Breast implants are not lifetime devices.
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This means, at some point they have to be removed from a woman's body.
For many different reasons, some women now choose to not replace their implants . Depending on your circumstances and your outcome, you may benefit from help navigating the breast implant removal process and its impact on your well-being. |
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Breast Implant Removal
Contemporary women opt to have their breast implants removed for many reasons, including:
- focus on fitness and a desire to be free of the impact on exercise often experienced by women with implants
- body acceptance movement and a movement toward natural and organic living
- implant interference with mammography results
- changing values and perspectives as women age
- cost of repetitive replacement surgery and breast MRIs (MRIs avoid the risk for rupture inherent in mammograms)
- difficulties in managing complications like rupture, deflation, capsular contraction, neck and spine issues, and breast implant illness.
How does therapy help a woman with a physical experience like breast implant removal?
If you are considering explant (the surgery to remove breast implants) for any reason, you may:
The explant journey is one of deliverance AND distress.
- experience self-doubt, conflict, fear, confusion, overwhelm, or difficulty making decisions
- encounter skeptical friends, family, and others
- experience anxiety, depression, or panic and/or behave unlike the woman you most want to be
- and if you have experienced illness that you believe is related to your body's response over time to your implants, you may also feel isolated, regretful, dismissed, or desperate for a way to ease your suffering
The explant journey is one of deliverance AND distress.
- Explant surgery is costly and rarely covered by insurance. If you are unable to cover explant costs, you may be stuck in an experience where your well-being is impaired, possibly with declining health, due to something you chose to place within your body, that you believed would be safe and lifelong. While you wait, you may experience heightened anxiety, panic, regret, anger, sadness, and hopelessness.
- Prior to scheduling explant, you may experience doubt, fear, second-guessing, assurance-seeking and judgment by others. You may have disappointing or frustrating surgical consults. You may feel betrayed by non-supportive partners and family members.
- Once your surgery is scheduled, you may experience panic as you contemplate surgical risks, recovery pain and potential complications, or potentially disappointing outcomes due to breast appearance once the implants are removed.
- As you recover from explant surgery, you will have a period of adjustment as you get used to your appearance; you may anticipate feeling awkward as you interact with persons who are unaware of the reason for your changed appearance.
- Depending on the aesthetics of your outcome and your personal history, you may experience negative self-talk and the resurgence of old, unresolved body image issues.
If you wish to learn more about how I use mindfulness-based behavioral therapy to help Illinois women
navigate the explant surgery, please continue reading.
navigate the explant surgery, please continue reading.
How I help women with explant journeys
My therapeutic approach for helping women who are explanting is drawn from two highly effective mindfulness-based behavioral therapies: acceptance and commitment therapy and dialectical behavior therapy . Given the potential impact explant journeys have across your physical, mental, emotional, and social domains, my therapeutic services are holistic and target behavior changes that will help you achieve a whole sense of wellness.
Women with these experiences are often told it's a journey in "self acceptance". I will teach you HOW to practice self-acceptance, work with worry thoughts, painful emotions, manage anxiety and panic, resolve any lingering body image issues you may have, and get back to living a meaningful life.
My therapy services for women undergoing explant are available to women throughout Illinois either in-person at my office in Barrington, IL or via HIPAA-compliant telemental health (eg. video and phone sessions). For in-person sessions, my office is centrally located in Chicago’s Northwest Suburbs. There is on-site parking and a lobby that is decorated to provide you with a comfortable area to prepare for our sessions. You can see pictures of my office on the What To Expect page.
If your wellness is impacted by potential or past breast implant removal surgery, I encourage you to reach out and see how I may help.
Women with these experiences are often told it's a journey in "self acceptance". I will teach you HOW to practice self-acceptance, work with worry thoughts, painful emotions, manage anxiety and panic, resolve any lingering body image issues you may have, and get back to living a meaningful life.
My therapy services for women undergoing explant are available to women throughout Illinois either in-person at my office in Barrington, IL or via HIPAA-compliant telemental health (eg. video and phone sessions). For in-person sessions, my office is centrally located in Chicago’s Northwest Suburbs. There is on-site parking and a lobby that is decorated to provide you with a comfortable area to prepare for our sessions. You can see pictures of my office on the What To Expect page.
If your wellness is impacted by potential or past breast implant removal surgery, I encourage you to reach out and see how I may help.