March 12, 2024 • 37 mins
In 2022, the American Plastic Surgery Association reported a staggering 298,568 breast augmentations in the United States alone. But for some patients, breast implants have been linked to a wide range of unfavorable symptoms that include joint pain, memory problems, fatigue and more. While not an official medical diagnosis, these symptoms have been designated as Breast Implant Illness.
This week we sit down with renowned Board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Robert Whitfield, to shed light on this crucial matter. We'll discuss:
- Breast Implant Illness (BII):
- Understanding BII: Dr. Whitfield sheds light on what Breast Implant Illness is and its impact on patients.
- Symptoms to look out for: Exploring the signs and symptoms that individuals with breast implants should be aware of, prompting them to seek medical attention.
- When to see a doctor: Dr. Whitfield provides valuable insights into when individuals should consult a medical professional if they suspect they are experiencing BII symptoms.
- Holistic Approach to Treating BII: Dr. Whitfield discusses his holistic approach to addressing Breast Implant Illness, emphasizing overall well-being in the recovery process.
- Explant Surgery: Gain a comprehensive understanding of Explant Surgery, its intricacies, and how it serves as a solution for many patients experiencing BII. Dr. Whitfield shares his experiences in lessening BII symptoms through explant surgery and the positive impact it can have on patients' lives.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is the Art Beauty podcast,where we are
always reaching for truth in beauty.
Remember, the people and the brands onthe show are not paying to be here.
So we get to ask themthose tough questions.
We know you want answeredbecause you deserve to be informed
so you can make the best choicesfor yourself.
With that said, I'm Amber Milt and.
today my fabulous co-host is Dr.
Robert Whitfield.
(00:20):
He is a board certified plastic surgeonwho specializes in explant surgery.
We're going to be talking to him today.
You know, we like to havea lot of fun on this podcast,
but we're going to be talking to him todayabout breast implant illness
and sort of maybe the process ofwhat an explant is like.
We will be getting all into that.
(00:41):
And before we do, I want to saythank you so much for being here.
Dr. Whitfield, Welcome to the show.
Well, thanks for having me.
I appreciate you having me on.
You know,
I said before, like, you know, normallywe keep things very lighthearted here.
But one of the reasons that I startedthis podcast was because I want people
to have access to informationwhere they don't feel like
it's being sold to them or
(01:04):
pressured.
So breast implant illnessand let's just get right into this
for people who aren't aware of this,can you describe what this is?
Sure.
I thinkhow I'd characterize it to my clients
and I just came out of a consultationwith one.
It's a chronic inflammatory processwhere a breast
implantor a medical device is only one component.
(01:26):
So I think a lot of people understandinflammation now and everybody's
trying to work on it through dietand exercise and lifestyle modifications.
But in the face of a medical device,whether it's a hip knee or breast implant,
dental implant, neurologic implant,whatever it is that was there for it.
And the moment oneis placed into someone's
(01:47):
body, your body reacts to itand tries to expel it.
And that's natural.Your body build scar around it.
That's why when people have plans,we talk about taking the scar around it
out of the capsule
so your body can interact with that.
And we know from researchthat textured implants
are more stimulating to the immune systemand those lead in some instances
(02:08):
to breast implant associated anaplasticlarge cell lymphoma.
So in my experience of over 2000 explants,I've had patients
have that lymphomaand I've had patients have breast cancer.
And I think, you know, for all intentsand purposes, when you have
chronic inflammation, it affectsalmost every system in your body.
(02:29):
And that's why the symptom list,if you just Google breast
implant illness, will havewhat is like a laundry list.
Yeah. Then.So that's the problem with this.
And it's a little unfairfor the clients who suffer from it.
It's a little unfair for the practitionerwho is trying to help them with
it, because
on both sides there's a lot of confusion,
(02:51):
if that makes sense,because it doesn't really fit a pattern
and then people get, you know,plugged into different specialists
to look at their gut healthor to look at their joint pain
or their sinus problemsor their headache or whatever it is.
And it doesn't really fit a patternthat you're
traditionally taught in medical school.
(03:13):
And I think, you know, for us,
I've been super curiousever since college about genetics.
And most of this boils down to
you can't pick your parentsand you can't outrun a bad diet.
Right? Okay. You can't write about it.
All right.
So I'm there are so many thingsthat I want
to pick your brain about,first of all, starting with the fact that
(03:35):
when you whenyou just started answering this before,
you mentioned many different devicesthat can be implanted.
I feel like this idea of breastimplant illness
has gotten so much coverage latelyin the media,
especially with so many celebritieswho are opting to get plans.
However, I think that it also can be
(03:55):
very scary for somebodywho's considering getting breast implants.
And I do want to say, you know, in 2022,breast implants were the second
most popular plastic surgery of the oneand a half million done.
I think it was just under 300,000.
Breast implants were done in 2022 alone.
That's according to the American Academyof Plastic Surgery.
So this is a very popular procedure.
(04:18):
And I myself, when I wentin, I had a breast lift.
My doctor
put in a smallimplant and I have to give him credit.
I had never even heard of breastimplant illness.
And he made it very clear,hey, this is something to be aware of
and give me at least researchand literature to do stuff on.
And but I have to admit,I was like a little bit scared.
(04:39):
So could this technically happenwith any device that's put into the body,
or is it really more specific to breastimplants?
You mentioned before a knee implant,
or are they finding other thingsor do you or do
they think that breast implant are more
or causing more issuesor is that something we can even tell?
(05:03):
So it's all the still it down.
So when you're looking at breast
implant or hip implant or knee implant,you put them in someone,
there is opportunityis for those who get infected. At.
Time of placement.
So if someone handed a surgeon
an implant hip knee
brace doesn't matterand somehow contaminated it in the process
(05:26):
of taking it out of the packagingor how it was
delivered to the staff,
then the surgeon would put it in andthey would not know it was contaminated.
Right.
The second method would be if the surgeonsomehow, upon taking a sterile device,
then contaminate contaminated itupon placement.
But those two are extremely uncommon,obviously,
(05:49):
with technique and precautions,those should be the least common,
the most common is a blood borne infectionsomehow contaminates it.
And so you get a skin infection,a lung infection, a kidney infection,
a bowel infection, lung infection, a cold.
And if it's say, you know, I just hada patient in here, had sinusitis a lot.
(06:13):
And so a bacterial sinusitis,
say, for instance, you clear your earsupon landing at a plane flight,
but you have a low grade
ear infection, You're going to seedthat into your sinuses.
You're going to potentiallymake that blood borne.
And then
your body has
this wonderful surveillance systemof complexity and will take care of you,
(06:33):
except for it can't take careof a foreign body because it's not you.
Right.
Does it matter if it's a hip kneeor breast implant that can contaminate
the surface and then form a colonyand that forms what's called a biofilm?
I guess what I'm asking and I'm sorry,but isn't clear, are breast implants
more likely than any other devicethat you might
put into your body to cause
(06:55):
illness like we're seeing with this breastimplant illness?
I don't have that data. Okay.
They're totally fair.
You know, So going back to, you know,we mentioned that there
there are a laundry list of symptomsthat are associated.
And I'm so glad that you're coming on andmaking this work, because I have to say,
I think that in general,we make a big generalization here.
(07:18):
Women suffer from
from a number of different things.
Fibromyalgia, Lupus is one of thesethat are sort of these all over
body disordersthat have sort of gone under the radar
and talked about
when you have something like breast
implant illness,it is not as maybe easy to pinpoint
(07:40):
how how how can we begin to identifythat that is what we have.
Like if a patient comes to you,how do we know that it's something related
to the breast implants and not somethingsome other systemic issue?
