A woman with chronic inflammation discusses breast implant safety with Dr. Robert Whitfield. Most patients are 35 to 55 years old. Implants typically last 10 to 20 years, and infections from bacteria or mold can occur, though testing for silicone and metal sensitivities isn't standard.
He states that the typical age that people he sees are between 35 and 55 years old. Women who have implants who also have chronic inflammation and have tried traditional medicine avenues and maybe even functional medicine approaches, but are still feeling inflamed and very poorly. I truthfully found this disease fascinating because I was a woman in my mid-30s who was developing a lot of inflammatory issues and I couldn't get answers. So as a woman in my late 30s now who had chronic inflammation for years, I asked him all the questions I would have wanted to know about this condition several years ago. We cover things like, are older versus newer implants safer? Is there a certain type of implant that is safer? We already mentioned that bacterial infections are common with implants, but I wanted to know, what about mold? Is it common to see mold with implants? Because I see more and more people with mold. In general, we talk about, is there a way that you can test sensitivities to silicone or nickel or metals before you take these implants out? At what age should you consider removing your implants? So if you have implants that are 10 years old or 15 years old or 20 years old, what is the answer to that? Like, when do these implants need to come out? Is there an imaging study or modality that you can use to tell if your implant needs to be replaced?
