An Instagram-famous "fit mom" recently told followers about her decision to go through with breast implant removal, and revealed the scary symptoms that ultimately led to her decision.
Maria Kang, who has over 75,000 followers on Instagram, shared a post in late July that showed her holding up old breast implants that she recently had removed. In the post, she detailed her journey to get implants as a confidence-booster. She said implants were "normalized throughout the fitness industry."
Although the implants gave Kang the fuller breasts she desired, she said she started experiencing breast pain and numbness almost immediately after her surgery. For years, she struggled with the pain because she loved how she looked.
When Kang's symptoms got more severe and she noticed friends with implants had similar problems, she decided to make a change.
"I began feeling heart palpitations, chronic fatigue, dry eyes, joint pain and weight gain. I was perennially exhausted and finally said enough is enough," Kang wrote in her post.
A month ago, Kang had her implants removed, or "explanted," and said her adverse symptoms have since subsided. She also cited "breast implant illness," a cluster of symptoms like pain, inflammation, and nausea that many women report experiencing after they undergo breast augmentations, as the reason for her symptoms.
Kang isn't the first person to remove implants because of self-reported breast implant illness
In March, the Food & Drug Administration held a hearing to discuss the overall safety of breast implants. During the hearing, women testified about their experiences, and many cited breast implant illness as a reason for removing implants or wanting to get them removed.
Instances of this mysterious illness have only been self-reported since no tests currently exist for it, cosmetic surgeon Jae Chun, MD, previously told INSIDER.
But anecdotal evidence from women saying that their implants caused them pain, inflammation, and nausea for years— and that the symptoms went away upon implant removal — suggest there may be something to the claims.
Most plastic surgeons don't recognize breast implant illness
For now, most plastic surgeons don't consider breast implant illness a real condition, as it hasn't been studied enough to conclude the symptoms women experience are actually linked to implants.
There are some exceptions, including Dr. Chun.
Dr. Chun's plastic surgery practice focuses on removing implants. He doesn't do breast augmentation procedures anymore because of his belief in breast implant illness.
"If you try all the treatments [for other potential causes] and they don't get better, you wonder if they're being caused by the implants and therefore breast implant illness," he previously told INSIDER.