Yeah, I'll I'll explainhow people get to me now.
Yeah.
They've seen a lot of different doctors.
(08:00):
Right.
And many people have abandonedtraditional doctors
because they don't find an answerand they've went to
integrative care, functional medicine,
chiropractic care, acupuncture,
any holistic provider
who's willing to offer thema solution right.
And most of these folks,
(08:22):
I think, are really trying to do the bestthey can to help.
What is just what I said at the beginning,a chronic inflammatory process.
But many
of them never ask the patientsif they have an implant.
Right?
So many women don't want to sharethat they have it.
Many providers are afraid to ask about it,
(08:42):
and I think it should beThe number one thing you check.
Right, is is.
Do you have a device?
Because it doesn't matterif if a male came into an office
and had all the chronic inflammatory
symptoms and wentand saw the orthopedic surgeon,
even though that knee lookedokay and felt okay, they would still check
(09:03):
X-rays, all these thingsto make sure that that thing is not,
in fact,that they may aspirate fluid from it.
They will go to great lengthsto make sure that
that kneeis not the source of that problem.
And once they're satisfied,then they'll move on.
Now, you take a plastic surgeonand there are ways to characterize it.
(09:24):
You can get an MRIto see if it's ruptured or leaking.
You can get a high definitionultrasound to look at it,
see if there's fluid around it.
Any implant that has fluid around it,basically from the work done by Dr.
Thabet,he would consider it to be infected.
And that's one of the most famous people.
Rest of soul is in plastic surgeryabout devices.
So, you know, just this week I took a pair
(09:45):
implants out and one of them hada lot of fluid around it.
I was like, okay, well,
I don't go out and always tellpeople like, I think this is in fact
because I've done severalthousand of these and I do a polymerase
chain reactionor a PCR test on every single one of them
takes about two weeks to get back.
And that gives you the true,you know, quote unquote forensic
(10:05):
diagnosis of a bacterialor fungal infection.
And on the Internet, it's written,
you know, all over the place that moldsa huge problem breast implant on us.
It's not
implants are not riddled with mold.
I don't care what the I don't carewhat anybody shows you.
I have done over,you know, probably 1200 of those
with PCR testingand my study that's going to be published.
(10:27):
Hopefully this in Q1.
I hope
I've done over900 in the in the consecutive fashion
since February 14th of 2019.
All of my patients have had PCR testing,all of them get PCR testing.
So the incidence in my personal case
study is basically 30%
(10:49):
give or take a few percentage points.
So roughly we'll just say a third of themhave biofilm, which is a low level
microorganism in the incidencethat we're going to discuss.
It's a bacteria calledKutty Kudi bacteria.
Agnes But it's the bacteria.
It's not staph, it's not strep,it's not Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter,
all these weird things. It'sdefinitely not a fungus.
(11:10):
But I'm sorry, is this in the fluidor we're talking about the mold.
This is this or capsule your tissue.
Okay, So, you know,
I'm so sorry dumbing this downa little bit
when we're talking about breastimplant illness
that is going to be something that,
you know,I guess I just want to be careful, Right.
(11:32):
Because
I don't want people
when as a doctor,do you say to your patient,
hey, maybe it's not the breast implant,maybe it's stress.
Right.
You know, I just want to make surethat when people are hearing this,
I want them to take this very seriously.
I want them to knowwhen they should come and see you.
But I also do want somebody to say,I haven't been able to sleep for a week.
(11:56):
Is it my implants?
Yeah, I have a whole program built aroundexamining this topic.
So everybody asked to have one testthat can tell you
whether or not you have this problem.
And so the short answer isnobody has a test.
Not not me, not anybody.
But I look at your genetics,which I think are foundational.
We look at a toxicity test so everybodyhas a certain amount of t ability.
(12:21):
I think everybody understands that now.
And your your exposures or what contributea lot of this.
So mold is a common exposureenvironmentally.
It may be your home where you work.
I live in Austin, Texas.
The air quality here has gone downevery year.
I've lived here
and it has a very high amount of moldand cedar, other things
(12:43):
that I'm very sensitive to.
So we look at all those thingsas well as heavy metals.
And for your listeners, you'veprobably discussed things like parabens,
like, yeah, BPA is everything,so your products have to be paraben free.
And if you have a question,go to the Environmental Working Group
and type in your productto figure out what is in it.
(13:05):
The more important, more subtle thing is
the food you eat is severely compromised.
Do they statesso it's sprayed with folic acid.
So for anybody listening,you can't do anything with folic acid.
You're not designed to do anythingwith it.
It's a fortifying material in all white
(13:26):
products, white flour, white rice,
those things.
If you don't methyl welland you know, for your audience,
you may have been toldyou have the MTA of our gene.
You may understand you don't mouth away.
Well so if you add a bunch of folic acidinto a diet
of somebody who does a methyl eight, well,
(13:47):
they'll get crazy.
They all must have like A.D.D.. Okay.
So that is a problemthat exists in about 40
to 50% of the population in general.
But if you look at my patientswho have and suffer from breast
implant illness,that's virtually all of them.
Got it.
(14:07):
So they don't methyl eight Well, so onceagain, you can't pick your parents, right?
And you can't outrun a bad diet.
So don't eat fructosesucrose, don't eat processed
foods, don't eat gluten, don't eat dairy.
I'll tell you, not to drink wine from thiscountry because it's terrible, right?
You're not to drink beerbecause it's got gluten in it.
(14:28):
So I'm not your friendwhen it comes to having habits
because I'm about loweringyour inflammation.
So, one, you'll do better live longer.
But as I operate on you,I need you to recover.
So my whole programand my short program is strategic.
Holistic Excel,A recovery program is based on genetics,
(14:48):
toxicity, gut health, foodsensitivity and warm ballots.
So when people want to know what they cando about this problem and they're not,
not everybody, you know, is interested inor wants to see me for surgery.
So that program exists to helpthose patients get the answers
they're trying to find throughother providers and practitioners
(15:10):
and I feel like everybody'strying to help them.
I just see this is my practice.
So I see these patientsevery single day of the week.
So, you know,
are you well, let's saywe have a listener out there
who who's having
(15:31):
what kind of symptoms,what are some of the things we're seeing?
Inflammation, you know,we know can cause a host of things.
But what are some of the mostcommon music phrases?
What are some of the most common symptoms
you're seeing directly relatedto breast implant illness?
Sure.
From from like standard thingsI get told every day
(15:52):
I actually was having bone brothat my local place, the well in Austin.
And one of my patientswho's coming in today saw me there
and came up and said,I'm seeing you tomorrow.
I want to talk to you.I have all these symptoms.
So her symptoms are a laundrylist of spot, her neurologic symptoms
are sound sensitivity, light sensitivity.
(16:14):
She has dry eyes.
She has a lot of sinus type congestion.
She has a little tickle in our throatthat sometimes makes it
so that she has difficultytaking even her supplements.
They'll kind of catch in herher throat, in her chest.
She gets tightness, she gets chest pain.
Sometimes she feels likeshe has her heart racing or palpitations.
(16:38):
She even gets shortness of breathsometimes in her arms and legs.
She sometimes will get nerve pain,
which can be burningor tingling or pins and needles.
She gets joint pain, she may getmuscle pain and it kind of moves around.
So it's a very like,you know, moving target.
And now where you can get to the part
that's reallyproblematic is a woman's gut health.
(17:01):
And so there's lots of thingsthat are problems there.
This patient in particularhas trouble with absorption
and has been told she has leakygut and it's been proven on her GI map.
So when you got a gut microbiome,
you know, if you don't have the properamount of food for your microbiome,
which are your own bacteria,your own bacteria start feeding on you.
