A brief conversational transcript (YouTube) in which Dr. Robert Whitfield explains acute vs. chronic inflammation after surgery, the immune cells involved, and the role of bacterial biofilm around breast implants as a persistent stimulus for chronic inflammation. He reports clinical experience with implant explantation leading to symptom improvement.
Questions this video answers
About 1500 explants.
About 35% have biofilm.
"cutie and bacterium acn" (as transcribed).
Chapters
If I look back on my life, I remember when I first got them, I started to feel more inflamed. Can you explain exactly, like, from a very kindergarten level of why I was experiencing that inflammation? Like what? Like really get in there. Besides the four pathways, what was actually happening?
So acutely after surgery, there's acute inflammation, or if you sprained your anchor and your ankle swelled up, that's acute inflammation. And your body has inflammatory cells. Inflammatory cells can be our B lymphocytes, our T lymphocytes, our monocytes, mast cells, people, part of mast cells, or endothelial cells. These all secrete a product, if you will, that stimulates inflammation. And you want acute inflammation in certain instances, Correct? Right. Because it's going to drive repair and healing. But when that acute process is over, if you still have the stimulus for inflammation now, you are going to develop chronic inflammation because your body's going to keep sending the inflammatory cells out to get rid of the problem. And so in the case of a breast implant, wherein I've done about 1500 explants at this point, about 35% have biofilm. So that's. Biofilm is produced by bacteria. So it's a contaminant biofilm around the implant when you take it out. Right. So the biofilm is found by DNA testing, but the bacteria is called cutie and bacterium acn. This bacteria produces almost like a little slime layer to protect itself from your immune system. Even though your immune system can't get rid of it, it's still stimulated to react to it and respond to it. So once again, you create more and more inflammation in a constant manner. And so, you know, in that instance, when I operate on someone who's got that problem, they get better almost right after surgery.