Will removing my implants help?

Written by Board Certified Plastic Surgeon Nima Naghshineh, MD, FACS on July 8th, 2020.

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In short, YES!

If you don’t have another reason for your symptoms such as a rheumatic condition or an autoimmune disease then YES a BII patient after removal and capsulectomy often has rapid symptom improvement that is sustain for 1 year (according to ASAPS joint statement release). These may be improvements in physical symptoms as well as psychological well-being.

There is a 1997 study1 that showed >80% improvement is physical symptoms and >90% improvement in psychological well-being after implant removal for those without autoimmune and rheumatic disease. Those with rheumatic disease (but not autoimmune disease showed initial improvement while those with autoimmune disease showed they were less likely to improve with explant alone.

Another study in 2000, showed that distressed explant patients had improvement in subjective health1.

1. Implant Illness: A Way Forward. Magnusson, Mark R. MBBS, FRACS; Cooter, Rod D. MBBS, PhD, FRACS; Rakhorst, Hinne MD; McGuire, Patricia A. MD; Adams, William P. Jr MD; Deva, Anand K. BSc(Med), MBBS, MS, FRACS. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: March 2019 - Volume 143 - Issue 3S - p 74S-81S