(17:23):
So you have intact what's calleda brush border to absorb things.
But if someone's been givenprolonged bouts or prolonged
runs of antibiotic therapyfor like sinuses or UTI, I
you're basically affect your microbiometo the point where you'll develop
leaky gutso the tight junctions will become loose,
You won't absorb well, you'll haveyou may have constipation, diarrhea,
(17:48):
you may have bloating, swelling,pain like it's just a mess.
So basically our supplementationis designed to avoid that.
So I use a lot of liquids and I loseI use less than those capsules
because peoplehave so much trouble in absorption
and you want to be like avoiding thingslike soy, which are in a lot of capsules.
(18:09):
I guess.
So, you know, and I don't wantto be treating somebody very close in
my life has serious digestive stuff.
The laundry list that you just mentionedhas never had breast implants.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is,
do we need to look at
this as something like,
(18:30):
I don't want
put words in your mouth,but is it sort of like
when when it comes to breastimplant illness,
it really needs to be approachedfrom a holistic point of view.
It's not as cause and effect.
As I fell down the stairs, I broke my leg.
Right. It's not okay. Got it. Okay.
Because these things canand that's why you have this program
that takes a really holistic view of that.
(18:51):
So do you ever find people who think
they have breast implant illness,they have the breast
implants removedand the problems are still there?
Yeah.
And that'sso if you go back to the biofilm,
so that's a bacterial contaminant.
So about a third of the patientsin my practice have that.
(19:13):
Okay, do their case,and that's the principle driver.
All right.
So it's just the bacteriathat's driving their immune system.
When you do that case, thenyou'll have the people in that first week
and you've seen some of these folks,they have this kind of miraculous
turnaround.
So that's more of an infective type
(19:35):
recovery process because if you take outan infected device,
then you turn off the signalto the immune system
and they'll get better more quickly.
Now, that used to happen a fair amountin my practice, but now I've been around
doing this for over seven years,a couple of thousand cases.
So I don't see those patients anymore.
(19:58):
I see more complicated cases now.
So they've seen the famous peoplearound the country.
They've been put on their programsand they're still having, to your point,
problems. Yeah.
So it'snot for lack of trying by practitioners
or the patients they're trying, right.
But the problem is a little bitmore complicated.
(20:19):
And if you have a great integrativeor functional practitioner
understands inflammation,
they're going to do their bestto lower your inflammation, right?
They're going to
plateaubecause you still have a breast implant
or another devicein that device may be the you know, the
the thing that is the crux of the problem,if you will.
(20:40):
Got it.
So it's not likeif you are having these issues
and remove the breast, it'snot a guaranteed immediate recovery
because that could be just onepart of the problem.
You know, as a plastic surgeon, I.
Have you ever done breast implants?
(21:01):
Yeah.
So for your audience,my background is in oncology.
So I did head neck cancer reconstruction,breast cancer reconstruction,
where my nichewas not to put into implants,
but I was doing somethingcalled a deep flap
reconstruction,where I use the tissue of the abdomen
and we would reconstructusing your own tissue.
Because of my focuson that and microsurgery,
(21:25):
I didn't do a lot of implantbased reconstruction, but even back
then I was asked to take care
of patients who had developed problemswith their implant based reconstruction.
Typically, they were referred to mebecause I worked at a tertiary center.
And so I would say, okay, you came to me,you had a breast implant
reconstruction for cancerand you were having capture
(21:47):
contracture or pain or rashes or whatever,and you're just like, Dr.
Whitfield, can you do anything?
And I said, Well,
all right, if it's a foreign body reaction
by removal, you will remove the stimulusto your immune system
with your own tissue, which is your owngenetic material, provided everything went
(22:07):
well with the surgery, whichwe had a very high success rate above 95%.
That would go away.
If that was the problem,that would just go away.
And thenit's not like I would wash my hands of it.
But back then I knew that I had done
what I knew how to do at that point,to take care of that problem.
Now, fast forward to the groupI have now where I know if I just do that
(22:29):
part, there's still a lot of work to doin many of these cases.
So genetic testing, toxicity testing,microbiome testing,
foods, it's to be tested and hormonetesting help
fill in the rest of the pictureso that you do have a holistic approach
to taking care of that personso that you're not leaving them
(22:49):
trying to find answers to problemsyou didn't identify at the time.
So the program exists
to fill in all of those thingsto the best of our ability around it.
And I'm always learning and trying to
I remain curious about the problembecause I think it's a very complicated,
you know, problemand I just you mentioned fibromyalgia,
Like if I have someone come sitin front of me who has breast implants,
(23:10):
who's got fibroand can't even sit still, like
they're just crawling out of their ownskin.
I have a hyperbaric chamber in my office.
I will put them in that complementaryand try to get their autonomic nervous
system calmed down because the more oxygendeficit you have, the more hypoxia
you create, the more muscle tensionyou have, the more pain you grab. Wow.
(23:33):
I mean, you know, it's clear to me
just from listening to you just up one,how complicated the human body is
and that something like breastimplant illness,
you know, I think it makes me so sadbecause I read these stories about women.
I've heard your own podcastwhere lives have been changed by this.
(23:55):
And it's just, you know,
I guess I was kind of hopingthat it was a little bit more clear.
Like if you're noticing X, Y, and Z,
but probably you should have your ear,your implants explanted.
But it seems like there's so many factors.
It's no wonder it's so frustratingprobably to so many women out there.
It is I and I don't you know, peopleare like, you just take out implants.
(24:19):
I'm like, well,you know, if it was that easy,
that would be great.
Yeah, but it's not.
It's a little bit more complicatedfrom head to toe than just that.
So, yeah.
So can you quickly or not quick,but can you walk us through
what is that process?
You know, if somebody were to come and seeyou, they've identified, hey, you know,
(24:44):
an excellent might be right for me.
What is that process like there?
I mean, I wasI just hopped on after a consult
so the patient came inand they've gone through
I mean, most people show upwith a notebook now for me to go through.
And so that's fine.
(25:05):
Like I said, everybody'strying to fill in pieces the way they can.
And then when they tell me the story,I think I've worked
really hard to understand geneticsand working backwards from that.
It makes it much easier to understandwhy they behave the way they behave.
And once you understand their exposures
like this, this personsaid they had a home with mold.
It it like, yeah, you just
(25:28):
kind of wait till the end to ask themlike, okay, why don't you tell me
if you've ever been exposed to or hadmold in a home, a work vacation rental?
A Just tell me like, how did you feel?
What?
I'm allergic to moldor I'm really sensitive to it.
I'm like, Well, mold causesa lot of bad things anxiety,
depression, gut health problems,mitochondrial dysfunction.
(25:50):
So, like, it becomes a really easy thingfor me at this point.
After probably almost 5000 consultsof this
and 2000 Explantsto sit there, hear the story, go, okay,
well, she doesn't
not like well, sheshe has probably antioxidant problems.
She has a glutathione problem.
(26:11):
She has this problem.
She has estrogen toxicity.
And that leads to all these other effects.
So if you get someone who comes inand has all these laundry list
and they tell me they have extremely bad
periods, pain, debilitating,
you know, cycleand they've been diagnosed with PCOS
(26:34):
and endometriosis and those arethose are functions of estrogen toxicity.
So if you have all the genetic detoxproblems, plus you have estrogen toxicity,
plus you have a poor diet,plus you have mold exposure plus whatever.
I mean,you're going to have this as an issue
and they're going to try to help you,whatever provider is.
(26:57):
They're going to try to help youthe best ability.
But if you have an implantplace is super hard for them
because that'sjust such a big driver of inflammation.
