Justine's Story by Justine My name is Justine, and I am a 32 year old registered nurse. I was implanted with McGhan textured saline implants in 1996. Prior to getting implants, I was healthy and only saw the doctor for routine exams/physicals. I used to model for Calvin Klein and various swimwear makers up until shortly after I rec'd my implants. And oddly enough, I got my implants because my breasts were small from being anorexic, and I wanted more cleavage for my swimwear shoots. About 6-8 months after getting my implants, I started experiencing strange neurological problems, including, but not limited to, numbness/tingling in all 4 extremities, memory loss, ataxia (drunken gait), development of migraines, flaccid paralysis in my right arm, muscle fasciculations, and severe joint and muscle pain. I also began to develop dry eyes and mouth, and bilateral hand tremors. Shortly thereafter, I began to develop chest pain with any type of activity, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, and palpitations. Where I had been very athletic and frequently engaged in local running and biking races, now I could barely walk up 2 flights of stairs. Neurological workup for MS revealed nothing, and I "bounced" from neurologist to neurologist looking for answers to my questions. I saw anesthesiologists for pain management, and eventually was told it was "all in my head." Being a nurse, I refused to give up. I got authorization from my insurance company to see an out of network neurologist who also agreed that I didn't have MS, but that I may have lupus. So, from there I was sent to a rheumatologist who ordered some tests, and sure enough, my ANA profile came back highly positive, as did some other tests indicative of lupus. I was started on plaquenil and prednisone, but they didn't really seem to help. I continued to have the exercise intolerance, as well as all the other problems. And instead of the problems getting better, they seemed to be getting worse. I went back to the neurologist, who referred me to a cardiologist. My EKG was normal, but my echo of my heart revealed surprisingly) an ASD (atrial septal defect). I was not born with heart problems, had never had heart problems, and no one could figure out how I had developed an ASD as an adult. Because my neurological symptoms continued, my neurologist suggested another MRI, this time a FLAIR MRI, which was a relatively new technique at the time. To everyone'sgreat surprise, it showed that I had had a left cerebellar stroke. So, sometime between my last MRI and this one, this stroke had occurred. It had been about 8 months since my last MRI, so we figured I'd had the stroke somewhere between the time I was 27 and 28. That would explain the numbness/tingling on my right side, the flaccid paralysis on my right side, and the memory loss. The physicians figured that I had thrown a clot through the ASD, therefore, emergent open heart surgery was warranted. I underwent open heart surgery on August 6, 1999, at 29 years old. It was significant for me because it marked the beginning of the end. Not only did my body reject the dissolvable sutures and sternal wires, I also became septic, and almost died due to massive, overwhelming infection in my entire body. I had to have my chest reopened 4 more times to remove 2 sternal wires, sutures that were tied up in knots and covered in pus, and to debride my sternum. I had a hole in my chest for 3 months before it finally healed enough to close up. Yet I continued to have pain, and my cardiac surgeon had to remove granulomas several times. He was the first doctor to suggest that perhaps my implants were causing my lack of healing. I started doing research and came to the same conclusion. While my cardiac surgeon knew nothing about implants, he began doing research and talking to other physicians about the possibility. Even though I had finally healed from my heart surgery, I was still experiencing neurological problems and cardiac symptoms of exercise intolerance. I finally sought out a new rheumatologist who also suggested that my implants might be the cause of my health problems. In the meantime, I had developed horrible red "bumps" all over my anterior and posterior chest and face. They were similar to acne, but were hard and painful, and in some instances, itched. In the meantime, I required a cervical spinal fusion to correct severely herniated disks. Unfortunately, the fusion failed completely, not something that occurs too frequently, as most cervical spinal fusions are successful. My new rheumatologist referred me to a world renowned plastic surgeon who upon seeing me, told me that I was without a doubt, having a severe allergic reaction to my implants, and needed to have them removed sooner rather than later. But before getting my implants removed, I wanted my sternal wires removed due to continued pain in my chest. I had my implants removed on Feb 9, 2001. Both implants were sent to be scientifically analyzed and it was found that the implants were faulty, they were defective and manufactured incorrectly. My right implant had a slow leak, and both implants were growing staph epi, aspergillus niger, and aspergillus bouffardi. Interesting, because when I had my sternal infection, my wound cultured out staph epi, which is much less common than culturing out staph aureaus. Also, the plastic surgeon who removed my implants said that my left implant was like "glue" in my chest. She had to scrape silicone off my breast tissue. I also had a suspicious lymph node in my right axilla, which I had never felt. The end to this story is very interesting in that now some of my doctors are questioning whether the leaking silicone in my chest ate away at my heart muscle, causing the ASD, therefore, allowing free floating pieces of silicone to "float" through that hole and therefore, land in my brain, causing my stroke. I don't know if we will ever know, but it is definately a theory the physicians want to investigate further. Unfortunately, since explant, I have gotten worse. I did experience a period where I felt much better, but my health has begun to deteriorate severely and every single one of my doctors attributes my decline in health to my implants. Perhaps I will get better one day, but perhaps I will not. It is hard to say. But I learned a valuable lesson the hard way. If I could do it all over again, I would NEVER have gotten implants. All for the sake of looking better. And now when I look back, I think that I look so much better without implants than with them. And to think that 6 months after I got implants, my modeling career was over anyway, not just because of my health problems, but because I was considered "old" and because my body was no longer that of a 16 yr old. So, in giving myself a gift that I thought would revive my career, instead turned out to be a gift that just didn't (and still doesn't) want to stop giving. I pay for this "gift" everyday of my life in the form of chronic pain, questionable osteoporosis, degenerative disk disease, severe, chronic depression and anger, autoimmune diseases, failed surgeries, MCS, and fibromyalgia. I also pay for this "gift" in more personal ways such as the loss of friends, loss of jobs, loss of doctors who believe me and who are afraid to treat me. Implants are just not worth the emotional and physical pain they cause.   Justine with Implants and Rashes     Justine after Explant with no lift by Dr. Huang Rashes are Improving Over Time.         Justine, RN, BSN, LNC Email Justine