1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:02,760 This is the Art Beauty podcast, where we are 2 00:00:02,760 --> 00:00:04,680 always reaching for truth in beauty. 3 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:07,440 Remember, the people and the brands on the show are not paying to be here. 4 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:09,480 So we get to ask them those tough questions. 5 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,320 We know you want answered because you deserve to be informed 6 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,320 so you can make the best choices for yourself. 7 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,600 With that said, I'm Amber Milt and. 8 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:19,920 today my fabulous co-host is Dr. 9 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:20,840 Robert Whitfield. 10 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:26,200 He is a board certified plastic surgeon who specializes in explant surgery. 11 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:29,200 We're going to be talking to him today. 12 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:31,480 You know, we like to have a lot of fun on this podcast, 13 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,640 but we're going to be talking to him today about breast implant illness 14 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,400 and sort of maybe the process of what an explant is like. 15 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:41,760 We will be getting all into that. 16 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,080 And before we do, I want to say thank you so much for being here. 17 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,400 Dr. Whitfield, Welcome to the show. 18 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:47,560 Well, thanks for having me. 19 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,360 I appreciate you having me on. 20 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:49,680 You know, 21 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,080 I said before, like, you know, normally we keep things very lighthearted here. 22 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:57,400 But one of the reasons that I started this podcast was because I want people 23 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,400 to have access to information where they don't feel like 24 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,200 it's being sold to them or 25 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:05,520 pressured. 26 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,480 So breast implant illness and let's just get right into this 27 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:14,040 for people who aren't aware of this, can you describe what this is? 28 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:15,720 Sure. 29 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:18,360 I think how I'd characterize it to my clients 30 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:20,480 and I just came out of a consultation with one. 31 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,640 It's a chronic inflammatory process where a breast 32 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,640 implant or a medical device is only one component. 33 00:01:26,960 --> 00:01:31,080 So I think a lot of people understand inflammation now and everybody's 34 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:35,480 trying to work on it through diet and exercise and lifestyle modifications. 35 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:39,720 But in the face of a medical device, whether it's a hip knee or breast implant, 36 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,880 dental implant, neurologic implant, whatever it is that was there for it. 37 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,160 And the moment one is placed into someone's 38 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,480 body, your body reacts to it and tries to expel it. 39 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,360 And that's natural. Your body build scar around it. 40 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,120 That's why when people have plans, we talk about taking the scar around it 41 00:01:57,120 --> 00:01:57,960 out of the capsule 42 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:01,000 so your body can interact with that. 43 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,080 And we know from research that textured implants 44 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:08,080 are more stimulating to the immune system and those lead in some instances 45 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,240 to breast implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma. 46 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:16,680 So in my experience of over 2000 explants, I've had patients 47 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,920 have that lymphoma and I've had patients have breast cancer. 48 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,800 And I think, you know, for all intents and purposes, when you have 49 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:29,040 chronic inflammation, it affects almost every system in your body. 50 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,480 And that's why the symptom list, if you just Google breast 51 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:36,040 implant illness, will have what is like a laundry list. 52 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,480 Yeah. Then. So that's the problem with this. 53 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,680 And it's a little unfair for the clients who suffer from it. 54 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,440 It's a little unfair for the practitioner who is trying to help them with 55 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:48,000 it, because 56 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,440 on both sides there's a lot of confusion, 57 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,440 if that makes sense, because it doesn't really fit a pattern 58 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,520 and then people get, you know, plugged into different specialists 59 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,120 to look at their gut health or to look at their joint pain 60 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,760 or their sinus problems or their headache or whatever it is. 61 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,720 And it doesn't really fit a pattern that you're 62 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:13,080 traditionally taught in medical school. 63 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,560 And I think, you know, for us, 64 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,680 I've been super curious ever since college about genetics. 65 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:21,760 And most of this boils down to 66 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,760 you can't pick your parents and you can't outrun a bad diet. 67 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:26,840 Right? Okay. You can't write about it. 68 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:27,120 All right. 69 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,480 So I'm there are so many things that I want 70 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,080 to pick your brain about, first of all, starting with the fact that 71 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,280 when you when you just started answering this before, 72 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,920 you mentioned many different devices that can be implanted. 73 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,560 I feel like this idea of breast implant illness 74 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,560 has gotten so much coverage lately in the media, 75 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:52,560 especially with so many celebrities who are opting to get plans. 76 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,800 However, I think that it also can be 77 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,400 very scary for somebody who's considering getting breast implants. 78 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:03,000 And I do want to say, you know, in 2022, breast implants were the second 79 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:07,320 most popular plastic surgery of the one and a half million done. 80 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,320 I think it was just under 300,000. 81 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:12,800 Breast implants were done in 2022 alone. 82 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,040 That's according to the American Academy of Plastic Surgery. 83 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,040 So this is a very popular procedure. 