So I end up framing it this way.
I don't I don't have to tell anybodyto have surgery.
They come to meand they they've resided themselves to
this fact are oursis to try to help them through the process
and make sure we fill out,you know, the best of the ability.
(27:20):
I have a detox program,so I'm detox practitioners
who use cell core to help them with detoxand we have surgical follow up and
supplements of support, lower inflammationthrough the course of the year.
I follow them.
So we try to make surethat we're covering the bases.
We have a psychologist nowto help with the cycle.
The psychological aspect of this,which is very difficult and socially,
(27:45):
you know, we have more supportadvocates and health coaching.
It's a complicated problemthat needs a multidisciplinary approach.
So, you know,
you saidbefore about one third of your patients
you remove the X plan, they feel bettervery fast.
Is that correct?
They can be seen,
you know, does that mean that two thirds
(28:08):
what percentage of those
never get better?
And and maybe I would hate to say, like,did the implant
maybe not have as much of an effect as
they thought?
Well, that'swhere the rest of it comes into place.
So I feel likewe've closed the gap on that now.
So if everybody thinks of a bell shapedcurve where you have people who, you know,
(28:31):
get well right away after surgeryand then people who take forever,
you're trying to close those endsinto the bell, right?
So the program is meant to make everybodyrecover in a timely fashion.
And, you know, I hope to learnmore to close that gap even more.
But the program exists so that I take thevariability out of the recovery process.
(28:55):
There's still going to be somebodysomewhere who undoes me.
And it's typically their liver doesn'tdo you know what we want it to do?
Or, you know, there's a anotherenvironmental factor that is escaping us.
So there's, there's something I'mnot into.
That. Complicated.
Anybody is, is, is is complicated.
So but you know, can you quicklyI just want be mindful of time
(29:19):
what is that ex plant processlike So they come in
is it one day surgery,Is it an hour surgery?
Do they walk out?What is that recovery like?
Can you walk us through sort of high levelwhat that is?
Sure.
If you're in the
continental United States, about 90% ofmy patients are from out of state.
And then I increasedthe number out of the country.
So if you're here from out of state,I expect you to be in Austin about a week.
(29:43):
Okay.
And then basically during that week,you're in a
come to my place after surgeryevery day, basically barring,
you know, specific weekend limitationsfor hyperbaric
oxygen therapy,lymphatic massage and red light therapy.
So we have hands onlots of touchpoints in the office
to make sureeverybody is getting taken care of.
(30:04):
And then when I have peoplefrom out of the country, it's a little bit
more complicated because long haulflights have other stipulations.
So I have them here for a couple of weeksdoing the same thing.
We just extend it.
Now. We have a verystrong partnership with a
a company here in town for food.
So the well in Westlakeand the well downtown in Austin
(30:27):
serve glutenfree dairy free and seed free foods.
We provide
complimentary giftcards to our patients for that
because it all starts with how you eat.
If you don't eat properlyat or around the time of surgery.
Despite me telling you that's a behavioralproblem, I can't change behavior.
I can tell you what to do.I can show you what to do.
(30:49):
And the patientthat I'm referring to today
met me there last night or found me therebecause I was having some bone broth.
But if you go to our Instagram feedor my patients
that are going to talk about eating there,so the way you want to eat to recover,
but it's the way you should want to eat,to live a more healthy life.
Sure.
So with that, how long is the surgeryand then what is that recovery like?
(31:16):
Yeah, surgeryis anywhere from 2 to 4 hours.
The and you're under.
Correct. So you're going to go undergeneral anesthesia.
Yeah.
I have a lot of people who comewho want to explain the fat transfer
so I can re volume wise and rejuvenatethe breasts at the same time.
So those are more involved.
They take a little bit longer.
The recovery processis really dictated by your muscle,
(31:39):
the chest muscleand how it heals above the muscles.
A very quick recovery behind the muscle,which is the majority of cases I do,
takes longer.
And the muscle itself is kind of a ratelimiting step in terms of what
you would call recovery or returnto your quote unquote activities.
So that can take a few weeks.
(31:59):
It could take a few months.
The thing is, I don'tI didn't do the first case,
so I don't know howthat's going to play out.
But, you know,walking the day after surgery,
you know, washing your hair,using your arms,
the thing you don't want to dois like bodies and yoga and kettlebells
and, you know, pushupsand pull ups and stuff like that,
because that's going to hurt the musclerecovery or healing.
(32:22):
I mean, when I had my lift donewith an implant
under the muscle, I couldn'tsit up by myself for the first three days.
My husband literally had to help me.
I had no idea that it was goingto be that bad.
So I'm just, you know, I and I becauseyou would think, well, it's up here.
Why is my stomach being affected?
(32:43):
But all those muscles together,
like I literally couldn'tsit myself up from a lying down position.
I needed help. Yeah.
And we use a very specific protocolin the operating room
and the night before to limitpain, nausea, inflammation.
We really work to diminish swelling.
And I reallyI use a combination of long acting,
short acting anestheticto help with pain control.
(33:05):
So I avoid narcotic usageto the best of our abilities.
We know it works extremely well.
So people are,you know, nobody's pain free.
But I've had people take very littleif no narcotic
and just use anti-inflammatoryand do extremely well.
I mean, for the most part, my patients
are extremely motivated to recoverand they don't want to use a product.
(33:27):
So but but, you know,you make a good point.
Your patients have already been throughthe implant phase of this.
Is that what is that may be you knowand I guess everybody listening
if you're thinking about gettingan excellent I mean, you got an implant,
should you base your recoveryfrom the implant. No.
To sort of how your excellent will beor do you think it's easier?
(33:48):
No, more difficult.
It's more complexbecause of the scar tissue.
So and then if I'm adding fat back,there's more areas of treatment.
So that adds a level to it as well.
I think, you know,
people ask,
why don't people in your positiondo more fat transfers for augmentation?
(34:10):
The short answer is if you're younger,which most of the clients get implants
when they're younger.
I didn't do that because I was taking careof cancer patients for the most part.
So cancers, you know, will say inan older patient population.
So my patientshave always been a bit older,
but when you're 18or 20 or 22 or whatever,
(34:31):
and they've,you know, saved and wanted to do this
because of how they perceived themselvesor what they saw,
you know, growing up,or maybe they were bullied
for having a small chest, whatever it maybe, you're not going to stop that person
from getting it.
Also, they're probably not a candidate
for a fat transferbecause they didn't have a lot of fat.
They were lean to begin with.
(34:51):
And that's part of the problem. Obviously.
So when they're older,can you do it instead of a lift
like you had or a lift and an implant?
And the answer is yes.
But if your perceptionor as Amanda Savage Brown says,
your breast play bookis that implant appearance,
then you're not going to wantwhat a fat transfer shows you
(35:11):
because a fat transfer shows you a largernatural breast, not an augmented breast,
if that makes sense.
So the upper poleor the fullness in the upper chest
is not what a fat transfer will do.
It should never be
depicted that waybecause that's not possible. So.
Well, you have clearly dedicated her lifeto improving the lives of others.
(35:36):
I want to thank you.
I feel like one of the things
that is so clear from talking to youis that this is not
a very simple process to understand,but it's great to know
that professionals like yourself outthere are really listening to women
who are, you know, I think probably
tired of recentlyhave been kind of at a loss
(35:58):
for thisand for what to do and where to go.
If people want to seewhether they're in the Austin area or not,
what's the best wayto get in touch with you?
Well, we think education's the best.
So my podcast BreastImplant Illness is the one where I drop
as much educational informationat no charge to anybody, so I can learn
that way or shows I've been on like DaveAsprey or Lauren Bostic.
