If you have breast implants but, weren’t warned that they might impair lung function you weren’t ‘fully informed’.
If I had been told getting breast implants might cause damage to my lungs, or leave me with silicone against, and now possibly in my lungs I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to get them. What I was persuaded by was the plastic surgeon telling me my implants would not only last my lifetime, but when I was dead and in the grave, my body would decompose, but my implants wouldn’t. I was told my implants were ‘safe’ – new, state of the art devices. I, like millions of other women, was sold a load of false ‘spin’.
Many plastic surgeons are now telling women breast implants are not lifetime devices, though many are still ambiguous about how long they will last. Women with thirty to forty year old implants are still being told there’s no need to remove their implants.
As is the case with many women who get implants I lived a very active and health conscious lifestyle. The disconnect of having toxic devices sitting in close proximity to my lungs (and other vital organs) was lost on me until I found out my silicone implants were ruptured. Not just ruptured – badly ruptured with extra capsular rupture. I hadn’t ever been told there was even a possibility silicone could escape the implants and migrate throughout my body. By the time I finally connected the dots it was too late. Silicone was in my lymph nodes and had gone deeply into my chest wall; it was up to my lungs. There’s no ‘do-overs’. There’s no retrieving the silicone.
It’s not even just about migrated silicone. At the time of explant my lungs were encased by acute inflammation, necrotized tissue, silicone granulomas, biofilms, and more. All of it impeding my lung function.
My implants have been removed, but I have permanent damage to my lungs. I have permanent damage in other ways also, but this blog post is specifically focusing on the potential of breast implants to impair lung function.
I can’t even begin to count the number of women I know who have been left with lung impairment from their implants also. It’s seemingly epidemic and in my opinion is a public health crisis. It’s especially prevalent for women with migrated silicone.
Breast Implant Failure & Illness 
16 thoughts on “Breast Implants Can Impair Lung Function .. and you should have been warned!”
Stephanie
I also have multiple lung nodules..found a year after explant of Mentor silicone (right implant was supposedly leaking in the capsule). I now have confirmed neuromuscular weakness with the maximum inspiratory and expiratory test of my lungs. I also just had a thymectomy 3 years post explant. My thymus that sits above my heart in between my lungs was enlarged thought to be causing my Myasthenia Gravis symptoms. I have no doubt my silicone implants are the cause.
motherima
Stephanie, I have multiple lung nodules and other lung damage also. I’m so sorry you’ve experienced all of this. We should be included in implant studies.
Diane
You should report these symptoms to the fda at the Medwatch website. You must have the manufacturer and serial numbers for the implants for your report to be acknowledged by the company and for your report to be investigated properly. Also The MAUDE ( manufactures and users device experience) website at https://www.accessdata.ada.gov has information about adverse reactions associated with breast implants from patients and doctors … anyone can report. Your doctors should be reporting this information for you, but you can too.
motherima
Absolutely, it’s important to report all adverse events. Thanks for the link Diane.
Diana
For this reason would you think that saline implants are somewhat safer if they leak?
motherima
Women are told saline breast implants are safer than silicone breast implants .. it is a false narrative.
Women with saline implants often get sick faster, and become some of the sickest.
Women are told that if saline implants rupture its no big deal because it’s just salt water that will simply reabsorb into the body.
A problem is that, for starters, saline has a shelf-life. Another even bigger issue is that the valves on saline implants are often faulty, resulting in an osmosis type situation where saline leaks out and body fluids are sucked in. There’s an ongoing exchange of saline and body fluids, creating a cesspool of bacteria and mold. That contaminated ‘stew’ sits directly over the lungs.
Mary Lynch
no idea what to do my surgeon is a bad doctor he refuses to tell me details or show the implants removed during revision he implanted in 1991! he threw them in the trash!! i have bad symptoms. sad to die for this . he told me they ruptured upon removal and forget about it!
motherima
That’s not fair; you deserve to know what was going on inside you when he did the surgery. Have you requested his ‘doctors notes’ or surgery report? It’s important to get all the information you can, if possible. Its also important that moving forward you’re followed with scans (Ultrasound/MRI) to check for residual silicone.
Ramona
My concern is I have had my saline implants for more than 15 years and anytime I talk with any doctor no matter what their practice is, they all say the same thing, “oh no, breast implants have no adverse affects on one’s breathing.” Then, I come online, and all I see is the issues that we as women have suffered with as a result of breast implants. This is unacceptable. The medical field need to be educated and informed of the side effects of implants and get out of denial about our issues. To me, all they care about is plastic surgeons deep pockets and staying in business. I am struggling with getting my doctor to have them removed due to my chronic breathing problems and sometimes I feel so defeated. Thank you for reading.
motherima
Ramona, the doctors are absolutely wrong in saying that breast implants have no adverse affects on lungs / respiratory function. I’m glad you’ve been researching and you’re aware that implants can/do impact respiratory health. I hope you can find a surgeon to properly remove your implants soon.
ramonaboutte7251
Thank you, so much, for your response. I have been trying to cope with my concerns by myself for years and now I know I’m not alone. I will be in touch.
