Women across the world are reportedly experiencing breast implant illness symptoms which include brain fog, fatigue, and hair loss.

Breast implant illness is a fairly unknown condition that receives various responses from medical professionals. Due to the lack of evidence, many doctors refuse to give credence to the existence of the problem. However, the tens of thousands of women who have self-identified as having the issue say that their experiences are real.

Reported breast implant illness symptoms may include brain fog, hair loss, fatigue, headaches, photosensitivity, chest pain, sleep disturbance, and more. Some patients also report developing other conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjogren’s syndrome.

Fitness instructor Naomi M. told the BBC that she started to get the “most horrific symptoms” after she got breast implants in 2014. Along with severe abdominal pain, Naomi reportedly experienced extreme fatigue. She told the BBC she felt like “[she] had run a marathon and dug a million trenches, but [she] hadn’t done anything.” Even daily tasks like writing with a pen were reportedly too hard for her.

Some patients tell their doctors about their symptoms only to have their concerns instantly dismissed. Naomi was reportedly told that her symptoms were in no way related to her breast implants.

She was allegedly forced to seek support from online breast implant illness forums. After she realized that other women had experienced the same thing, she reportedly sought to have her implants removed surgically. Within days of her surgery, Naomi reportedly started to recover from illness allegedly brought on by breast implants.

Although many medical professionals remain skeptical, some doctors acknowledge that tens of thousands of women have experienced this phenomenon and believe that patients should be warned even if the condition isn’t well understood.

“Surgeons should be warning patients about Breast Implant Illness. Patients need the most up-to-date information possible, with the caveat that [it] is poorly understood,” Dr. Nora Nugent, a surgeon with the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, told the BBC.

In the U.S., the FDA continues to look into breast implant illness and held a two-day conference regarding the condition in March 2019. Numerous patients, advocates, researchers, and industry stakeholders participated in the conference after tens of thousands of women reported experiencing breast implant illness symptoms.

“While the FDA doesn’t have definitive evidence demonstrating breast implants cause these symptoms, the current evidence supports that some women experience systemic symptoms that may resolve when their breast implants are removed, referred to by some patients and health care professionals as breast implant illness,” the FDA said in a statement following the two-day conference.

“We believe women considering a breast implant should be aware of these risks.”

Although breast implant illnesses is not well understood, the FDA recently warned that breast implants were associated with a unique type of cancer: breast implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

This cancer reportedly forms in the scar capsule that forms around the breast implant during the healing process. Women with textured breast implants may be more likely to develop BIA ALCL, but women with smooth breast implants have also reported developing the cancer.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.