Breast Implant Illness

Breast implant illness

Fatigue, joint pain, and brain fog are real symptoms. They are not, by themselves, a diagnosis.

The approach

Symptoms and treatment

Breast implant illness is the name patients and some clinicians use for systemic symptoms they associate with breast implants. Reports include fatigue, joint and muscle pain, brain fog, memory trouble, rash, hair loss, and autoimmune-like symptoms. There is no single blood test that confirms it, and regulators have not defined it as one disease with one required operation.

The workup looks for other explanations at the same time: thyroid disease, iron deficiency, menopause, medication effects, and infection. That is why endocrinology and breast surgery share the file. Symptoms are not dismissed because a test has no name for them, and they are not blamed on an implant before anything else has been considered.

Some women choose removal of the implants and the surrounding capsule and later report that symptoms improve. Others do not. Improvement cannot be promised. If removal is the decision, Dr. Sayah plans the operation and the chest that follows, including reconstruction after implant removal.

This is general information about how these questions are usually approached. It is not a diagnosis, and it does not replace a visit. Screening and treatment are planned for one person at a time.

How the symptoms are worked up

The visit starts by writing the symptoms down in plain language: when they started, what they cost you in a normal week, and what else changed at the same time. Menopause, thyroid disease, anemia, medication, and depression produce overlapping complaints. Those are tested for, because treating an implant and missing a thyroid problem helps no one.

There is no blood test that proves breast implant illness, and there is no blood test that rules it out. Dr. Cohan reviews the endocrine side when fatigue, weight, temperature, or cycles are part of the story. Dr. Funk and Dr. Sayah review the breast and the device. If you decide on removal, you are told what the operation includes, whether the capsule is taken, and what the chest will look like afterward. Symptom relief is reported by many women and is not guaranteed.

Keep a short list of medications and supplements, and any prior explant or replacement. Opinions gathered from forums are not records. Operative notes are.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Will explant cure these symptoms?

No one can promise that. Some women feel better after removal. Some do not. The decision is made after the rest of the medical picture has been reviewed.

Should the capsule come out too?

That depends on why the implants are being removed, whether the capsule is thickened or calcified, and what the pathology question is. It is part of the operative plan, not a default slogan.

Get started

Talk this through with the physicians who share your file.

Breast surgery, pathology, and reconstructive surgery are in one practice.

Schedule a Consultation Breast health