Woman poisoned by her own breast implants shares ‘painful’ warning for others

A woman who claims she was poisoned by her breast implants has urged other women to think twice before undergoing similar surgeries and describes how the pain made sleep impossible

A woman whose body started “resisting” her silicone breast implants has issued a warning to those considering getting one breast job to think again.

Holistic therapist Vanessa Paula suffered back in 2015 with pain and “twitches” in her chest that made it impossible for her to sleep.

The 38-year-old mother underwent one breast augmentation in 2006 after feeling “ashamed” of the excess skin she left behind after breastfeeding her son.

The surgery cost just over £1,500 and she was initially delighted with her new look. But just a few years later, she suffered excruciating pain.

After asking her doctor for help, a shocked Vanessa was advised to have her implants removed immediately as they were poisoning her body.

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Vanessa, who is originally from Brazil but lives in Portugal, ended up spending nearly £4,000 on the explant surgery needed to remove the implants.

She said: “Before I removed the silicone, I felt a lot of stitches in my breasts. I hardly slept because of the pain. After several tests, the doctor told me that I urgently need to remove my silicone.

“My body fought against me and created one autoimmune disease, Leaking of the silicone, which could have dangerous consequences.

“At the time I was living in Angola where breast implant conditions were not widely known – it was only a few years later that I found out that the symptoms were specific to the implants and that my body was rejecting them. The withdrawal process was quite shocking.”

It took Vanessa two months to recover from the surgery and the large scars on her breasts also took some time to get used to. However, she has since accepted her body as it is and is proud to show off her scars.

Vanessa is now urging other women considering breast augmentation not to go under the knife.

She continued: “It took me months to get over the shock. But I realized that in order to move on, I had to love myself for who I was.

“Because of this, I had to learn to love myself again inside and out, and it was a difficult and complicated process. Sometimes I hardly wanted to look in the mirror and I hated my scars.

“Today, after a long time of learning and a healing process, I did a photoshoot to show my scars and to inspire other women who are going through this. We are much more than our breasts and what they look like, that’s what we need to remember.”

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