(36:20):
And then you can obviously go to ouryou URLs Doctor Robert Whitfield dot
com and breast implant illness expertdot com.
Amazing.
I want to thank you so much
for being on good luck with your patientswho are coming in today
and of course you listening at homeif you have questions that you want me
to pass on to Dr.
Whitfieldor his team, I'm always happy to do so.
You can email usat hello@artbeautypodcast.com.
(36:42):
You can find us on Facebook, Instagramand YouTube @ArtBeautypodcast.
I want to thank you so muchfor being with us today.
Dr. Whitfield Thanks for having me.
And as always,we will see you next Tuesday. I
write.
This is the Art Beauty podcast,where we are
always reaching for truth in beauty.
Remember, the people and the brands onthe show are not paying to be here.
So we get to ask themthose tough questions.
We know you want answeredbecause you deserve to be informed
so you can make the best choicesfor yourself.
With that said, I'm Amber Milt and.
today my fabulous co-host is Dr.
Robert Whitfield.
(00:20):
He is a board certified plastic surgeonwho specializes in explant surgery.
We're going to be talking to him today.
You know, we like to havea lot of fun on this podcast,
but we're going to be talking to him todayabout breast implant illness
and sort of maybe the process ofwhat an explant is like.
We will be getting all into that.
(00:41):
And before we do, I want to saythank you so much for being here.
Dr. Whitfield, Welcome to the show.
Well, thanks for having me.
I appreciate you having me on.
You know,
I said before, like, you know, normallywe keep things very lighthearted here.
But one of the reasons that I startedthis podcast was because I want people
to have access to informationwhere they don't feel like
it's being sold to them or
(01:04):
pressured.
So breast implant illnessand let's just get right into this
for people who aren't aware of this,can you describe what this is?
Sure.
I thinkhow I'd characterize it to my clients
and I just came out of a consultationwith one.
It's a chronic inflammatory processwhere a breast
implantor a medical device is only one component.
(01:26):
So I think a lot of people understandinflammation now and everybody's
trying to work on it through dietand exercise and lifestyle modifications.
But in the face of a medical device,whether it's a hip knee or breast implant,
dental implant, neurologic implant,whatever it is that was there for it.
And the moment oneis placed into someone's
(01:47):
body, your body reacts to itand tries to expel it.
And that's natural.Your body build scar around it.
That's why when people have plans,we talk about taking the scar around it
out of the capsule
so your body can interact with that.
And we know from researchthat textured implants
are more stimulating to the immune systemand those lead in some instances
(02:08):
to breast implant associated anaplasticlarge cell lymphoma.
So in my experience of over 2000 explants,I've had patients
have that lymphomaand I've had patients have breast cancer.
And I think, you know, for all intentsand purposes, when you have
chronic inflammation, it affectsalmost every system in your body.
(02:29):
And that's why the symptom list,if you just Google breast
implant illness, will havewhat is like a laundry list.
Yeah. Then.So that's the problem with this.
And it's a little unfairfor the clients who suffer from it.
It's a little unfair for the practitionerwho is trying to help them with
it, because
on both sides there's a lot of confusion,
(02:51):
if that makes sense,because it doesn't really fit a pattern
and then people get, you know,plugged into different specialists
to look at their gut healthor to look at their joint pain
or their sinus problemsor their headache or whatever it is.
And it doesn't really fit a patternthat you're
traditionally taught in medical school.
(03:13):
And I think, you know, for us,
I've been super curiousever since college about genetics.
And most of this boils down to
you can't pick your parentsand you can't outrun a bad diet.
Right? Okay. You can't write about it.
All right.
So I'm there are so many thingsthat I want
to pick your brain about,first of all, starting with the fact that
(03:35):
when you whenyou just started answering this before,
you mentioned many different devicesthat can be implanted.
I feel like this idea of breastimplant illness
has gotten so much coverage latelyin the media,
especially with so many celebritieswho are opting to get plans.
However, I think that it also can be
(03:55):
very scary for somebodywho's considering getting breast implants.
And I do want to say, you know, in 2022,breast implants were the second
most popular plastic surgery of the oneand a half million done.
I think it was just under 300,000.
Breast implants were done in 2022 alone.
That's according to the American Academyof Plastic Surgery.
So this is a very popular procedure.
(04:18):
And I myself, when I wentin, I had a breast lift.
My doctor
put in a smallimplant and I have to give him credit.
I had never even heard of breastimplant illness.
And he made it very clear,hey, this is something to be aware of
and give me at least researchand literature to do stuff on.
And but I have to admit,I was like a little bit scared.
(04:39):
So could this technically happenwith any device that's put into the body,
or is it really more specific to breastimplants?
You mentioned before a knee implant,
or are they finding other thingsor do you or do
they think that breast implant are more
or causing more issuesor is that something we can even tell?
(05:03):
So it's all the still it down.
So when you're looking at breast
implant or hip implant or knee implant,you put them in someone,
there is opportunityis for those who get infected. At.
Time of placement.
So if someone handed a surgeon
an implant hip knee
brace doesn't matterand somehow contaminated it in the process
(05:26):
of taking it out of the packagingor how it was
delivered to the staff,
then the surgeon would put it in andthey would not know it was contaminated.
Right.
The second method would be if the surgeonsomehow, upon taking a sterile device,
then contaminate contaminated itupon placement.
But those two are extremely uncommon,obviously,
(05:49):
with technique and precautions,those should be the least common,
the most common is a blood borne infectionsomehow contaminates it.
And so you get a skin infection,a lung infection, a kidney infection,
a bowel infection, lung infection, a cold.
And if it's say, you know, I just hada patient in here, had sinusitis a lot.
(06:13):
And so a bacterial sinusitis,
say, for instance, you clear your earsupon landing at a plane flight,
but you have a low grade
ear infection, You're going to seedthat into your sinuses.
You're going to potentiallymake that blood borne.
And then
your body has
this wonderful surveillance systemof complexity and will take care of you,
(06:33):
except for it can't take careof a foreign body because it's not you.
Right.
Does it matter if it's a hip kneeor breast implant that can contaminate
the surface and then form a colonyand that forms what's called a biofilm?
I guess what I'm asking and I'm sorry,but isn't clear, are breast implants
more likely than any other devicethat you might
put into your body to cause
(06:55):
illness like we're seeing with this breastimplant illness?
I don't have that data. Okay.
They're totally fair.
You know, So going back to, you know,we mentioned that there
there are a laundry list of symptomsthat are associated.
And I'm so glad that you're coming on andmaking this work, because I have to say,
I think that in general,we make a big generalization here.
(07:18):
Women suffer from
from a number of different things.
Fibromyalgia, Lupus is one of thesethat are sort of these all over
body disordersthat have sort of gone under the radar
and talked about
when you have something like breast
implant illness,it is not as maybe easy to pinpoint
(07:40):
how how how can we begin to identifythat that is what we have.
Like if a patient comes to you,how do we know that it's something related
to the breast implants and not somethingsome other systemic issue?
Yeah, I'll I'll explainhow people get to me now.
Yeah.
They've seen a lot of different doctors.
(08:00):
Right.
And many people have abandonedtraditional doctors
because they don't find an answerand they've went to
integrative care, functional medicine,
chiropractic care, acupuncture,
any holistic provider
who's willing to offer thema solution right.
And most of these folks,
(08:22):
I think, are really trying to do the bestthey can to help.
What is just what I said at the beginning,a chronic inflammatory process.
But many
of them never ask the patientsif they have an implant.
Right?
So many women don't want to sharethat they have it.
Many providers are afraid to ask about it,
(08:42):
and I think it should beThe number one thing you check.
