Breast implants have grown in popularity in recent years. But as the number of women undergoing the procedure has grown, so have reports of a range of symptoms including fatigue, hair loss, joint pain, rashes, brain fog, depression and anxiety.
Dubbed Breast Implant Illness (BII) by its sufferers, the condition so far has not been recognised by mainstream medicine in spite of thousands of women worldwide reporting symptoms following breast implant procedures.
Many women have been treated for unrelated illnesses and many more have been told by doctors that their implants could not be causing their symptoms.
While Breast Implant Illness remains unrecognised by official medical bodies, women continue to undergo breast implant procedures without being informed of the possibility of serious, ongoing symptoms.
So far there has been a lack of research into the condition, but a new study from the Black Dog Institute in Australia has shown for the first time that women who report suffering from Breast Implant Illness have higher rates of depression and anxiety than women with implants who do don’t experience BII.
A further study from the same researcher shows that all of the women interviewed felt they were not fully informed of the risks of their surgery.
In another sign of progress on the issue, the US Food and Drug Administration recently recommended implant manufacturers warn of the risks of developing breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma and the symptoms associated with BII.
More research is needed to better understand Breast Implant Illness. In the meantime, caution is warranted.