84 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,000 And I myself, when I went in, I had a breast lift. 85 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:23,160 My doctor 86 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,360 put in a small implant and I have to give him credit. 87 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:29,160 I had never even heard of breast implant illness. 88 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,160 And he made it very clear, hey, this is something to be aware of 89 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,120 and give me at least research and literature to do stuff on. 90 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,360 And but I have to admit, I was like a little bit scared. 91 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:45,440 So could this technically happen with any device that's put into the body, 92 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,680 or is it really more specific to breast implants? 93 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,640 You mentioned before a knee implant, 94 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,120 or are they finding other things or do you or do 95 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,200 they think that breast implant are more 96 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,400 or causing more issues or is that something we can even tell? 97 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,480 So it's all the still it down. 98 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:09,480 So when you're looking at breast 99 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:13,120 implant or hip implant or knee implant, you put them in someone, 100 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,200 there is opportunity is for those who get infected. At. 101 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:18,720 Time of placement. 102 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:20,520 So if someone handed a surgeon 103 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:23,040 an implant hip knee 104 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,920 brace doesn't matter and somehow contaminated it in the process 105 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,960 of taking it out of the packaging or how it was 106 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,240 delivered to the staff, 107 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,240 then the surgeon would put it in and they would not know it was contaminated. 108 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:37,800 Right. 109 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:42,240 The second method would be if the surgeon somehow, upon taking a sterile device, 110 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,240 then contaminate contaminated it upon placement. 111 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,120 But those two are extremely uncommon, obviously, 112 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:53,520 with technique and precautions, those should be the least common, 113 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:59,400 the most common is a blood borne infection somehow contaminates it. 114 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:03,480 And so you get a skin infection, a lung infection, a kidney infection, 115 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,320 a bowel infection, lung infection, a cold. 116 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:12,840 And if it's say, you know, I just had a patient in here, had sinusitis a lot. 117 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,880 And so a bacterial sinusitis, 118 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:19,680 say, for instance, you clear your ears upon landing at a plane flight, 119 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:20,560 but you have a low grade 120 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,120 ear infection, You're going to seed that into your sinuses. 121 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:26,520 You're going to potentially make that blood borne. 122 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:27,160 And then 123 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:28,840 your body has 124 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:33,280 this wonderful surveillance system of complexity and will take care of you, 125 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:36,840 except for it can't take care of a foreign body because it's not you. 126 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:37,560 Right. 127 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,320 Does it matter if it's a hip knee or breast implant that can contaminate 128 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,840 the surface and then form a colony and that forms what's called a biofilm? 129 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:48,360 I guess what I'm asking and I'm sorry, but isn't clear, are breast implants 130 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,600 more likely than any other device that you might 131 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:54,600 put into your body to cause 132 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:59,080 illness like we're seeing with this breast implant illness? 133 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:02,280 I don't have that data. Okay. 134 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:03,480 They're totally fair. 135 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,640 You know, So going back to, you know, we mentioned that there 136 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:11,120 there are a laundry list of symptoms that are associated. 137 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,280 And I'm so glad that you're coming on and making this work, because I have to say, 138 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:17,400 I think that in general, we make a big generalization here. 139 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:19,680 Women suffer from 140 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:22,160 from a number of different things. 141 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:27,240 Fibromyalgia, Lupus is one of these that are sort of these all over 142 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,920 body disorders that have sort of gone under the radar 143 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,280 and talked about 144 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:36,120 when you have something like breast 145 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:40,080 implant illness, it is not as maybe easy to pinpoint 146 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:45,240 how how how can we begin to identify that that is what we have. 147 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:50,000 Like if a patient comes to you, how do we know that it's something related 148 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,720 to the breast implants and not something some other systemic issue? 149 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:57,840 Yeah, I'll I'll explain how people get to me now. 150 00:07:57,840 --> 00:07:58,800 Yeah. 151 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:00,960 They've seen a lot of different doctors. 152 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:01,680 Right. 153 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,000 And many people have abandoned traditional doctors 154 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,000 because they don't find an answer and they've went to 155 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:11,960 integrative care, functional medicine, 156 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,960 chiropractic care, acupuncture, 157 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:17,600 any holistic provider 158 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,600 who's willing to offer them a solution right. 159 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:22,320 And most of these folks, 160 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,320 I think, are really trying to do the best they can to help. 161 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:29,160 What is just what I said at the beginning, a chronic inflammatory process. 162 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:32,080 But many 163 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,080 of them never ask the patients if they have an implant. 164 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:36,080 Right? 165 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:39,240 So many women don't want to share that they have it. 166 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:42,640 Many providers are afraid to ask about it, 167 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,480 and I think it should be The number one thing you check. 168 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:47,280 Right, is is. 169 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:48,600 Do you have a device? 