Right, is is.
Do you have a device?
Because it doesn't matterif if a male came into an office
and had all the chronic inflammatory
symptoms and wentand saw the orthopedic surgeon,
even though that knee lookedokay and felt okay, they would still check
(09:03):
X-rays, all these thingsto make sure that that thing is not,
in fact,that they may aspirate fluid from it.
They will go to great lengthsto make sure that
that kneeis not the source of that problem.
And once they're satisfied,then they'll move on.
Now, you take a plastic surgeonand there are ways to characterize it.
(09:24):
You can get an MRIto see if it's ruptured or leaking.
You can get a high definitionultrasound to look at it,
see if there's fluid around it.
Any implant that has fluid around it,basically from the work done by Dr.
Thabet,he would consider it to be infected.
And that's one of the most famous people.
Rest of soul is in plastic surgeryabout devices.
So, you know, just this week I took a pair
(09:45):
implants out and one of them hada lot of fluid around it.
I was like, okay, well,
I don't go out and always tellpeople like, I think this is in fact
because I've done severalthousand of these and I do a polymerase
chain reactionor a PCR test on every single one of them
takes about two weeks to get back.
And that gives you the true,you know, quote unquote forensic
(10:05):
diagnosis of a bacterialor fungal infection.
And on the Internet, it's written,
you know, all over the place that moldsa huge problem breast implant on us.
It's not
implants are not riddled with mold.
I don't care what the I don't carewhat anybody shows you.
I have done over,you know, probably 1200 of those
with PCR testingand my study that's going to be published.
(10:27):
Hopefully this in Q1.
I hope
I've done over900 in the in the consecutive fashion
since February 14th of 2019.
All of my patients have had PCR testing,all of them get PCR testing.
So the incidence in my personal case
study is basically 30%
(10:49):
give or take a few percentage points.
So roughly we'll just say a third of themhave biofilm, which is a low level
microorganism in the incidencethat we're going to discuss.
It's a bacteria calledKutty Kudi bacteria.
Agnes But it's the bacteria.
It's not staph, it's not strep,it's not Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter,
all these weird things. It'sdefinitely not a fungus.
(11:10):
But I'm sorry, is this in the fluidor we're talking about the mold.
This is this or capsule your tissue.
Okay, So, you know,
I'm so sorry dumbing this downa little bit
when we're talking about breastimplant illness
that is going to be something that,
you know,I guess I just want to be careful, Right.
(11:32):
Because
I don't want people
when as a doctor,do you say to your patient,
hey, maybe it's not the breast implant,maybe it's stress.
Right.
You know, I just want to make surethat when people are hearing this,
I want them to take this very seriously.
I want them to knowwhen they should come and see you.
But I also do want somebody to say,I haven't been able to sleep for a week.
(11:56):
Is it my implants?
Yeah, I have a whole program built aroundexamining this topic.
So everybody asked to have one testthat can tell you
whether or not you have this problem.
And so the short answer isnobody has a test.
Not not me, not anybody.
But I look at your genetics,which I think are foundational.
We look at a toxicity test so everybodyhas a certain amount of t ability.
(12:21):
I think everybody understands that now.
And your your exposures or what contributea lot of this.
So mold is a common exposureenvironmentally.
It may be your home where you work.
I live in Austin, Texas.
The air quality here has gone downevery year.
I've lived here
and it has a very high amount of moldand cedar, other things
(12:43):
that I'm very sensitive to.
So we look at all those thingsas well as heavy metals.
And for your listeners, you'veprobably discussed things like parabens,
like, yeah, BPA is everything,so your products have to be paraben free.
And if you have a question,go to the Environmental Working Group
and type in your productto figure out what is in it.
(13:05):
The more important, more subtle thing is
the food you eat is severely compromised.
Do they statesso it's sprayed with folic acid.
So for anybody listening,you can't do anything with folic acid.
You're not designed to do anythingwith it.
It's a fortifying material in all white
(13:26):
products, white flour, white rice,
those things.
If you don't methyl welland you know, for your audience,
you may have been toldyou have the MTA of our gene.
You may understand you don't mouth away.
Well so if you add a bunch of folic acidinto a diet
of somebody who does a methyl eight, well,
(13:47):
they'll get crazy.
They all must have like A.D.D.. Okay.
So that is a problemthat exists in about 40
to 50% of the population in general.
But if you look at my patientswho have and suffer from breast
implant illness,that's virtually all of them.
Got it.
(14:07):
So they don't methyl eight Well, so onceagain, you can't pick your parents, right?
And you can't outrun a bad diet.
So don't eat fructosesucrose, don't eat processed
foods, don't eat gluten, don't eat dairy.
I'll tell you, not to drink wine from thiscountry because it's terrible, right?
You're not to drink beerbecause it's got gluten in it.
(14:28):
So I'm not your friendwhen it comes to having habits
because I'm about loweringyour inflammation.
So, one, you'll do better live longer.
But as I operate on you,I need you to recover.
So my whole programand my short program is strategic.
Holistic Excel,A recovery program is based on genetics,
(14:48):
toxicity, gut health, foodsensitivity and warm ballots.
So when people want to know what they cando about this problem and they're not,
not everybody, you know, is interested inor wants to see me for surgery.
So that program exists to helpthose patients get the answers
they're trying to find throughother providers and practitioners
(15:10):
and I feel like everybody'strying to help them.
I just see this is my practice.
So I see these patientsevery single day of the week.
So, you know,
are you well, let's saywe have a listener out there
who who's having
(15:31):
what kind of symptoms,what are some of the things we're seeing?
Inflammation, you know,we know can cause a host of things.
But what are some of the mostcommon music phrases?
What are some of the most common symptoms
you're seeing directly relatedto breast implant illness?
Sure.
From from like standard thingsI get told every day
(15:52):
I actually was having bone brothat my local place, the well in Austin.
And one of my patientswho's coming in today saw me there
and came up and said,I'm seeing you tomorrow.
I want to talk to you.I have all these symptoms.
So her symptoms are a laundrylist of spot, her neurologic symptoms
are sound sensitivity, light sensitivity.
(16:14):
She has dry eyes.
She has a lot of sinus type congestion.
She has a little tickle in our throatthat sometimes makes it
so that she has difficultytaking even her supplements.
They'll kind of catch in herher throat, in her chest.
She gets tightness, she gets chest pain.
Sometimes she feels likeshe has her heart racing or palpitations.
(16:38):
She even gets shortness of breathsometimes in her arms and legs.
She sometimes will get nerve pain,
which can be burningor tingling or pins and needles.
She gets joint pain, she may getmuscle pain and it kind of moves around.
So it's a very like,you know, moving target.
And now where you can get to the part
that's reallyproblematic is a woman's gut health.
(17:01):
And so there's lots of thingsthat are problems there.
This patient in particularhas trouble with absorption
and has been told she has leakygut and it's been proven on her GI map.
So when you got a gut microbiome,
you know, if you don't have the properamount of food for your microbiome,
which are your own bacteria,your own bacteria start feeding on you.
(17:23):
So you have intact what's calleda brush border to absorb things.
But if someone's been givenprolonged bouts or prolonged
runs of antibiotic therapyfor like sinuses or UTI, I
you're basically affect your microbiometo the point where you'll develop
leaky gutso the tight junctions will become loose,
You won't absorb well, you'll haveyou may have constipation, diarrhea,
(17:48):
you may have bloating, swelling,pain like it's just a mess.
So basically our supplementationis designed to avoid that.
So I use a lot of liquids and I loseI use less than those capsules
because peoplehave so much trouble in absorption
and you want to be like avoiding thingslike soy, which are in a lot of capsules.
