Decades later, we still have breast implant illness sufferers, so we have to all question: why?

Why does the FDA allow manufacturers to create a legal shield called pre-emption, exempting them from any liability, as the New York Times reported? That they're "immune from liability" or accountability as they perform more than 300,000 implant surgeries a year?

How many women have breast implant illness as a result? How many are probably sick and have no clue it's their implants!

All these decades later, the FDA will probably tell you there isn't enough research to prove breast implants cause illness. Yet this is why it's important to support researchers, such as my explant surgeon, whom we will learn more about in this chapter.

Professor Anand Deva is a fourth-generation doctor who is very committed to why he and his family became medical doctors in the first place. He is dedicated to health. Please remember that when you see a cosmetic surgeon, of course, they're focused primarily on your aesthetics. We need to educate them more and provide them with more research on how the illness has progressed.

The more research we have, the more we educate the surgeons on a grassroots level. Perhaps, then, this will dictate the way in which the FDA handles things.

One can only hope and manifest. It is my wish that they will listen. We are all literally "dying to be well!"

I'm observing:

• Shame and stigma - "You did this to yourself, so why should healthcare cover your mistake?" culture.
  Shock and sadness for those who have loved ones with plants. They want to be able to help.
  Sufferers are feeling as though they have not been properly informed of the toxic ingredients and risks/surgeons creating repeat business.
  Subculture of online support groups on Facebook with hundreds of thousands/millions of women sharing privately and intimately their stories and photographs of suffering or triumphs.
  Misinformation due to the cosmetic industry protecting itself by conflicting with Doctors and researchers like Dr Tania Ash and Professor Anand Deva, who are aware of the commercial aspect and are invested in "duty of care."
  The professional industry as a whole is changing its business models with a new demand for explants and with data to support the implants as the inflammatory driver causing “mast cell activation syndrome.”
  Breast implant illness sufferers are expressing what they call "medical gaslighting" because they feel unheard, as though their symptoms have not been properly listened to, and the medical profession has been denying that breast implant illness is real.

• Not all surgeons are recommending or performing a complete or Total Capsulectomy surgery to remove the surrounding tissue.

• Breast implant illness is actually an entire systemic response.

• New research by breast implant illness expert Dr. Tania
  Ash presents this as “mast cell activation syndrome.” It is a cytokine storm.

• New data by Professor Anand Deva to support this, as a result of witnessing my surgery, has come to fruition.

• Not enough trained surgeons to be able to fit in the number of women who need an operation. Their cost is so extraordinary that the women cannot even afford it, so they suffer for many years. They are literally slowly dying.

• Implant illness isn't just about women who are suffering. Also affected are the trans community and breast cancer survivors with mastectomy who are then implanted with a secondary potentiality to develop another type of breast cancer.

• Implant illness is not just in the breasts but can be sufferers with calf implants or other types of implants too.

• There are too many undetected ruptures, such as my case, where six surgeons and an MRI did not pick up the hole in my left implant bag until the operation. New detection equipment is needed, and most recently, there is something called sonobreasts, operating out of Santa Monica, which can apparently pick up ruptures that an MRI cannot. We need better detection equipment so that we can triage the emergency cases.

• The FDA recently announced, about five months ago, that the surrounding scar tissue is squamous cell carcinoma, and there are new cancers being discovered in the capsule daily.

• The recent Allergan recall of all textured products has created a new type of cancer called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL)

• Doctors are pushing for replacement products instead of warning women of the risks, and medical doctors such as Dr. Tania Ash are calling out for the TGA to have a black box warning label, the way the FDA has this is the only way to create true informed consent.

• The question of medical negligence presses with class actions brewing and companies folding due to recalls

• The question of silicone vs saline has been sold to us as a narrative that one is better than the other, or that textured vs smooth implants also may be better, but year after year, they are all proving toxic and dangerous with mold, bacteria, and ruptures or leaks in the valve. It's honestly just a ticking time bomb and just a matter of time.