170 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:54,400 Because it doesn't matter if if a male came into an office 171 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:56,000 and had all the chronic inflammatory 172 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,240 symptoms and went and saw the orthopedic surgeon, 173 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:02,400 even though that knee looked okay and felt okay, they would still check 174 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,920 X-rays, all these things to make sure that that thing is not, 175 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:09,920 in fact, that they may aspirate fluid from it. 176 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:13,000 They will go to great lengths to make sure that 177 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,720 that knee is not the source of that problem. 178 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,720 And once they're satisfied, then they'll move on. 179 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,040 Now, you take a plastic surgeon and there are ways to characterize it. 180 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,400 You can get an MRI to see if it's ruptured or leaking. 181 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:28,880 You can get a high definition ultrasound to look at it, 182 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:30,160 see if there's fluid around it. 183 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,320 Any implant that has fluid around it, basically from the work done by Dr. 184 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:35,480 Thabet, he would consider it to be infected. 185 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:37,600 And that's one of the most famous people. 186 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,120 Rest of soul is in plastic surgery about devices. 187 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:45,000 So, you know, just this week I took a pair 188 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,000 implants out and one of them had a lot of fluid around it. 189 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:50,920 I was like, okay, well, 190 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:53,920 I don't go out and always tell people like, I think this is in fact 191 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,840 because I've done several thousand of these and I do a polymerase 192 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,720 chain reaction or a PCR test on every single one of them 193 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:01,840 takes about two weeks to get back. 194 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:05,080 And that gives you the true, you know, quote unquote forensic 195 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,360 diagnosis of a bacterial or fungal infection. 196 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:09,960 And on the Internet, it's written, 197 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,080 you know, all over the place that molds a huge problem breast implant on us. 198 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:14,280 It's not 199 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:17,400 implants are not riddled with mold. 200 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,760 I don't care what the I don't care what anybody shows you. 201 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,760 I have done over, you know, probably 1200 of those 202 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,120 with PCR testing and my study that's going to be published. 203 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,520 Hopefully this in Q1. 204 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:31,080 I hope 205 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:35,520 I've done over 900 in the in the consecutive fashion 206 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,160 since February 14th of 2019. 207 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:41,520 All of my patients have had PCR testing, all of them get PCR testing. 208 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:45,960 So the incidence in my personal case 209 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,960 study is basically 30% 210 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,840 give or take a few percentage points. 211 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,440 So roughly we'll just say a third of them have biofilm, which is a low level 212 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,640 microorganism in the incidence that we're going to discuss. 213 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,080 It's a bacteria called Kutty Kudi bacteria. 214 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,600 Agnes But it's the bacteria. 215 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:08,080 It's not staph, it's not strep, it's not Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, 216 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,560 all these weird things. It's definitely not a fungus. 217 00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,560 But I'm sorry, is this in the fluid or we're talking about the mold. 218 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,400 This is this or capsule your tissue. 219 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:18,360 Okay, So, you know, 220 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,400 I'm so sorry dumbing this down a little bit 221 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:26,120 when we're talking about breast implant illness 222 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,760 that is going to be something that, 223 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:32,400 you know, I guess I just want to be careful, Right. 224 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,400 Because 225 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:37,240 I don't want people 226 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:40,240 when as a doctor, do you say to your patient, 227 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,520 hey, maybe it's not the breast implant, maybe it's stress. 228 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:44,800 Right. 229 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,160 You know, I just want to make sure that when people are hearing this, 230 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:48,960 I want them to take this very seriously. 231 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,320 I want them to know when they should come and see you. 232 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:55,800 But I also do want somebody to say, I haven't been able to sleep for a week. 233 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:58,320 Is it my implants? 234 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:02,160 Yeah, I have a whole program built around examining this topic. 235 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:06,160 So everybody asked to have one test that can tell you 236 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:07,720 whether or not you have this problem. 237 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:09,760 And so the short answer is nobody has a test. 238 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:12,480 Not not me, not anybody. 239 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,720 But I look at your genetics, which I think are foundational. 240 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:21,600 We look at a toxicity test so everybody has a certain amount of t ability. 241 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:23,960 I think everybody understands that now. 242 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:28,000 And your your exposures or what contribute a lot of this. 243 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:30,800 So mold is a common exposure environmentally. 244 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:33,600 It may be your home where you work. 245 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,040 I live in Austin, Texas. 246 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:39,040 The air quality here has gone down every year. 247 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:40,000 I've lived here 248 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,800 and it has a very high amount of mold and cedar, other things 249 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:44,960 that I'm very sensitive to. 250 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,600 So we look at all those things as well as heavy metals. 251 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:53,800 And for your listeners, you've probably discussed things like parabens, 252 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:58,680 like, yeah, BPA is everything, so your products have to be paraben free. 253 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,880 And if you have a question, go to the Environmental Working Group 254 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,000 and type in your product to figure out what is in it. 255 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,320 The more important, more subtle thing is 256 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,920 the food you eat is severely compromised. 