(18:09):
I guess.
So, you know, and I don't wantto be treating somebody very close in
my life has serious digestive stuff.
The laundry list that you just mentionedhas never had breast implants.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is,
do we need to look at
this as something like,
(18:30):
I don't want
put words in your mouth,but is it sort of like
when when it comes to breastimplant illness,
it really needs to be approachedfrom a holistic point of view.
It's not as cause and effect.
As I fell down the stairs, I broke my leg.
Right. It's not okay. Got it. Okay.
Because these things canand that's why you have this program
that takes a really holistic view of that.
(18:51):
So do you ever find people who think
they have breast implant illness,they have the breast
implants removedand the problems are still there?
Yeah.
And that'sso if you go back to the biofilm,
so that's a bacterial contaminant.
So about a third of the patientsin my practice have that.
(19:13):
Okay, do their case,and that's the principle driver.
All right.
So it's just the bacteriathat's driving their immune system.
When you do that case, thenyou'll have the people in that first week
and you've seen some of these folks,they have this kind of miraculous
turnaround.
So that's more of an infective type
(19:35):
recovery process because if you take outan infected device,
then you turn off the signalto the immune system
and they'll get better more quickly.
Now, that used to happen a fair amountin my practice, but now I've been around
doing this for over seven years,a couple of thousand cases.
So I don't see those patients anymore.
(19:58):
I see more complicated cases now.
So they've seen the famous peoplearound the country.
They've been put on their programsand they're still having, to your point,
problems. Yeah.
So it'snot for lack of trying by practitioners
or the patients they're trying, right.
But the problem is a little bitmore complicated.
(20:19):
And if you have a great integrativeor functional practitioner
understands inflammation,
they're going to do their bestto lower your inflammation, right?
They're going to
plateaubecause you still have a breast implant
or another devicein that device may be the you know, the
the thing that is the crux of the problem,if you will.
(20:40):
Got it.
So it's not likeif you are having these issues
and remove the breast, it'snot a guaranteed immediate recovery
because that could be just onepart of the problem.
You know, as a plastic surgeon, I.
Have you ever done breast implants?
(21:01):
Yeah.
So for your audience,my background is in oncology.
So I did head neck cancer reconstruction,breast cancer reconstruction,
where my nichewas not to put into implants,
but I was doing somethingcalled a deep flap
reconstruction,where I use the tissue of the abdomen
and we would reconstructusing your own tissue.
Because of my focuson that and microsurgery,
(21:25):
I didn't do a lot of implantbased reconstruction, but even back
then I was asked to take care
of patients who had developed problemswith their implant based reconstruction.
Typically, they were referred to mebecause I worked at a tertiary center.
And so I would say, okay, you came to me,you had a breast implant
reconstruction for cancerand you were having capture
(21:47):
contracture or pain or rashes or whatever,and you're just like, Dr.
Whitfield, can you do anything?
And I said, Well,
all right, if it's a foreign body reaction
by removal, you will remove the stimulusto your immune system
with your own tissue, which is your owngenetic material, provided everything went
(22:07):
well with the surgery, whichwe had a very high success rate above 95%.
That would go away.
If that was the problem,that would just go away.
And thenit's not like I would wash my hands of it.
But back then I knew that I had done
what I knew how to do at that point,to take care of that problem.
Now, fast forward to the groupI have now where I know if I just do that
(22:29):
part, there's still a lot of work to doin many of these cases.
So genetic testing, toxicity testing,microbiome testing,
foods, it's to be tested and hormonetesting help
fill in the rest of the pictureso that you do have a holistic approach
to taking care of that personso that you're not leaving them
(22:49):
trying to find answers to problemsyou didn't identify at the time.
So the program exists
to fill in all of those thingsto the best of our ability around it.
And I'm always learning and trying to
I remain curious about the problembecause I think it's a very complicated,
you know, problemand I just you mentioned fibromyalgia,
Like if I have someone come sitin front of me who has breast implants,
(23:10):
who's got fibroand can't even sit still, like
they're just crawling out of their ownskin.
I have a hyperbaric chamber in my office.
I will put them in that complementaryand try to get their autonomic nervous
system calmed down because the more oxygendeficit you have, the more hypoxia
you create, the more muscle tensionyou have, the more pain you grab. Wow.
(23:33):
I mean, you know, it's clear to me
just from listening to you just up one,how complicated the human body is
and that something like breastimplant illness,
you know, I think it makes me so sadbecause I read these stories about women.
I've heard your own podcastwhere lives have been changed by this.
(23:55):
And it's just, you know,
I guess I was kind of hopingthat it was a little bit more clear.
Like if you're noticing X, Y, and Z,
but probably you should have your ear,your implants explanted.
But it seems like there's so many factors.
It's no wonder it's so frustratingprobably to so many women out there.
It is I and I don't you know, peopleare like, you just take out implants.
(24:19):
I'm like, well,you know, if it was that easy,
that would be great.
Yeah, but it's not.
It's a little bit more complicatedfrom head to toe than just that.
So, yeah.
So can you quickly or not quick,but can you walk us through
what is that process?
You know, if somebody were to come and seeyou, they've identified, hey, you know,
(24:44):
an excellent might be right for me.
What is that process like there?
I mean, I wasI just hopped on after a consult
so the patient came inand they've gone through
I mean, most people show upwith a notebook now for me to go through.
And so that's fine.
(25:05):
Like I said, everybody'strying to fill in pieces the way they can.
And then when they tell me the story,I think I've worked
really hard to understand geneticsand working backwards from that.
It makes it much easier to understandwhy they behave the way they behave.
And once you understand their exposures
like this, this personsaid they had a home with mold.
It it like, yeah, you just
(25:28):
kind of wait till the end to ask themlike, okay, why don't you tell me
if you've ever been exposed to or hadmold in a home, a work vacation rental?
A Just tell me like, how did you feel?
What?
I'm allergic to moldor I'm really sensitive to it.
I'm like, Well, mold causesa lot of bad things anxiety,
depression, gut health problems,mitochondrial dysfunction.
(25:50):
So, like, it becomes a really easy thingfor me at this point.
After probably almost 5000 consultsof this
and 2000 Explantsto sit there, hear the story, go, okay,
well, she doesn't
not like well, sheshe has probably antioxidant problems.
She has a glutathione problem.
(26:11):
She has this problem.
She has estrogen toxicity.
And that leads to all these other effects.
So if you get someone who comes inand has all these laundry list
and they tell me they have extremely bad
periods, pain, debilitating,
you know, cycleand they've been diagnosed with PCOS
(26:34):
and endometriosis and those arethose are functions of estrogen toxicity.
So if you have all the genetic detoxproblems, plus you have estrogen toxicity,
plus you have a poor diet,plus you have mold exposure plus whatever.
I mean,you're going to have this as an issue
and they're going to try to help you,whatever provider is.
(26:57):
They're going to try to help youthe best ability.
But if you have an implantplace is super hard for them
because that'sjust such a big driver of inflammation.
So I end up framing it this way.
I don't I don't have to tell anybodyto have surgery.
They come to meand they they've resided themselves to
this fact are oursis to try to help them through the process
and make sure we fill out,you know, the best of the ability.
(27:20):
I have a detox program,so I'm detox practitioners
who use cell core to help them with detoxand we have surgical follow up and
supplements of support, lower inflammationthrough the course of the year.
I follow them.
So we try to make surethat we're covering the bases.
We have a psychologist nowto help with the cycle.
The psychological aspect of this,which is very difficult and socially,
(27:45):
you know, we have more supportadvocates and health coaching.
