Breast Implant Illness: What You Need to Know

Overview

In this episode, Rachel shares a conversation originally recorded on the Functionally Autoimmune podcast with host Brandy, focused on a topic Rachel knows personally: breast implant illness. Rachel got implants at 18 and removed them five years ago after healing her Hashimoto’s, and this conversation covers what breast implant illness actually is, the science behind why it happens, its documented links to autoimmune diseases, how to navigate the explant process, and why removal is often just the beginning of the healing journey rather than the end.

You’ll Learn

• What breast implant illness is, why it is not an official medical diagnosis, and why women are routinely dismissed even though peer-reviewed research now links breast implants to significantly increased risk of Sjogren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and systemic sclerosis, with Sjogren’s showing the strongest association at 1.5 to 3 times higher risk
• Why symptoms on average appear around six years post-implant, though onset can range from one to two years in some cases and over a decade in others, and how the rain barrel effect explains why the implant may tip the bucket for someone whose toxic load was already building
• Why breast implant illness can occur regardless of implant type, because both the biofilm theory and the foreign object response theory apply equally to saline and silicone, and why 35% of implants tested in one study carried bacteria including the strain associated with acne
• Why en bloc capsulectomy is the critical surgical standard to ask about before choosing a surgeon, and why removing the implant and the full scar tissue capsule in one intact piece prevents contamination from biofilm or mold that has been found on implant surfaces
• Why symptom improvement after explant varies widely from 27 to 90% according to research, and why this range makes post-explant functional medicine work important for addressing whatever percentage of symptoms remains
• How to support the body before and after explant through anti-inflammatory nutrition, lymphatic support, sweating, and sauna once cleared by the surgeon, and why gut testing, nutrient deficiency testing, and mold or heavy metal testing can help identify what functional medicine work remains
• Why Rachel recommends breast explant Facebook communities specifically as a positive research resource for vetting surgeons and hearing real patient experiences, in contrast to many autoimmune groups

Sponsors

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Explant is often just the first step. Your body has been in chronic inflammation possibly for years. Support your gut, open your detox pathways, and address what is underneath. You deserve to be taken seriously, and healing is possible.