missorange

@SheOnlyLooks25 and @Fortunecat okay so more progress. I rang Guy Sterne's office and his first appointment is Jan 3 for £100 and first op date Feb/March as he goes on holiday in Feb so I realised I could not wait that long.

I went ahead and booked a consult with Dr Amir in Kent for December 4 and then explant op on December 14. His PA is so kind, compassionate, answers questions promptly, etc. I realised I needed peace of mind and the sooner the better. Looks like Dr Amir can then do my lower facelift when I am 60?

I then got a call back from Stanek's nurse that Stanek has now stopped doing any breast operations and plans to retire after 1 year so feels cannot follow up on breast patients and suggested I find a younger plastic surgeon. This explains the reluctance to give me any price for explant.

Hope all this helps Brit ladies facing the need for explant. I shall post pre and post-op photos next month.

And yes @SheOnlyLooks25 hoping my symptoms are just wear and tear or statin side effects. Will see what happens post explant. I collected copies of my last blood tests from my GP to give to Dr Amir...all normal routine blood work. I need to get a copy of my ecg next from St Thomas' hospital. Trying to save money.

 

Wow thanks @Fortunecat! Um what is OCT and HVF? Sorry for being dumb. Course that could be bbi brain fog? ,

 

Hi @Peachy Sky, I debated whether to fly to korea but this op is under GA and needs en bloc removal so best done in my own country and then get fg in korea later. After my GA experience in Korea at DA clinic I am terrified of GA in korea.

For Brits, it looks like they are choosing Dr Guy Sterne in Birmingham for £4013 or Dr David Floyd in London for over £5k for en bloc removal. Both were also featured in Tatler. Dr Floyd's op list is full until end of January. I need to enquire about Guy's op availability. In the meanwhile this wait to see my original surgeon is killing me. The nurse promised to ring back with a price yesterday but never did and there have been no replies to my 3 emails! Then there is Dr Amir N for £4750 who has an op space on December 14 which I am so tempted to take. Shall I? I really don't know what to do. I want them out like yesterday. I think I have bii....sharp needle pains in back, dry blurry eyes x 6 months now, palpitations, tight right breast, hair loss, disabling right hip pain I thought was due to statin, memory problems I thought was due to statin, blood pr I thought was due to alcohol irritation of the gut wall, heartburn I thought was due to stress, optic disc changes (no cause found), thickened carotid arteries (high LPA), and am under the NHS glaucoma clinic, lipid clinic and now GI clinic scheduled for gastroscopy next Wednesday..

 

Hi @Purplep, believe me big boobs are over-rated. I got married with small boobs in a padded push up bra. I am looking forward to being A/B cup as I am fed up of being an implant victim. Clothes never fit properly on my short frame and when you are married, no one cares about your cleavage. lol.

Look into fat transfer to go from AA to B. That's what I will be doing after explant while I eat lots of chinese food to gain as much fat back to fill out my chest.

 

Could be @Fortunecat! Any symptom I have had since 2012 could have been bii! Good grief that's a lot of symptoms. I wonder if I will awake feeling healthier after explant? Curious to see what happens.

 

Thank you @SheOnlyLooks25! Yes the link worked. Seems the Panorama special aired last night so I watched it on catch up tv. Imagine over 414 reported cases of bia-lymphoma!!! The number keeps rising! I have joined the largest fb support group on breast implants...breast implant illness and healing by Nicole. For Brits, I would suggest also joining the closed fb group UK Breast Implant Illness and Healing Support Group. They have a list of recommended plastic surgeons by cities across the UK specialising in en bloc explant with pathology and the cheapest is with Guy Sterne in Birmingham who is at £4.1k. David Floyd looks good in London for en bloc explant but with lift it is £9k or £5k without lift. Ladies are posting almost daily of when they are either booked for explant or have just got explant! It is like wildfire with ladies across the world working together to share information on illness symptoms and who to go to for successful explants. The support in these groups are overwhelming and completely nonjudgemental, and I think will help me get to December 6 and then the next long hurdle to the op date itself. And then the trauma of the holy cr*p moment and then healing and then exploring fat transfer. It is a long journey I did not anticipate after deciding I had completed my 2 year rejuvenation journey from age 50-52. To think, I was referred to ER for PSVT tachycardia and spent hours in ER with no cause found, an inconclusive colonoscopy for bleeding PR which still happens off and on gushes of blood that I now ignore and assume is from inflammation of the bowel wall, blurred vision with persistent dry eyes for several months now, optician referred me for suspected glaucoma for disc changes and glaucoma clinic did my pressures throughout the day, no cause found for the change in disc size, etc. I can't wait to see if explant clears up all these ailments?! I have a feeling my body is trying to tell me something like perhaps, get rid of the silicone implants!