It's a complicated problemthat needs a multidisciplinary approach.
So, you know,
you saidbefore about one third of your patients
you remove the X plan, they feel bettervery fast.
Is that correct?
They can be seen,
you know, does that mean that two thirds
(28:08):
what percentage of those
never get better?
And and maybe I would hate to say, like,did the implant
maybe not have as much of an effect as
they thought?
Well, that'swhere the rest of it comes into place.
So I feel likewe've closed the gap on that now.
So if everybody thinks of a bell shapedcurve where you have people who, you know,
(28:31):
get well right away after surgeryand then people who take forever,
you're trying to close those endsinto the bell, right?
So the program is meant to make everybodyrecover in a timely fashion.
And, you know, I hope to learnmore to close that gap even more.
But the program exists so that I take thevariability out of the recovery process.
(28:55):
There's still going to be somebodysomewhere who undoes me.
And it's typically their liver doesn'tdo you know what we want it to do?
Or, you know, there's a anotherenvironmental factor that is escaping us.
So there's, there's something I'mnot into.
That. Complicated.
Anybody is, is, is is complicated.
So but you know, can you quicklyI just want be mindful of time
(29:19):
what is that ex plant processlike So they come in
is it one day surgery,Is it an hour surgery?
Do they walk out?What is that recovery like?
Can you walk us through sort of high levelwhat that is?
Sure.
If you're in the
continental United States, about 90% ofmy patients are from out of state.
And then I increasedthe number out of the country.
So if you're here from out of state,I expect you to be in Austin about a week.
(29:43):
Okay.
And then basically during that week,you're in a
come to my place after surgeryevery day, basically barring,
you know, specific weekend limitationsfor hyperbaric
oxygen therapy,lymphatic massage and red light therapy.
So we have hands onlots of touchpoints in the office
to make sureeverybody is getting taken care of.
(30:04):
And then when I have peoplefrom out of the country, it's a little bit
more complicated because long haulflights have other stipulations.
So I have them here for a couple of weeksdoing the same thing.
We just extend it.
Now. We have a verystrong partnership with a
a company here in town for food.
So the well in Westlakeand the well downtown in Austin
(30:27):
serve glutenfree dairy free and seed free foods.
We provide
complimentary giftcards to our patients for that
because it all starts with how you eat.
If you don't eat properlyat or around the time of surgery.
Despite me telling you that's a behavioralproblem, I can't change behavior.
I can tell you what to do.I can show you what to do.
(30:49):
And the patientthat I'm referring to today
met me there last night or found me therebecause I was having some bone broth.
But if you go to our Instagram feedor my patients
that are going to talk about eating there,so the way you want to eat to recover,
but it's the way you should want to eat,to live a more healthy life.
Sure.
So with that, how long is the surgeryand then what is that recovery like?
(31:16):
Yeah, surgeryis anywhere from 2 to 4 hours.
The and you're under.
Correct. So you're going to go undergeneral anesthesia.
Yeah.
I have a lot of people who comewho want to explain the fat transfer
so I can re volume wise and rejuvenatethe breasts at the same time.
So those are more involved.
They take a little bit longer.
The recovery processis really dictated by your muscle,
(31:39):
the chest muscleand how it heals above the muscles.
A very quick recovery behind the muscle,which is the majority of cases I do,
takes longer.
And the muscle itself is kind of a ratelimiting step in terms of what
you would call recovery or returnto your quote unquote activities.
So that can take a few weeks.
(31:59):
It could take a few months.
The thing is, I don'tI didn't do the first case,
so I don't know howthat's going to play out.
But, you know,walking the day after surgery,
you know, washing your hair,using your arms,
the thing you don't want to dois like bodies and yoga and kettlebells
and, you know, pushupsand pull ups and stuff like that,
because that's going to hurt the musclerecovery or healing.
(32:22):
I mean, when I had my lift donewith an implant
under the muscle, I couldn'tsit up by myself for the first three days.
My husband literally had to help me.
I had no idea that it was goingto be that bad.
So I'm just, you know, I and I becauseyou would think, well, it's up here.
Why is my stomach being affected?
(32:43):
But all those muscles together,
like I literally couldn'tsit myself up from a lying down position.
I needed help. Yeah.
And we use a very specific protocolin the operating room
and the night before to limitpain, nausea, inflammation.
We really work to diminish swelling.
And I reallyI use a combination of long acting,
short acting anestheticto help with pain control.
(33:05):
So I avoid narcotic usageto the best of our abilities.
We know it works extremely well.
So people are,you know, nobody's pain free.
But I've had people take very littleif no narcotic
and just use anti-inflammatoryand do extremely well.
I mean, for the most part, my patients
are extremely motivated to recoverand they don't want to use a product.
(33:27):
So but but, you know,you make a good point.
Your patients have already been throughthe implant phase of this.
Is that what is that may be you knowand I guess everybody listening
if you're thinking about gettingan excellent I mean, you got an implant,
should you base your recoveryfrom the implant. No.
To sort of how your excellent will beor do you think it's easier?
(33:48):
No, more difficult.
It's more complexbecause of the scar tissue.
So and then if I'm adding fat back,there's more areas of treatment.
So that adds a level to it as well.
I think, you know,
people ask,
why don't people in your positiondo more fat transfers for augmentation?
(34:10):
The short answer is if you're younger,which most of the clients get implants
when they're younger.
I didn't do that because I was taking careof cancer patients for the most part.
So cancers, you know, will say inan older patient population.
So my patientshave always been a bit older,
but when you're 18or 20 or 22 or whatever,
(34:31):
and they've,you know, saved and wanted to do this
because of how they perceived themselvesor what they saw,
you know, growing up,or maybe they were bullied
for having a small chest, whatever it maybe, you're not going to stop that person
from getting it.
Also, they're probably not a candidate
for a fat transferbecause they didn't have a lot of fat.
They were lean to begin with.
(34:51):
And that's part of the problem. Obviously.
So when they're older,can you do it instead of a lift
like you had or a lift and an implant?
And the answer is yes.
But if your perceptionor as Amanda Savage Brown says,
your breast play bookis that implant appearance,
then you're not going to wantwhat a fat transfer shows you
(35:11):
because a fat transfer shows you a largernatural breast, not an augmented breast,
if that makes sense.
So the upper poleor the fullness in the upper chest
is not what a fat transfer will do.
It should never be
depicted that waybecause that's not possible. So.
Well, you have clearly dedicated her lifeto improving the lives of others.
(35:36):
I want to thank you.
I feel like one of the things
that is so clear from talking to youis that this is not
a very simple process to understand,but it's great to know
that professionals like yourself outthere are really listening to women
who are, you know, I think probably
tired of recentlyhave been kind of at a loss
(35:58):
for thisand for what to do and where to go.
If people want to seewhether they're in the Austin area or not,
what's the best wayto get in touch with you?
Well, we think education's the best.
So my podcast BreastImplant Illness is the one where I drop
as much educational informationat no charge to anybody, so I can learn
that way or shows I've been on like DaveAsprey or Lauren Bostic.
(36:20):
And then you can obviously go to ouryou URLs Doctor Robert Whitfield dot
com and breast implant illness expertdot com.
Amazing.
I want to thank you so much
for being on good luck with your patientswho are coming in today
and of course you listening at homeif you have questions that you want me
to pass on to Dr.
Whitfieldor his team, I'm always happy to do so.
You can email usat hello@artbeautypodcast.com.
(36:42):
You can find us on Facebook, Instagramand YouTube @ArtBeautypodcast.
I want to thank you so muchfor being with us today.
Dr. Whitfield Thanks for having me.
And as always,we will see you next Tuesday. I
write.
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