My breast augmentation made me feel like I was slowly dying: Mum, 32, was plagued with hair loss, fatigue and eczema after getting double Ds — but her painful symptoms subsided once her implants were removed

By Liam On Jul 28, 2023

A mom claims she felt like she was “slowly dying” after getting a boob job.

Danielle Sheehan, from Norwich, went from a C to a DD cup after winning a £5,000 makeover when she was 19.

But the beauty clinic owner was plagued with eczema and inflammation around her eyes, chest and legs, hair loss and fatigue in the years that followed – and couldn’t figure out why.

Doctors brushed off Ms. Sheehan’s symptoms as “stress” or an “autoimmune disease.” Tests showed nothing was wrong.

But Ms Sheehan, now 32, believes she was stricken with breast implant disease (BII) after her symptoms subsided within weeks of being removed.

BEFORE: Danielle Sheehan, 32, said left temporarily blind claims her decade-long suffering was caused by a free breast augmentation on a teen won in a competition

AFTER: The mother thought she was suffering from breast implant disease. She sold her car to pay for the boob job to be undone and claims her symptoms began to ease almost immediately

Ms. Sheehan got her breast implants in 2010 after winning a makeover in an online contest, hoping it would boost her modeling career.

Almost immediately after the operation, however, she experienced flare-ups of eczema, which did not get better with medication.

She developed itchy and inflamed eyes that became so severe that she was unable to open them, forcing her to seek help at the emergency room.

Ms. Sheehan also had rashes on her chest, neck, arms and legs, as well as hair loss, ringing in the ears, fatigue, depression, anxiety and “whole-body inflammation.”

She said, “Doctors told me they thought it was stress because she was a new mom and was going through a breakup.”

IS BREAST IMPLANT DISEASE REAL?

Neither the NHS nor the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognize a single condition called breast implant disease.

However, they provide long lists of possible – and widely known – side effects of having breast implants.

Implants are not designed to last a lifetime, the FDA says, and the longer a woman has the implants in her body, the greater the risk of complications.

Complications occur in about one percent of all patients and can occur at any time after surgery.

In addition to changes in the appearance and feel of the breast, some possible side effects include pain, infection, swelling or irritation, swollen lymph nodes, rash, or bruising.

Reported symptoms of BII include fatigue, chest pain, hair loss and headache chills, light sensitivity, chronic pain, anxiety, brain fog, sleep disturbances and depression.

The NHS is urging women experiencing side effects to contact the clinic where they had the implants fitted and report it through an official Yellow Card Scheme, to add information on implant safety.

Source: FDA And health service

Unconvinced by the diagnosis, Ms. Sheehan paid for private tests to check for food allergies and high cortisol levels, but these came back normal.

She then revised her diet, but saw no improvement in her symptoms.

Ms. Sheehan came across a post about BII online and thought her symptoms were similar.

The term is used by some to describe a variety of health problems that they believe are related to getting a boob job, such as brain fog, anxiety, and joint pain.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) launched an investigation into the alleged disease in 2020 after receiving reports from patients.

The MHRA said it doesn’t know if the condition exists, as there is “no single disease that can explain the symptoms some people report” and studies reject the link between breast implants and long-term illness.

Still, British surgeons insist the condition is real and the woman should be warned about this side effect of the procedure.

“They had the same rash around their eyes as mine, it was like a lightbulb moment,” Ms Sheehan said.

“My symptoms were all exactly the same — I had a rash, a bad mood, I felt like I was slowly dying, and I just didn’t feel well at all.”

She says her doctors had never heard of the condition, but referred her for an ultrasound to check her implants. But the results showed no problems.

Medics then offered her immunosuppressant drugs – used to treat conditions that cause the immune system to mistakenly attack the body.

But Ms. Sheehan decided to have her implants removed to see if it eased her ailments, and sold her car to finance the surgery.

Within hours of the surgery, she claims her skin condition has improved.

She said, “The moment the implants came out, I felt so much better.

“I now feel safe in my body, I feel emotionally stable, the rash around my eyes has disappeared and the eczema is now disappearing.

“My hair looks better – it had become very thin and was falling out.”

BEFORE: She was plagued with hair loss, eczema and inflammation for more than a decade, but doctors tried to dismiss her symptoms as “stress from pregnancy” or an “autoimmune disease”

BEFORE: Danielle says even her surgeon was ‘shocked’ to see how suddenly her symptoms started to subside after she had them removed

AFTER: Danielle said, “I feel safe in my body now, I feel emotionally stable, the rash around my eyes is gone and the eczema is decreasing”

Now she wants to raise awareness of BII and says doctors should rule it out before checking for autoimmune diseases.

And she says that since she posted about her journey on TikTok, other women have reached out to share their similar experiences with her.

Ms Sheehan said: ‘My priority is raising awareness of breast implant disease.

‘GPs need to take it seriously and ask about implants – it should be a mandatory question for girls going in with autoimmune diseases.

“I don’t think anyone would know – you would never attribute hair loss and skin rashes to having implants.

“So many girls have messaged me since seeing my video on TikTok – so many of them have come to my clinic to say they are getting a consultation to have their implants removed.”

The NHS notes that some women report experiencing fatigue, anxiety and joint pain after getting breast implants, acknowledging it’s known as BII.

According to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, about half of women say their symptoms improve once their implants are removed.