CAWS
Ramona,
I also had my saline implants for 16 years before one finally broke. They were textured under the muscle. I went to a private surgical facility for explant with the condition beforehand that I would get them back so I could send them out for analysis. Then I sent them to Dr Pierre Blais ;world leading authority on [all kinds of ]implant failure, in Canada. His company is INNOVAL in Ottowa ,CA. He won a big court case against the Canadian FDA when they fired him for trying to warn women about the dangers for decades. He found that my whole implant was full of bright yellow fluid [fungus] and the surgeon had used an unmatched set [spares from other surgeries]. The texturing had worked it’s way into the capsule and it took two surgeons 2.5 hours to scrape them off my chest wall without puncturing my lungs. I lost a pint of blood.
Turns out the “expiration date” on the devices are because after 36 months the valves begin to fail and AUTOINFLATION occurs. You end up with an ecosystem of whatever pathogens were in your bodily fluids in a nice warm, dark, anaerobic leaky sac on top of your lungs and heart which can include fungus, bacteria,virus and even parasites. My left saline implant was 30cc LARGER than when they were implanted! At 37 months in [1999] I ended up in hospital with pleurisy & pneumonia and right before the right one broke [2012] I got antibiotic resistant pneumonia again. I now have collapsed vaucules in my lungs that make me out of breath easily even though I have never smoked. Doctors blame it on scar tissue from the pneumonia but would I have even had it if not for the implants? The timing is very suspicious. What about the silicone texturing that may be in my lungs? Nobody wants to talk about that.
The other saline lie is that because it is “sterile saline water” you can take your time waiting to get them out after one breaks. DO NOT WAIT!! Most insurance will pay to remove them; just not for replacement. Depending on the pathogen flooding your body you can even become paralyzed. I met a women who waited and she is paralyzed in both arms as the bacteria traveled and permanently damaged her nerves.
Lynn
I had implants in 1979 for my modeling jobs. Got autoimmune symptoms and learned they had severely ruptured.In 1999, had them replaced with saline. I developed asthma then COPD ( non smoker.) I was never informed of any of these side effects. Dow Corning class action paid me a pittance in exchange for my health. I never knew any of these side effects till I read your article
motherima
Thank you for your comment. I’m sorry you’ve experienced respiratory impairment from your implants also – there are so many of us. Re: “Dow Corning class action paid me a pittance in exchange for your health” and “I never knew any of these side effects till I read your article” .. its criminal that Dow Corning *did know* .. the current implant manufacturers also know. They harm women anyway. So many women harmed by Dow Corning implants received a pittance in the settlement, or like me, got screwed over completely. Re: “learned they had severely ruptured.In 1999” .. have you had scans (Ultrasound / MRI) to check for potential residual silicone? If you haven’t, I would encourage you to do so.
Lynn K Baugh
I did have a surgeon try to scrape out the ruptured silicone. He said it was like scaling fish. He wasn’t able to get it all out. I have a tender area that shows up on all my mammograms. It’s not cancer and is likely silicone. We don’t know where else it may have migrated. I only know I have abnormal blood work showing increase in inflammatory response, and my medical records say “COPD-Non Smoker.” I’ve never smoked a second of my life but have copd. NOBODY ever told me of these issues even with saline implants.
SofiaM
This is scary and I am having similar symptoms to you ladies that already went through this. My implants are only on their 6 year mark coming up and yet I’m having so many issues in just the last year, sharp stabbing like pains breathing problems (especially at night) and sometimes severe stabbing pains especially in the left breast all around and in the nipple at times. I’ve also noticed that my back hurts 20x more than it did when I was a dancer in middle/ high school. I’ve been to the hospital more than once to rule out any heart or other serious issues in the past year. Everything was normal for the vital organs yet the pain continues to get beyond worse. I’d like to get these silicone things removed off of my chest this year 2022 before anything worse or something even more painful happens. Does anyone on here know of a good doctor that will explant them and give them back to you in a bag? I’ve heard scary stories where they keep them and toss them in the garbage because they’re so severely damaged or leaking and they don’t want the patient to see it freak out or maybe report it. Please if anyone knows of an explant surgeon in the Bay Area California. I’m in the Gilroy area of California.