam to determine how strong you are), and making the area look pretty.  Am I missing something?

Not all gynecologists have felt the need to explore cosmetics. One doctor even seemed to have his head on straight: “Dr. Berenson questioned whether healthy women need any kind of pelvic strengthening or cosmetic procedure.”  Thank goodness that someone’s out there telling women to leave well enough alone.  Dr. Romanzi’s using face lasers to make the vulva look “better” and she claims that they’re just fine on that area even though there’s no research to support that. So there are a few reasons why other OB/GYN’s are cautious about Phit (Pelvic Health Integrated Techniques) www.theperfectphit.com.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m completely happy just leaving that area alone until some type of medical intervention is deemed necessary…oh, like CANCER, or I’m urinating when I sneeze (I’ve heard that happens, and I’m hoping to avoid)! I’m not even sure that I get “vaginal rejuvenation”. The whole idea of tightening things, makes me think that an inevitable rip, tear, or just plain pain, is in my future.

What about you?  Will you be working “pelvic fitness” into your schedule any time soon?

~Kacey

US News and World report has an article regarding teens at the age of 18 getting plastic surgery.  This is something that we have all heard before and in some cases, this has been deadly!

The article states  ‘Several factors are important in deciding when and for whom surgery is appropriate: an ability to understand the procedure; that the desire for surgery does not reflect what a parent, friend, or boyfriend desires; and that expectations are realistic’. 

‘If your expectations aren’t realistic and you have low self-esteem or no friends, cosmetic surgery is not the right answer. Rather, I would recommend counseling’.

Personally I think this is good advice for all women no matter what age.  Many women have low self esteem and decide to go under the knife to enhance body parts that they don’t feel comfortable with.  They are also made to believe that what they are doing is safe.    

The article also mentions the FDA guidelines that teens under 22 can only be implanted with saline implants and must be 22 if they want silicone gel.  Something the FDA has decided on that really never made sense to me.  Will 4 years really make a difference???  I doubt not.  Implants do not know your age!  If you are going to have complications, they will happen whether you are 18 or 35 and we have seen that women become ill from both saline implants and silicone gel. 

I would like to add as well that I was 35 when I decided on breast augmentation.  Yes, I had low self esteem and did this because I felt too thin.  I also did my ‘homework’ and found nothing indicating that saline implants were dangerous to your health.  I have since learned that this is not the case at all.  I think the best thing for me would have been counseling and going to the gym to build up those area’s of my body I didn’t feel comfortable with.  No, this would not have increased my breast size but it certainly would have made me feel better about myself.  I think about that often and wondered why no one ever suggested that to me.  Maybe this is what these teens should be doing instead of lipo at age 18.  Really, we need to concentrate more on eating healthy and exercise.  I bet most teens and adults would not need lipo if they changed their diet and excercised on a regular basis. 

It would be nice if parents encouraged their teens to eat healthy and exercise on a regular basis and I don’t mean to a point that it becomes obsessive as this can be a problem as well.  I think that 18 is just too young to be thinking about enhancing your body using cosmetic surgery to achive that.  Also, these parents should also be educated on the dangers and lets not forget to reassure our teens that the body God has given them is perfect and does not need altering in any way.  This will all lead to a healthy outlook in the future and acceptance of their bodies. 

Lastly, I do believe this article makes some good points regarding plastic surgery and teens, I just don’t agree with all of it. 

 Beth

Teen plastic surgery is hitting the news again.  And it’s not surprising given the statistics.

 The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) reports that 87,600 surgical operations were performed on 13-19 year olds in 2007, mostly for breast reduction in young males and nose reshaping. The teen surgeries represent 5 percent of overall procedures.

In an article picked up by Reuters, one doctor is trying to find a publisher for his book on teen surgery, and he isn’t finding any takers.  A voice of reason (psychologist) steps in and basically says that we should be trying to encourage self-esteem building from the inside not the outside, while acknowledging that extreme cases may very well need medical intervention.

In the article it mentions that the doctor has given a breast lift to a child that “had breasts that sagged like a 60 year old”, and who consequently started acting out and developed an eating disorder.  After her breast lift, reportedly the eating disorder disappeared.  But before this comment it says:

“But he says surgery has made a profound difference to his patients, even in the controversial area of breast implants which are generally discouraged by the ASPS for the under-18s.”

Apparently breast lifts aren’t all he’s willing to perform on teens.  And I’m guessing those teens that ended up with breast implants courtesy of the nice doctor, now report a higher self-esteem?  Job well done, right?  Let’s give those teens what they want for the moment, in the moment.  And while we’re at it, let’s throw in a free pair for mom and make it a family affair; afterall, she’s the one who went to all the trouble of bringing the child in in the first place.  Isn’t it nice when parents make the sale and you don’t have to?

Thank goodness my mom thought that I was fine just the way I was (when I told her I was getting breast implants at 19); too bad I didn’t.