I feel sorry for the young ladies with mentor or allergan implants as their journey has just begun. Both mentor and allergan made textured silicone implants. How many young ladies know whether theirs is textured or not and even smooth has also been linked to ALCL. Silicone implants were avoided in the 1990s due to the problems with leakage or rupture and silicone nodules and lumps travelling throughout the lymphatics but it seems to have made a comeback and now bii (breast implant illness) is being reported globally.

 

Omg I awoke to more Daily Mail revelations! Banned in France!!! Then why do we women in the UK have to suffer yet again? https://dailym.ai/2DKTVmy

Thank you @Hautelady for the nbc news update. Really helpful and detailed. Panorama is airing a special tonight on textured breast implants and alcl. 9 more full days and counting to see my surgeon. Seems I need an en bloc removal with capsule. To think I have been here so many times before with each banned implant announcement. I never saw what they took out. I guess in the uk they just dispose of the implants in theatre.

I was told by the clinic not to worry and that the daily mail was creating sensational stories. Although I was also told my surgeon had stopped using the allergans I have! More worried as France is taking it seriously just like they did with pips and sent out invites to all French ladies with pips to get scanned for rupture or leaks immediately. Here the nhs delays and refusals to scan meant many ladies paid to get them out privately but I also came across ladies who couldn't afford to pay for explant so are waiting for leak or rupture to get them out on the NHS. I had scans and one showed a leak so my original surgeon exchanged the 10 year old pips for these textured allergans for free except for the £1.6k private hospital fee. I am hoping to receive a quote today for explant. Not going to wait for a scan to show a leak. Will have to pay more for explant without a leak but hoping the price will take into account this implant is now banned in France and causing me great anxiety.

This is what all ladies going for BA have to consider...approved implants ending up banned, cost of explant, anxiety, and each replacement repeating the cycle. Sigh. I cannot recommend breast implants to anyone and regret getting implants. If I had been warned or had known my future, I would never have agreed to breast implants.

Good points @SheOnlyLooks25 we don't move our breasts like we do our face so fg should last longer! Thank you for supporting me through this living nightmare. Hoping it will help readers out there think twice before rushing into breast augmentation with implants and maybe there are some out there in my same boat yet again.

 

Wow I found that fat transfer review on rs you mentioned. Two years of updates! Incredible and very promising. Thanks @Hautelady you did research for me! Although $10k is a lot. I would actually be ok with her before photo, after 22 years of being top heavy.

Yes we have all been there with a midlife crisis and wanting either a full makeover or spending big on luxury items. Just be careful of impulsive decisions and make sure it can be reversed in future if need be.

 

It's foreign material @SheOnlyLooks25 so not for me. It reminds me of meshes used in O&G which created problems as it too is a foreign material. We have to research natural or autologous solutions. I now have fat in my love handles after lipo to my thighs and abdomen so it could be a good store of fat to use to fill up my chest perhaps? But then comes the worry of asymmetry if the fat takes differently on each side or creates lumps! Sigh. Research, research, research.

 

Absolutely right @Hautelady we need to find post 1-2 yr patients from Fresh to check for lumps, reabsorption %, how many top ups required, pricing, etc. NC, USA will be more expensive than the UK or Korea?

One clinic says £4750 for just removal which means about £2k for the private hospital fee and £2750 for the surgeon and anaesthetist so the rs average of £3k is not indicative of London pricing. Sigh.

I rang my original surgeon's clinic and asked if I could get a price for just removal with trimming off excess skin. The clinic tried to reassure me saying only 5 women have got ALCL from implants but I cannot live with any risk of cancer or breast implant illness. I am already questioning whether my right hip pain, memory problems, recurrent profuse BRBPR with inconclusive colonoscopy (no piles as had surgery a decade ago and none seen) , chronic recurrent heartburn so severe i was on all 4s in agony for 2 hours with pending gastroscopy next week, months of dry eyes non responsive to hypromellose so have been using steroid drops, hair loss, anxiety, etc may actually be due to the silicone implants??? The only way to know is to get them explanted?

No need for lollipop uplift as surely I would have no breast tissue to push up? Hoping to get a price by tomorrow so I can at least know how much money to raise by my appointment on the 6th. Remember that when you are older, you have other bills to pay, like childcare, mortgage, university fees etc. so it is a shock to know that if you want your implants out it costs as much as putting them in! I was so happy that my youngest is in her final year of university so coming to an end of school fees but then she dropped the bombshell that she wants to stay another year to get her masters! That's another £18,000! It makes you feel like you have no financial control when unexpected bills keep appearing like this.

I don't mind wearing gel fillet push up bras under my clothes to give the illusion of breasts so can live with A-B cups. And have been telling myself that small natural breasts are more favourable now...health comes first.