257 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:15,440 Do they states so it's sprayed with folic acid. 258 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:20,760 So for anybody listening, you can't do anything with folic acid. 259 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,440 You're not designed to do anything with it. 260 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,960 It's a fortifying material in all white 261 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:29,960 products, white flour, white rice, 262 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:33,120 those things. 263 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:36,480 If you don't methyl well and you know, for your audience, 264 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,600 you may have been told you have the MTA of our gene. 265 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:41,320 You may understand you don't mouth away. 266 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:45,240 Well so if you add a bunch of folic acid into a diet 267 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:46,800 of somebody who does a methyl eight, well, 268 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:48,800 they'll get crazy. 269 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,400 They all must have like A.D.D.. Okay. 270 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,760 So that is a problem that exists in about 40 271 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,800 to 50% of the population in general. 272 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,920 But if you look at my patients who have and suffer from breast 273 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:05,920 implant illness, that's virtually all of them. 274 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:07,920 Got it. 275 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:12,920 So they don't methyl eight Well, so once again, you can't pick your parents, right? 276 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,000 And you can't outrun a bad diet. 277 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,240 So don't eat fructose sucrose, don't eat processed 278 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,240 foods, don't eat gluten, don't eat dairy. 279 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,920 I'll tell you, not to drink wine from this country because it's terrible, right? 280 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,280 You're not to drink beer because it's got gluten in it. 281 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,800 So I'm not your friend when it comes to having habits 282 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,120 because I'm about lowering your inflammation. 283 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,480 So, one, you'll do better live longer. 284 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,480 But as I operate on you, I need you to recover. 285 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:45,240 So my whole program and my short program is strategic. 286 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:48,680 Holistic Excel, A recovery program is based on genetics, 287 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,080 toxicity, gut health, food sensitivity and warm ballots. 288 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:57,720 So when people want to know what they can do about this problem and they're not, 289 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:01,320 not everybody, you know, is interested in or wants to see me for surgery. 290 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:06,480 So that program exists to help those patients get the answers 291 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:10,480 they're trying to find through other providers and practitioners 292 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,560 and I feel like everybody's trying to help them. 293 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:17,280 I just see this is my practice. 294 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:19,920 So I see these patients every single day of the week. 295 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:23,120 So, you know, 296 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:27,000 are you well, let's say we have a listener out there 297 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,320 who who's having 298 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,880 what kind of symptoms, what are some of the things we're seeing? 299 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,920 Inflammation, you know, we know can cause a host of things. 300 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:40,800 But what are some of the most common music phrases? 301 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:42,240 What are some of the most common symptoms 302 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:45,840 you're seeing directly related to breast implant illness? 303 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:47,200 Sure. 304 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:52,120 From from like standard things I get told every day 305 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:57,480 I actually was having bone broth at my local place, the well in Austin. 306 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,000 And one of my patients who's coming in today saw me there 307 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,280 and came up and said, I'm seeing you tomorrow. 308 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:05,880 I want to talk to you. I have all these symptoms. 309 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,880 So her symptoms are a laundry list of spot, her neurologic symptoms 310 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,800 are sound sensitivity, light sensitivity. 311 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:16,600 She has dry eyes. 312 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,920 She has a lot of sinus type congestion. 313 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:24,000 She has a little tickle in our throat that sometimes makes it 314 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,640 so that she has difficulty taking even her supplements. 315 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:30,520 They'll kind of catch in her her throat, in her chest. 316 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,040 She gets tightness, she gets chest pain. 317 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:37,920 Sometimes she feels like she has her heart racing or palpitations. 318 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:42,520 She even gets shortness of breath sometimes in her arms and legs. 319 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:44,960 She sometimes will get nerve pain, 320 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:47,960 which can be burning or tingling or pins and needles. 321 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:52,920 She gets joint pain, she may get muscle pain and it kind of moves around. 322 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,680 So it's a very like, you know, moving target. 323 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:57,800 And now where you can get to the part 324 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,040 that's really problematic is a woman's gut health. 325 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:06,120 And so there's lots of things that are problems there. 326 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,960 This patient in particular has trouble with absorption 327 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,480 and has been told she has leaky gut and it's been proven on her GI map. 328 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:15,920 So when you got a gut microbiome, 329 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,520 you know, if you don't have the proper amount of food for your microbiome, 330 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:22,680 which are your own bacteria, your own bacteria start feeding on you. 331 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:26,560 So you have intact what's called a brush border to absorb things. 