My breast implants saved my life: TERESA BROOKS

In 2006, at the age of 34 and after years of wishing I had a fuller shape, I had breast enhancement surgery.

I had always had very small B-cup breasts and, at the time, I saw it as a positive body choice.

I'd always been self-conscious in tight clothes and swimsuits and it was confidence-boosting to fill them out better. I think my friends and family were a little baffled, and thought I looked great as I was, but they were all supportive.

I never could have imagined that, two decades later, that decision might have saved my life.

Last year, aged 52, I was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer and my nurse told me: 'Your implants are probably the reason you found a lump so very small.'

The implants had pushed all of my natural breast tissue to the surface, meaning I was able to feel the small, but cancerous, mass far sooner than I might otherwise have found it, had it been buried deeper in breast tissue.

Cancer was the last thing on my mind when I decided to go up two sizes to a D almost 20 years ago. I was very pleased with the results and for years I had no regrets about the surgery.

But after having my daughter and then reaching my forties, I felt differently. While I had no plans to have the implants removed, I felt concerned about having silicone inside my body.

Implants aren't for life and can change over the years and, as I later discovered, they had both ruptured without me knowing. (When ruptured the implant can cause misshapenness/lumpiness, but this often doesn't require intervention.)

Having implants had always made me more conscious of checking my breasts. Issues you need to look out for after implants include rippling (when 'ripples' appear on the surface of the skin because there isn't enough tissue to cover the implant), or encapsulation (where scar tissue forms). And it was during one of those checks in October 2023 that I noticed a slight rippling on my left breast. I visited my GP, who sent me for a mammogram, which came back clear.

Just seven months later, however, I felt a small lesion on the same breast, like a small, fatty piece of gristle.

I was confused – was this part of the same thing I checked before? And how had my mammogram been clear if I'd found this so soon afterwards?

I immediately began stressing about the implants. What if they had obscured the lump in the mammogram first time around? (Mammograms are harder to do effectively with implants; they take longer, need more images and are more painful.)

Internally, I was berating myself for ever having them. I returned to the GP who fast-tracked me to the breast clinic. The consultant I saw touched the hard lump very briefly and straightaway said to me: 'That's just the implant.'

He said they would do an ultrasound just to be sure but I remember going to the bathroom and feeling an enormous sense of relief. This wasn't cancer, it was nothing to worry about, just a by-product of the implants changing after so long.

But when I went into the ultrasound room, my relief quickly dissipated. Now the sonographer told me she wasn't sure whether the mass was a concern or not.

My mind jumped straight to the worst. As I lay there, I could see my heart visibly pounding in my chest as they attempted to complete a biopsy.

This wasn't easy. As the mass had attached to my implant, the biopsy ran the risk of rupturing it. Despite their attempts, the procedure had to be abandoned for that day. I left the room feeling shocked and traumatised.

If it was cancer, what would this mean for me and my then 16-year-old daughter? It was only the two of us, and had been from the start, and she needed me. I was also worried: would this make her predisposed to breast cancer too?

I later got a call saying that the senior radiographer was able to do the biopsy without rupturing my implant, and an appointment was scheduled.

Waiting the week for the results was agonising. I cleared my diary on the day they were due to call with the results, and sat at home in a state of terror. When it got to 4pm and I still hadn't heard anything, I called the clinic. A nurse called me back, and it became obvious that it wasn't nothing.

I was told to attend an in-clinic appointment, where I then received my diagnosis, and a date for a lumpectomy to be followed by radiation therapy.

It now seemed the implants I was starting to regret had probably saved me from experiencing a much later stage diagnosis and a more intensive treatment plan.

At this point, the implants had to go anyway, since the tumour was attached to one of them.

The surgeon assumed I would want a reconstruction, but I didn't. All I wanted was to remove the cancer, be left with my natural breasts and be easily able to check thoroughly for any new changes going forward.

I remember one nurse saying it was going to be 'a big shock' living without my implants and me firmly replying that I didn't agree – I knew what I wanted for my own body.

I had the lumpectomy and one 'explant' – the technical name for removal of a breast implant – in July 2024 and the cancer was removed successfully. I was then referred to a waiting list for the other explant and was told it would take about six months.

Of course, I was relieved and grateful to have had my cancer fully removed but waiting six months was quite psychologically challenging. Women who have had mastectomies without reconstruction will know how hard it is to adjust to the shock of the asymmetry and prosthetics.

Once the second surgery was over, I was back to my naturally small chest and was honestly happy about that. I feel it's more natural and, though it's still tricky finding a bikini that fits well, I'm so grateful just to be here, I barely give it a second thought.

Read More

From orgasm trouble to bowel movements, DR KARAN RAJAN answers questions you DAREN'T ask your GP

Since my diagnosis, I continue to check my breasts once a month. The temptation after cancer is to over-check due to the anxiety but doing it too often can mean not leaving enough time in between to notice those little, potentially crucial differences.

Over-checking can be as dangerous as under-checking, not least for your mental health.

Having said that, don't ever leave a new lump or change and think it will go away. Get it seen by a doctor as soon as you can.

I've been very open with my daughter, who's now 17, about how to check her breasts and spot the warning signs which include any changes, lumps, pain, redness, nipple discharge or dimpling, as more young women are presenting with breast cancer.

Having my implants removed has ultimately been a change for the better, albeit under life-changing circumstances.

I feel I can now appreciate my body in a way I didn't 20 years ago.

As an empowerment and trauma recovery coach, I help women overcome emotional and mental pain from the past or the present, and have had to work through my own trauma from my cancer diagnosis and its emotional impact.

Recovering from breast cancer is far from just a physical healing process. Our minds and emotions are also deeply affected. Our confidence and perception of ourselves change as we undergo surgery and are left with scars and permanent alterations.

Many find the aftermath of cancer harder to navigate than the actual treatment.

Trying to go back to who we were before breast cancer isn't possible. We have to find new ways forward and while my implants never defined me, I have found being without them – and without breast reconstruction after cancer – empowering.

teresabrookscoaching.com

As told to Charlotte Lytton