 ~Kacey

“I am a research engineer that works primarily with materials. PVC is used because it is the cheapest durable plastic, and its properties can be customized with additives. Not only is PVC harmful, the additives are harmful too (if not worse). For women and mothers everywhere, pay close attention to the use of PVC in anything that touches you or your child, especially when it comes to baby’s toys and sex toys. Visit wikipedia for a very thorough discussion on this plastic.”  ~Mr. Engineer

Mr. Engineer,  

Thank you for your comments. I thought your insightful post needed to be the focus of our next discussion.  I seemingly meet people with priviledged information all of the time. While vacationing one year, I met a researcher who had found a connection between hair dye and cancer. When their research was really starting to make strides, she said the FDA came in, collected everything, and said they’ll be taking over the study…and then she never heard anything more of it. She said that this was typical when researchers find something that could cause a lot of concern and the FDA gets wind of it. By the way, from what she said, it might be a good idea to avoid every color but brown.

Another time, a doctor of mine mentioned that during his residency, he was helping with a study on artificial sweeteners and their effect on rats. He said that every one of the rats got cancer during the study, and that they were instructed to surgically remove the cancer, and then the rats were considered “cancer-free”. Nevermind that they all got cancer from the sweeteners, with the cancer removed they could pretend it never happened. ***Did you know that in breast implant studies, often times the women that remove their implants (for whatever reason) are automatically dropped from from the study altogether?  Now I’m sure the public would be curious to know WHY they removed their implants (personal choice, health problems, capsular contracture, rupture, etc.).  That’s information that would be HELPFUL to a study, I would think.

These are just examples of a small amount of the information I’ve been exposed to by the professionals that have been involved with research. I wish we could all know what is really going on, from the people who see it happening every day. The best tool we have in this day and age is the Internet, as free-speech can truly prevail and companies are not able to stop our messages (or at least for the most part).

Thanks again for giving us a heads up. I encourage others to do the same, as we should all help each other to be as safe and healthy as possible. You’d think the FDA was looking out for us (they can barely keep up with produce by the way), but that’s just something we tell ourselves at night to help us sleep better.

Any other things we should look out for, readers?

~Kacey

Something deeply disturbing happened this week, and I need your input. I’m having trouble even figuring out where to begin. Recently my class of pre-teens/teens was instructed on hygiene: how to keep clean, what shampoo and conditioner are for, importance of brushing teeth, etc. It was a great presentation and the kids were totally into it and seemed to have a good handle on how to take care of themselves. Well, knowing what to do and doing it are completely different things, as we would come to find out.

The hygiene lesson stemmed from the need of a female student in particular…okay, frankly it was a hair intervention, the kind your friends or parents usually perform, long before middle school. The girl comes to school every day with a mop of hair on her head that looks like it has never seen a day with a comb. It looks as if it’s been teased to the point that it’s angry and looking for revenge.

Our bright idea was to see if she would want to volunteer for a hair makeover, which she happily did. At first we considered taming the frizz/curls/clumps with water and hair gel (while teaching her to twist and let dry). We didn’t want to make the furr ball bigger, so we opted for using a straightener instead. We were all set to start the process and learned that underneath the top layer of unbrushed but manageable strands there were not 1 but 2 layers of matted clumps. I have never quite seen anything like it. At first glance it was overwhelming, but then it just kind of made us angry, as this young girl needed someone to walk her through self-care and she obviously wasn’t getting what she needs.

While working on the tangles, the girl was questioned about when she washed her hair last… and she couldn’t remember! It had been so long that she had no idea when her hair had last touched soap; according to the mess we find, it was absolutely believable. The finished product looked great! She had beautifully straightened hair (which was still quite bushy and therefore we taught her how to secure it with a ponytail holder) and she was beaming from ear to ear. Her hair had grown several inches just in the detangling process alone. She left my class feeling on top of the world, and I later learned that all of the adults (and kids) were singing her praises, which she responded well to. The big test would come the next day, when we would see what she would do with her new tangle-free locks.

Things might have gone differently had I not opened my big mouth during the makeover. I made the mistake of saying, “When you straighten your hair, sometimes you can get by with not washing it for 2 days or so.” I thought this would be a good thing, as I was encouraging everyone by saying you won’t have to spend this much time on it every day, but as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew it was a mistake. When I saw her the next day, I noticed that for the most part, her hair was back to its crazy self. It wasn’t quite as bad, but it still wasn’t good. The worst part of it was that now it had tons of gel in it that needed to be desparately washed out… and soon! When I talked to someone else about this, they reassured me by saying, “No, the gel is a good thing… at least it smells nice.”

Next year, we have made plans to do a thorough hair intervention, complete with shampooing guidance and everything. But I can’t help but think… will it stick? Has anyone else had experience with this, and what can I do to help this little one out?

~Kacey