It has been 5 weeks since my breast implant removal surgery, so I wanted to share all things breast explant journey because I have never felt better.
Why I wanted to get one, how to prepare before and what are the best ways to heal & recover.
After 5 weeks, I feel pretty much healed. I don’t have any pain. My incisions are totally gone (with a big scar of course), and swelling is almost non-existent.
I am waiting for my 6-week mark to have the green light to go back to my usual routine.
Why did I want to get a breast implant removal?
I was 22-years-old when I get my breast implants in. I was obviously very young and naïve.
11 years later, after pregnancy and breastfeeding, I could feel my implants all of the time. It wasn’t like it used to be.
I actually wanted them out 4 years ago but I decided to wait until I was done having children to get the surgery done.
As I continue to go further and further into my health career, and my own healing journey, I have realized that having a foreign object in my body, at all times, can’t be a good thing in the long run.
Why?
Breast implant illness is very real.
The FDA also identified a possible link between breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) which is a cancer of the immune system.
Not only are there health complications associated with breast implants but I also have a daughter now. What is that going to teach her? I am not judging cosmetic procedures at all, I just don’t want to be a role model for it. I want her to love the body God gave her.
Prepping for Surgery
I learned a couple of things prepping for this surgery.
Don’t be in a rush | Find the right plastic surgeon for you. Do your research. Trust your gut. I went to 3 different plastic surgeons before I chose the one I was going to move forward with.
The first one was a place that is very well known here in town. I for sure thought this was the one. Turns out, I had to take a hard pass. The surgeon told me he wouldn’t do an en bloc capsulectomy (the complete removal of the scar tissue surrounding the breast implant, which is what I knew I wanted to do), because he didn’t believe in BII (breast implant illness). That to me was a huge red flag. He also told me my implants were ruptured (which I came to find out later, they were not). Best part of all, he was going to charge me $5,000 more. No thanks.
Second place, I actually didn’t even do the consultation. I walked in and knew it was the wrong place. The staff was very rude and there were 50 people still waiting to be seen. No thanks.
The third place was the winner. After so much research, I finally found her (it helped that she had stellar reviews). A plastic surgeon that had her own practice so I wouldn’t be up charged for overhead cost for having the fanciest plastic surgery office in town. She was very real with me and without a second thought agreed to do everything I wanted to do. She also told me my implant was in fact, NOT ruptured. She answered all of my questions with compassion and came to find out, surgery would be performed right around the corner from where I lived! Best part, she charged the right amount.
Moral of the story – do your research and interview multiple surgeons.
Prepare your body | Eat whole foods, exercise, hydrate and take care of any repressed emotions. Especially in regards to feelings that come around your body, your confidence, surgery and what things will be like after. You want to have the best chance in recovery since surgery is a big deal not only physically but emotionally. Recovery was a breeze for me because of this.
Get help | You will need lots of help especially in the beginning. The only thing you should focus on is healing. I prepped my husband months before the surgery and all the way leading up to it. I have young kids so that meant I couldn’t do a single thing for them or for the house. Surgery also meant not being able to pick up my kids for 6 weeks, grocery shop, walk the dog, cook big meals. He had to know that ahead of time.
Caffeine | One thing I wish I would’ve known was that I needed to stop drinking caffeine at least 1 week before surgery. During the recovery time I had the worst headache and I am certain it was from caffeine withdrawal. I also felt like drinking caffeine during recovery would delay my healing since I wouldn’t be able to sleep when my body needed to sleep. I started drinking coffee again 3 weeks after surgery
Keep prepping| Purchase everything your surgeon recommends ahead of time. Stock up on groceries and freeze meals (almost like if you were about to have a baby). I usually don’t do supplements anymore but I wanted to have some for the month after surgery to help me “detox”. I used quote on quote because our bodies are totally able to do this on it’s own without supplements and the right food. I think I purchased them for peace of mind and to feel like I had some sort of control in my healing process. I bought vitamin C, colostrum, glutathione, magnesium and adaptogens. I also bought probiotics and kefir to help me go to the bathroom and to help restore my gut after taking antibiotics. If there is 1 supplement to buy, I would say buy probiotics since you are taking so many medications afterwards. Buy books to keep you entertained.
Now let’s get to after surgery.
Post-op
Rest | Rest, rest and rest some more. Sleep and let others do for you. Especially if you have children. Your recovery is important in the long run.
Walk | You will learn that you can’t exercise for 6 weeks but you will be able to walk. Especially after surgery to prevent blood clots. As the days go by, walk and walk some more. It will help speed up the process.
Eat nourishing foods | I drank A LOT of bone broth. Bone broth has a lot of anti- inflammatory components from the rich proteins it contains. The collagen helps to boost the immune system to promote recovery. It also builds and repairs damaged connective tissue, speeding up the healing process even more. I would sip it on it’s own or have my husband cook lots of different stews and soups with it. It was seriously the best and exactly what my body needed.
What I mostly ate on repeat:
- Bone broth
- Soups (chicken vegetable & rice soup, squash soup)
- Beef stew
- Lentils
- Smoothies (every morning)
Follow post-op care to the T | Listen to your surgeon and follow all instructions to the T.
If you are thinking about getting a breast implant removal, I hope this helps!
I was really nervous about getting it done but honestly have never felt better. I feel like I am in my body again. It was worth every single penny.
The recovery was super easy and yes there is pain in the beginning, but I never even had to take pain medication. I only took Tylenol for 3 days (the last day I only took 1 because I had a terrible headache from the caffeine withdrawal).
The only thing I will have to deal with is the scars. What a great reminder though of all of the things I did to my body and how I need to seek God more when I feel separated from myself.
If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out 🙂
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