Robert Whitfield MDAmerica's Breast Implant Illness Expert™

Understanding Breast Implant-Related Illness: Insights from Dr. Robert Whitfield

25 Oct 2017 · 1 min

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1:18

Dr. Robert Whitfield describes a subset of breast implant patients who report systemic symptoms—fatigue, pain, inflammatory and autoimmune-like manifestations—whom he attributes to chronic low-level bacterial inflammation in the implant pocket. He gives a case example of a breast cancer patient whose systemic fatigue resolved after removal of both implants with en bloc capsulectomy; he explains the clinical practice of removing the entire capsule, culturing the pocket, and treating positive cultures with antibiotics. He reports that most patients in this subset experience significant improvement in well-being after implant and capsule removal.

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There is a subset of patients with breast implants who feel like their implants are making them sick. Pain, discomfort, certain physical manifestations of fatigue, maybe fibromyalgia, maybe other symptoms of autoimmune disorders. And in particular, I had a breast cancer patient that started this. She had a normal implant on one side and a reconstruction on the other, but she had incredible fatigue and symptoms. She attributed all these to her implants. And because she was a cancer patient, she respectfully requested I take out both implants and the capsules associated with them, after which she essentially recovered. Her energy levels returned. So in this small subset of patients who feel like their breast implants are making them sick, I've offered them en bloc capsulectomy, where we remove the entire capsule and remove the implants and culture the implant pocket. We treat them with antibiotics if cultures are proven to be positive. And for the most part, we've had a significant improvement in their overall state of well being after implant removal. So a certain amount of bacteria have to be present to make you sick enough to come in and have a cellulitis or another problem. But a low level of bacteria can lead to inflammation chronically in the pocket, giving them pain, irritation, making them feel unwell. None of this is that complicated to figure out. But with removal, we've seen our patients really do well after.