332 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:31,000 But if someone's been given prolonged bouts or prolonged 333 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,520 runs of antibiotic therapy for like sinuses or UTI, I 334 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,800 you're basically affect your microbiome to the point where you'll develop 335 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,800 leaky gut so the tight junctions will become loose, 336 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:48,120 You won't absorb well, you'll have you may have constipation, diarrhea, 337 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:52,560 you may have bloating, swelling, pain like it's just a mess. 338 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:57,320 So basically our supplementation is designed to avoid that. 339 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:02,120 So I use a lot of liquids and I lose I use less than those capsules 340 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:04,800 because people have so much trouble in absorption 341 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:08,480 and you want to be like avoiding things like soy, which are in a lot of capsules. 342 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:09,720 I guess. 343 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:13,000 So, you know, and I don't want to be treating somebody very close in 344 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,000 my life has serious digestive stuff. 345 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,200 The laundry list that you just mentioned has never had breast implants. 346 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,480 So I guess what I'm trying to say is, 347 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:25,120 do we need to look at 348 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,120 this as something like, 349 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:30,560 I don't want 350 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,080 put words in your mouth, but is it sort of like 351 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:34,320 when when it comes to breast implant illness, 352 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,400 it really needs to be approached from a holistic point of view. 353 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:39,200 It's not as cause and effect. 354 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,720 As I fell down the stairs, I broke my leg. 355 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,160 Right. It's not okay. Got it. Okay. 356 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,480 Because these things can and that's why you have this program 357 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,720 that takes a really holistic view of that. 358 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:55,320 So do you ever find people who think 359 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,200 they have breast implant illness, they have the breast 360 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,200 implants removed and the problems are still there? 361 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:03,360 Yeah. 362 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:06,600 And that's so if you go back to the biofilm, 363 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:09,640 so that's a bacterial contaminant. 364 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,080 So about a third of the patients in my practice have that. 365 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,920 Okay, do their case, and that's the principle driver. 366 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:17,280 All right. 367 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,280 So it's just the bacteria that's driving their immune system. 368 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:25,680 When you do that case, then you'll have the people in that first week 369 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:30,240 and you've seen some of these folks, they have this kind of miraculous 370 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:32,960 turnaround. 371 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,520 So that's more of an infective type 372 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,520 recovery process because if you take out an infected device, 373 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:43,000 then you turn off the signal to the immune system 374 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,680 and they'll get better more quickly. 375 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:51,160 Now, that used to happen a fair amount in my practice, but now I've been around 376 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,400 doing this for over seven years, a couple of thousand cases. 377 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,800 So I don't see those patients anymore. 378 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,160 I see more complicated cases now. 379 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,600 So they've seen the famous people around the country. 380 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:07,440 They've been put on their programs and they're still having, to your point, 381 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:10,280 problems. Yeah. 382 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,880 So it's not for lack of trying by practitioners 383 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,160 or the patients they're trying, right. 384 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,080 But the problem is a little bit more complicated. 385 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,440 And if you have a great integrative or functional practitioner 386 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:23,880 understands inflammation, 387 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,680 they're going to do their best to lower your inflammation, right? 388 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:28,360 They're going to 389 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:31,640 plateau because you still have a breast implant 390 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,840 or another device in that device may be the you know, the 391 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:39,440 the thing that is the crux of the problem, if you will. 392 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:41,360 Got it. 393 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:45,840 So it's not like if you are having these issues 394 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:50,160 and remove the breast, it's not a guaranteed immediate recovery 395 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,160 because that could be just one part of the problem. 396 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,400 You know, as a plastic surgeon, I. 397 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,320 Have you ever done breast implants? 398 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:01,560 Yeah. 399 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,960 So for your audience, my background is in oncology. 400 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:09,560 So I did head neck cancer reconstruction, breast cancer reconstruction, 401 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,800 where my niche was not to put into implants, 402 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:13,640 but I was doing something called a deep flap 403 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,040 reconstruction, where I use the tissue of the abdomen 404 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,960 and we would reconstruct using your own tissue. 405 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:25,240 Because of my focus on that and microsurgery, 406 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:29,440 I didn't do a lot of implant based reconstruction, but even back 407 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:31,840 then I was asked to take care 408 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,400 of patients who had developed problems with their implant based reconstruction. 409 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:38,400 Typically, they were referred to me because I worked at a tertiary center. 410 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:43,000 And so I would say, okay, you came to me, you had a breast implant 411 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:47,120 reconstruction for cancer and you were having capture 412 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:51,560 contracture or pain or rashes or whatever, and you're just like, Dr. 413 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:53,040 Whitfield, can you do anything? 414 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:55,000 And I said, Well, 415 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,960 all right, if it's a foreign body reaction 416 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:02,640 by removal, you will remove the stimulus to your immune system 417 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,360 with your own tissue, which is your own genetic material, provided everything went 418 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:10,440 well with the surgery, which we had a very high success rate above 95%. 