‘I had a boob job at 19 – it made me lose my hair and go blind’

Danielle Sheehan, now 32, had implants aged 19 after profitable a £5k magnificence makeover. She was then stricken by hair loss, fatigue, eczema and irritation within the years that adopted – however could not work out why.

She went to her physician a number of occasions and even attended A&E when she misplaced her sight. Danielle, from Norwich, says medics advised she might need an autoimmune situation or be below an excessive amount of stress.

But she now thinks she had breast implant sickness (BII) – after her issues vanished inside weeks of her implants being eliminated. Government data revealed in January 2020 mentioned specialists have been conscious of BII and have been investigating.

It mentioned they did “not know if there is a link between breast implants and the reported health problems” – however didn’t rule it out.

Danielle, who owns a magnificence clinic, mentioned: “After I had my son and over the last year, I had constant eczema, weeping skin and dry eyes – I ended up in A&E because I couldn’t see.

“Doctors told me they thought it was stress due to being a new mum and going through a breakup.

“I stumbled across other people talking about breast implant illness and saw they had rashes around their eyes the same as mine, it was like a lightbulb moment.

“My symptoms were all exactly the same – I had rashes, a low mood, I felt like I was slowly dying, and I just didn’t feel well at all.

“Even the surgeon was shocked to see the before and after pictures following the explant – two hours after the surgery [the rash on my face] was gone.”

Danielle decided to get implants in 2010 after winning a makeover in an online competition.

She says at the time she was working as a model and thought implants would help further her career.

However, she claims she began to suffer from eczema flare-ups almost immediately and despite using steroid tablets and light therapy the problems persisted.

Doctors told her the issues were down to stress but Danielle tried testing herself for food allergies and high cortisol levels – even cutting foods out of her diet and changing her water filter system to try and heal her symptoms.

However, after she saw posts online about breast implant illness she began to compare her symptoms.

She says that the doctors she spoke to had not heard of the condition but sent her for an ultrasound to check the integrity of the implants.

As the implants were intact, doctors offered her immunosuppressants in case the issues were caused by an autoimmune condition – but Danielle decide to undergo an explant first.

She sold her car to fund the surgery and says within hours of having the implants removed she saw an improvement in her skin condition.

Now she wants to raise awareness of the condition and thinks doctors should ask women if they have breast implants before investigating for autoimmune disorders.

And she says since posting about her journey on TikTok, different ladies have gotten in contact to share their comparable experiences along with her.

“The moment the implants came out I felt so much better,” mentioned Danielle.

“I feel safe in my body now, I feel emotionally stable, the rashes around my eyes have gone and the eczema is trailing off now.

“My hair looks better – it had got really thin and was falling out.

“My priority is awareness of breast implant illness. GPs need to take it seriously and ask about implants – it should be a mandatory question for girls going in with autoimmune conditions.

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

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