Breast Implant Illness and Why I’m Getting My Implants Removed

In this deeply personal solo episode, I share my decision to remove my breast implants after 10 years. I got my breast augmentation surgery at age 20 while battling body image issues and eating disorders. The implants became symbolic of my femininity and confidence. Over time, as I healed my relationship with my body, I started having intuitions it was time to remove my implants. Last summer of 2022, seeing myself in a photo triggered the final knowing. I vulnerably share my complex history with implants, fears about losing confidence after explant, and how I’m preparing physically and emotionally. You can read the full podcast transcript for this episode below: Full Transcript0:00Welcome to the Fully Expressed Podcast with Karenna.0:03I am low key, very nervous for today’s episode and you can already feel it.0:13I can already feel it in my eyes.0:16So today’s episode is a little bit, it’s, it’s very special to me because this is something that I have been preparing for, have been intentionally thinking about over the last year.0:30But to be Frank, this is also something that I’ve been thinking about for a number of years.0:36And I think parts of me already knew that this was something that I needed to do and not just needed to do but felt called to do and they would come up in different conversations in different ways and different, you know, different things.0:54And it was always a thought in the back of my head and it just, it took me some time to truly wrap my mind around what that actually meant and how I was going to get there and truly embodying kind of being ready for something like this and also just timing, I think, you know, because I’ve been thinking about this for a really long time.1:15It’s something that I needed to be prepared for.1:20And because I’ve been able to give myself this space this last year to, to be with it, to do a little bit more research, to dive into it.1:29I feel way more prepared than I probably would have if I jumped the gun when I decided that I was going to do this.1:35And so it all started or it all kind of came to the head when I was in Peru with my family.1:45We went back in, I want to say it was, it was August of 2022.1:51So August of 2022 I went to Peru with my family and I’ve been to Peru multiple times.1:59I’ve been so grateful to experience Peru and different cities within Peru.2:03And I love Peru if you don’t know this, I am Peruvian.2:06So I have a lot of family in Peru.2:08And this year we decided to do Machu Picchu and Cusco again, we got a chance to do them with a ton of our friends.2:18We did a full tour.2:19It was absolutely amazing.2:21And I’ve been to Machu Picchu before and there’s different ways that you can do Machu Picchu.2:28So or like, you know, go from Cusco to Machu Picchu and go up and one is you got to go into the sacred valley, you got to go into Cusco, you go to the sacred valley and then from there, you want to make sure that you get on the train that’s going to take you to Machu Picchu.2:45That’s the first way, you can take a train all the way there and then you basically jump on a bus from there and get your way up there and it’s, it’s pretty high.2:54I can’t exactly tell you the exact elevation, but it is very, very high in elevation.2:58And so that’s the number one way.3:00And that’s a lot of the ways that...