419 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:12,480 That would go away. 420 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:14,640 If that was the problem, that would just go away. 421 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,880 And then it's not like I would wash my hands of it. 422 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,600 But back then I knew that I had done 423 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,600 what I knew how to do at that point, to take care of that problem. 424 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:29,000 Now, fast forward to the group I have now where I know if I just do that 425 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,280 part, there's still a lot of work to do in many of these cases. 426 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:36,760 So genetic testing, toxicity testing, microbiome testing, 427 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,960 foods, it's to be tested and hormone testing help 428 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:44,080 fill in the rest of the picture so that you do have a holistic approach 429 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:48,360 to taking care of that person so that you're not leaving them 430 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,520 trying to find answers to problems you didn't identify at the time. 431 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:54,840 So the program exists 432 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,840 to fill in all of those things to the best of our ability around it. 433 00:22:57,960 --> 00:22:59,560 And I'm always learning and trying to 434 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,920 I remain curious about the problem because I think it's a very complicated, 435 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,960 you know, problem and I just you mentioned fibromyalgia, 436 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,400 Like if I have someone come sit in front of me who has breast implants, 437 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:14,520 who's got fibro and can't even sit still, like 438 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,680 they're just crawling out of their own skin. 439 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:18,520 I have a hyperbaric chamber in my office. 440 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:22,680 I will put them in that complementary and try to get their autonomic nervous 441 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:29,120 system calmed down because the more oxygen deficit you have, the more hypoxia 442 00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:32,960 you create, the more muscle tension you have, the more pain you grab. Wow. 443 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,160 I mean, you know, it's clear to me 444 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,960 just from listening to you just up one, how complicated the human body is 445 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,040 and that something like breast implant illness, 446 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,560 you know, I think it makes me so sad because I read these stories about women. 447 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:53,640 I've heard your own podcast where lives have been changed by this. 448 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:57,360 And it's just, you know, 449 00:23:57,360 --> 00:24:00,000 I guess I was kind of hoping that it was a little bit more clear. 450 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,000 Like if you're noticing X, Y, and Z, 451 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:07,560 but probably you should have your ear, your implants explanted. 452 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,560 But it seems like there's so many factors. 453 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,880 It's no wonder it's so frustrating probably to so many women out there. 454 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:19,120 It is I and I don't you know, people are like, you just take out implants. 455 00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:22,600 I'm like, well, you know, if it was that easy, 456 00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:25,080 that would be great. 457 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:26,960 Yeah, but it's not. 458 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:30,800 It's a little bit more complicated from head to toe than just that. 459 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:32,520 So, yeah. 460 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:36,600 So can you quickly or not quick, but can you walk us through 461 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:37,880 what is that process? 462 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,600 You know, if somebody were to come and see you, they've identified, hey, you know, 463 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:45,960 an excellent might be right for me. 464 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,200 What is that process like there? 465 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:53,320 I mean, I was I just hopped on after a consult 466 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:57,720 so the patient came in and they've gone through 467 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,600 I mean, most people show up with a notebook now for me to go through. 468 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,840 And so that's fine. 469 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,560 Like I said, everybody's trying to fill in pieces the way they can. 470 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:13,280 And then when they tell me the story, I think I've worked 471 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,280 really hard to understand genetics and working backwards from that. 472 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:20,120 It makes it much easier to understand why they behave the way they behave. 473 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:22,680 And once you understand their exposures 474 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,560 like this, this person said they had a home with mold. 475 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,640 It it like, yeah, you just 476 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:32,720 kind of wait till the end to ask them like, okay, why don't you tell me 477 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:37,880 if you've ever been exposed to or had mold in a home, a work vacation rental? 478 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,120 A Just tell me like, how did you feel? 479 00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:41,640 What? 480 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,200 I'm allergic to mold or I'm really sensitive to it. 481 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,360 I'm like, Well, mold causes a lot of bad things anxiety, 482 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:50,920 depression, gut health problems, mitochondrial dysfunction. 483 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,720 So, like, it becomes a really easy thing for me at this point. 484 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,200 After probably almost 5000 consults of this 485 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:02,080 and 2000 Explants to sit there, hear the story, go, okay, 486 00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:05,280 well, she doesn't 487 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:09,120 not like well, she she has probably antioxidant problems. 488 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:11,760 She has a glutathione problem. 489 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:13,400 She has this problem. 490 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,440 She has estrogen toxicity. 491 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:17,200 And that leads to all these other effects. 492 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:22,120 So if you get someone who comes in and has all these laundry list 493 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,000 and they tell me they have extremely bad 494 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,040 periods, pain, debilitating, 495 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:34,200 you know, cycle and they've been diagnosed with PCOS 496 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:38,760 and endometriosis and those are those are functions of estrogen toxicity. 497 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:43,880 So if you have all the genetic detox problems, plus you have estrogen toxicity, 498 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:48,000 plus you have a poor diet, plus you have mold exposure plus whatever. 499 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:52,680 I mean, you're going to have this as an issue 500 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:57,200 and they're going to try to help you, whatever provider is. 501 00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,520 They're going to try to help you the best ability. 