 

Thanks @maybebaby1980 yes that is my problem...where to get 500gms of fat? I could try gaining more weight to see if any remaining breast fatty tissue expands naturally first. I looked up postop explant photos from days 0-2 on rs and it is quite a shock to see the folds of empty skin with no breast tissue taped up post-op but it does look better by day 2. In my research it seems people either know of friends who got an explant at age 28 after getting them at 18 or a friend who got widespread cancer with a 14 yo breast implant. As my BA incisions are below my breasts I shall ask my surgeon if he can trim excess skin during explant. Today's daily mail article has convinced me even more that I need explant.

Any lady considering breast implants needs to be able to afford exchange or removal surgery at any time up to 10 years post. Some are naive and told they last a lifetime when really they should be changed every 10 years but of the 4 I have had despite CE European approval and the last one US FDA only one set lasted 10 years before it was banned, two sets ruptured or leaked within a few years and this last one caused lymphoma at 3-4 years in 2 ladies that we have heard about in the news. Clearly the message is our bodies are not meant for foreign implants unless it is vital for life like a pacemaker.

 

Wow thanks @SheOnlyLooks25. Median 8 years! I'm at 6 years 9 months and more likely in implants with a textured coating, that's me too. Aargh. Get these out of me asap!!! I have had all sorts of health issues...profuse PR bleeding and had a colonoscopy but they couldn't find a cause, severe chronic heartburn since 2014 and going for gastroscopy on December 5, right hip disabling pain and memory loss which I thought was due to statin but maybe not? The problem is I never linked any of this to the implants as I had no idea about silicone breast implant illness! What if my body is reacting? Good that the disease is cured with removal of the implant and capsule. I have been looking at explant postop photos and it seems day 0 is the worst with ripples of sagging held up by surgical tape and no breast tissue post explant which slowly fills out by day 2 and it seems months 3-4 are when the breast starts to look normal again. I am hoping my surgeon trims off the excess sagging skin during explant.

 

It is vital you keep the details of your breast implants so that years later when a problem is publicised you can check to see if your model is the one with increased risk of lymphoma, etc. I pulled my 2012 records and am feeling nauseous as it confirms I have the exact same model as the ones in the 2 ladies with lymphoma featured in the daily mail article ..textured Allergan silicone. I felt despair in 1999 when I watched the news and the announcement that trilucent implants were being withdrawn for cancer in rats just as mine ruptured that month after 3 years. Then hydrogel leaked after I had that put in. Then Pip was banned in 2012 for toxic materials used after I had them since 2002. And now I have these us fda approved textured allergans for over 6 years when they caused cancer after 3-4 years in the ladies in the article who also got them like me in 2012 after removal of pips! I don't know how ladies cope with the time bomb anxiety if they cannot afford explant. I am gambling with risk of cancer until my surgeon takes these out! 11 full days before I see my original surgeon. Then comes the long wait to the op date in the New Year and fear of a flat chest.

 

Hi @viamala I haven't done my research yet into the longevity of breast fg. I am just trying to remain positive and counting down the days to see my surgeon. Each night I am tossing and turning, upset I have spent money and 22 years of my life going through 4 breast implants each with their faults. December 6 cannot come quick enough to see my surgeon. I looked up Fresh's fat transfer and may consider this next year if left with a flat chest post explant.

 

Thank you @Denyagan for sharing the name of the craniofacial surgeon who did a brilliant job fixing your botched surgery. I don't know how you found the mental strength to go through what you have gone through. I am so pleased for you that you made the right choice for a surgeon to repair your botched zygoma reduction.

 

That's why I need mine out! With my luck, I will be the small % who gets it. When Dr Ion said his rhino infection rate was only 2% I thought wow small risk and then wham! I ended up in the 2% with a bad rhino infection. Cancer is another story all together and there is 0% risk of lymphoma if I get these implants out vs small % again which increases the longer the implant remains in situ. No way do I want chemotherapy. Yes @Fortunecat I agree our immune system wants to reject foreign bodies and in the end wins. I am now counting down the days to see my original surgeon in 13 days. I need to book an op date and can only do this after my consultation. When there is a completely safe option ie fat transfer minus the risk of a GA, there is no reason to risk one's health with breast implants and I now have less faith in US fda approval as Allergans were FDA approved!

 

https://dailym.ai/2Qi6nRG

Even more concerning is the link between Allergan textured silicone breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma! This article came out yesterday and I too was swapped with Allergan textured silicone implants back in February 2012 for the banned pip implants. The 2 ladies in the article got lymphoma cancer 3 and 4 years post allergan textured silicone implants. The theory may be that the substance used to make a textured surface may be causing inflammation, infection, seroma then cancer.

I contacted my UK plastic surgeon and have an appointment December 6. I am looking at mid January as the earliest when he can take them out and no more implants for me after trying 4 types! I got a quote from another clinic at £8500-£9000! I think I will wait to see what my original surgeon quotes. Like @catelet I will try fat grafting in korea maybe at Fresh if I get mastopexy and my size is unacceptably too small post implant removal. Sigh.