502 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,040 But if you have an implant place is super hard for them 503 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,040 because that's just such a big driver of inflammation. 504 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,560 So I end up framing it this way. 505 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,040 I don't I don't have to tell anybody to have surgery. 506 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,240 They come to me and they they've resided themselves to 507 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,800 this fact are ours is to try to help them through the process 508 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,240 and make sure we fill out, you know, the best of the ability. 509 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,480 I have a detox program, so I'm detox practitioners 510 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,400 who use cell core to help them with detox and we have surgical follow up and 511 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:31,440 supplements of support, lower inflammation through the course of the year. 512 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:32,640 I follow them. 513 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,160 So we try to make sure that we're covering the bases. 514 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,200 We have a psychologist now to help with the cycle. 515 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:45,680 The psychological aspect of this, which is very difficult and socially, 516 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:48,920 you know, we have more support advocates and health coaching. 517 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:53,040 It's a complicated problem that needs a multidisciplinary approach. 518 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,200 So, you know, 519 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,200 you said before about one third of your patients 520 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:01,760 you remove the X plan, they feel better very fast. 521 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:03,280 Is that correct? 522 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,280 They can be seen, 523 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,280 you know, does that mean that two thirds 524 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,320 what percentage of those 525 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:12,960 never get better? 526 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:16,440 And and maybe I would hate to say, like, did the implant 527 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,440 maybe not have as much of an effect as 528 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:21,800 they thought? 529 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:23,800 Well, that's where the rest of it comes into place. 530 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,640 So I feel like we've closed the gap on that now. 531 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:31,520 So if everybody thinks of a bell shaped curve where you have people who, you know, 532 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,440 get well right away after surgery and then people who take forever, 533 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,920 you're trying to close those ends into the bell, right? 534 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:45,400 So the program is meant to make everybody recover in a timely fashion. 535 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:50,280 And, you know, I hope to learn more to close that gap even more. 536 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:55,200 But the program exists so that I take the variability out of the recovery process. 537 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,160 There's still going to be somebody somewhere who undoes me. 538 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:02,280 And it's typically their liver doesn't do you know what we want it to do? 539 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:08,360 Or, you know, there's a another environmental factor that is escaping us. 540 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,320 So there's, there's something I'm not into. 541 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:12,120 That. Complicated. 542 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,360 Anybody is, is, is is complicated. 543 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:18,840 So but you know, can you quickly I just want be mindful of time 544 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,080 what is that ex plant process like So they come in 545 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:24,720 is it one day surgery, Is it an hour surgery? 546 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:26,960 Do they walk out? What is that recovery like? 547 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,960 Can you walk us through sort of high level what that is? 548 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:30,720 Sure. 549 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:31,440 If you're in the 550 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:35,480 continental United States, about 90% of my patients are from out of state. 551 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,480 And then I increased the number out of the country. 552 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:43,120 So if you're here from out of state, I expect you to be in Austin about a week. 553 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:44,520 Okay. 554 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,320 And then basically during that week, you're in a 555 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:51,880 come to my place after surgery every day, basically barring, 556 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,480 you know, specific weekend limitations for hyperbaric 557 00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:58,680 oxygen therapy, lymphatic massage and red light therapy. 558 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,960 So we have hands on lots of touchpoints in the office 559 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:04,640 to make sure everybody is getting taken care of. 560 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,720 And then when I have people from out of the country, it's a little bit 561 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:11,080 more complicated because long haul flights have other stipulations. 562 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:13,840 So I have them here for a couple of weeks doing the same thing. 563 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:15,240 We just extend it. 564 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:18,880 Now. We have a very strong partnership with a 565 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:23,160 a company here in town for food. 566 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:27,400 So the well in Westlake and the well downtown in Austin 567 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:31,240 serve gluten free dairy free and seed free foods. 568 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:34,680 We provide 569 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,120 complimentary gift cards to our patients for that 570 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:38,640 because it all starts with how you eat. 571 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,160 If you don't eat properly at or around the time of surgery. 572 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:47,040 Despite me telling you that's a behavioral problem, I can't change behavior. 573 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:49,920 I can tell you what to do. I can show you what to do. 574 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:51,680 And the patient that I'm referring to today 575 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:55,560 met me there last night or found me there because I was having some bone broth. 576 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,600 But if you go to our Instagram feed or my patients 577 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:04,280 that are going to talk about eating there, so the way you want to eat to recover, 578 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,520 but it's the way you should want to eat, to live a more healthy life. 579 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:09,720 Sure. 580 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:15,960 So with that, how long is the surgery and then what is that recovery like? 581 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:18,840 Yeah, surgery is anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. 582 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:21,560 The and you're under. 583 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,120 Correct. So you're going to go under general anesthesia. 