I googled the symptoms of bia-alcl and they are swelling due to seroma fluid, breast pain, breast rash or swollen lymph nodes. So far I have none of this but am a ticking timebomb again as am at 6 years and 9 months. Wish I could get these out sooner than January. This breast implant associated cancer is usually diagnosed late at stage 3 and 4 and may need chemo and radiation. At stage 4 the 5 year survival rate is 65%. First I had the trilucent soya implant cancer in rats scare and was in a panic to figure out how to get them removed while hearing they were then banned, then came hydrogel and that leaked and also got banned, then came pip with its toxic mattress filler and now this textured allergan. I would say ladies only try your own fat transfer graft to breasts as the first case of bia-alcl was reported in a saline breast implant!

 

Ok too graphic! I don't want smas! I think I can wait until 70. Omg being rejected for a FL is a good thing. Wow. Gosh the skin is peeled off like skinning an animal. I wonder how many ladies would still consider FL if they saw images of the operation? FL was good on @jsorchid but for me I am trying the volume replacement theory into rejuvenation.

 

Looking younger @jsorchid. Not to worry about the cheeks..The fullness will go down as some of the fg reabsorbs and this will take the weight on your nasolabial folds away. However now that you have had fg in your cheeks, it is important to avoid salty foods/ msg and foods high in fat to prevent balloon face.

To decide on bullhorn, measure the length of your philtrum. If it is 20 mms, then absolutely go for it. If it is 15 mms, then maybe as a young lady's philtrum is 11-13 mms.

Thank you for sharing pictures as this has been very helpful to let us see anreal patient ASPS facelift. The only thing you have left out is the price. Could you please share? I have shared prices of my surgeries which helps people know how much to save and budget for. I was blown away to hear a Kao ponytail FL costs between $40-45k so am eager to know the real costs of Korean FLs.

 

Hi @jsorchid, how is healing now? Have you tried makeup yet? My ultimate test after ps is to see with makeup on. I usually apply 3 days post instead of a week as I get too impatient. Your jawline looks lovely. I am up to 101.4 lbs which is like having a natural fg top up which is a lot since I started at 96.8 and it looks like just the areas of fg are filling up so really liking the look.

Have you had the extra fg top up yet as asps were going to do the extra after your FL?

 

Funny how it is such an in thing in Korea. They also call it baby eyes. I tried to create it with eyeshadow. But doesn't work in the UK.

@jsorchid talk to a clinic translator about that second incision. I can see why it upset you as it was on your young eye. Try to focus on the positives, no neck wrinklles, tighter face etc. Your lower face will look younger than mine!

 

Sorry if I offended you. I only came up with possibilities as I was left with nerve damage as a private UK plastic surgeon did one breast but let his junior do the other which led to the nerve injury and inability to abduct my arm for several months. So even though I paid for him to do the surgery he let his assistant I had never met before operate on one side to save time. I was shocked to see it only took 15 minutes to do breast augmentation and 2 people operating at the same time explained it.

Google aegyo sal. It is the creation of a fold in the lower lid that is popular in korea and the incision would match that lower second scar.

Again all this is conjecture as you were posting that you did not understand what had happened and the surgeon's explanation did not make sense as your korean is not medical.

The problem with consultations in a foreign language is the possibility of a misunderstanding. I said bullhorn liplift yet the korean plastic surgeon agreed then on the day of the op did vermillion. I was just wondering why there was a second scar when lower blepharoplasty is done in the lash line. In any case you are fine with it so don't fret. For me, I was not okay with a scar along my entire upper lip and had to redo the op in the uk the proper way. In other words in my case, I had not received what I had paid for... operated by an assistant in the one case and in the other a different lip lift was performed after he took my money. I was told by a wise lady not to put surgeons on a pedestal as they are human beings, some good, some bad.

 

That is peculiar how he made a separate extra incision not hidden by the lash line. Hope the second incision heals and scar fades. I agree it is odd and there is no reason for it. Hope he didn't let a junior do your eyebags and then the junior messed up incising so low! Or maybe he started doing an aegyo sal and realised you wanted eyebag removal not aegyo sal creation?

 

Hi @Rybka1925 I had my chin shaved in the UK before I discovered Korea. Have been researching zygoma reduction but decided against. Nice to read fc reviews with photos of good results.

 

Oh I am so sorry for you @Badnose. Venting is good. For me it took 2 years to accept my new nose. How long has it been? Has he offered revision after a year? Would you consider free revision and just the £1995 private hospital fee or will you research a rhino ps who specialises in revisions to lengthen a short nose? As the months go by, the decision will become clearer. Make sure you go on consults and do not pay up front if you do consider revision. My research revealed that lengthening a short nose is the most difficult rhino procedure.