584 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:24,480 Yeah. 585 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,840 I have a lot of people who come who want to explain the fat transfer 586 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:31,160 so I can re volume wise and rejuvenate the breasts at the same time. 587 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,200 So those are more involved. 588 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,040 They take a little bit longer. 589 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:39,200 The recovery process is really dictated by your muscle, 590 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:42,120 the chest muscle and how it heals above the muscles. 591 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:46,200 A very quick recovery behind the muscle, which is the majority of cases I do, 592 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:47,280 takes longer. 593 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,040 And the muscle itself is kind of a rate limiting step in terms of what 594 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:55,760 you would call recovery or return to your quote unquote activities. 595 00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,480 So that can take a few weeks. 596 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:00,720 It could take a few months. 597 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:03,720 The thing is, I don't I didn't do the first case, 598 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,480 so I don't know how that's going to play out. 599 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,680 But, you know, walking the day after surgery, 600 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:12,840 you know, washing your hair, using your arms, 601 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:16,080 the thing you don't want to do is like bodies and yoga and kettlebells 602 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,200 and, you know, pushups and pull ups and stuff like that, 603 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,440 because that's going to hurt the muscle recovery or healing. 604 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:27,960 I mean, when I had my lift done with an implant 605 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:32,560 under the muscle, I couldn't sit up by myself for the first three days. 606 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:34,080 My husband literally had to help me. 607 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:36,240 I had no idea that it was going to be that bad. 608 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:41,680 So I'm just, you know, I and I because you would think, well, it's up here. 609 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:43,280 Why is my stomach being affected? 610 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:44,880 But all those muscles together, 611 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,960 like I literally couldn't sit myself up from a lying down position. 612 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:50,600 I needed help. Yeah. 613 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,880 And we use a very specific protocol in the operating room 614 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,240 and the night before to limit pain, nausea, inflammation. 615 00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,280 We really work to diminish swelling. 616 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:02,600 And I really I use a combination of long acting, 617 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,600 short acting anesthetic to help with pain control. 618 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:09,680 So I avoid narcotic usage to the best of our abilities. 619 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:12,200 We know it works extremely well. 620 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,200 So people are, you know, nobody's pain free. 621 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,480 But I've had people take very little if no narcotic 622 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,960 and just use anti-inflammatory and do extremely well. 623 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:23,640 I mean, for the most part, my patients 624 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,240 are extremely motivated to recover and they don't want to use a product. 625 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,600 So but but, you know, you make a good point. 626 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:35,960 Your patients have already been through the implant phase of this. 627 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:39,120 Is that what is that may be you know and I guess everybody listening 628 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,920 if you're thinking about getting an excellent I mean, you got an implant, 629 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,560 should you base your recovery from the implant. No. 630 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,720 To sort of how your excellent will be or do you think it's easier? 631 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:50,240 No, more difficult. 632 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,880 It's more complex because of the scar tissue. 633 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:58,680 So and then if I'm adding fat back, there's more areas of treatment. 634 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:02,440 So that adds a level to it as well. 635 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:04,400 I think, you know, 636 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:06,000 people ask, 637 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:10,600 why don't people in your position do more fat transfers for augmentation? 638 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:14,960 The short answer is if you're younger, which most of the clients get implants 639 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:16,160 when they're younger. 640 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:19,200 I didn't do that because I was taking care of cancer patients for the most part. 641 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:23,800 So cancers, you know, will say in an older patient population. 642 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,280 So my patients have always been a bit older, 643 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:30,440 but when you're 18 or 20 or 22 or whatever, 644 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,400 and they've, you know, saved and wanted to do this 645 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,040 because of how they perceived themselves or what they saw, 646 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,560 you know, growing up, or maybe they were bullied 647 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:44,440 for having a small chest, whatever it may be, you're not going to stop that person 648 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:45,360 from getting it. 649 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:47,600 Also, they're probably not a candidate 650 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:49,800 for a fat transfer because they didn't have a lot of fat. 651 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:51,360 They were lean to begin with. 652 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:53,640 And that's part of the problem. Obviously. 653 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:57,000 So when they're older, can you do it instead of a lift 654 00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,600 like you had or a lift and an implant? 655 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:01,640 And the answer is yes. 656 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:05,040 But if your perception or as Amanda Savage Brown says, 657 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:08,040 your breast play book is that implant appearance, 658 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,760 then you're not going to want what a fat transfer shows you 659 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:16,160 because a fat transfer shows you a larger natural breast, not an augmented breast, 660 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:17,640 if that makes sense. 661 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,720 So the upper pole or the fullness in the upper chest 662 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:24,600 is not what a fat transfer will do. 663 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:26,880 It should never be 664 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:30,000 depicted that way because that's not possible. So. 665 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:36,680 Well, you have clearly dedicated her life to improving the lives of others. 666 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:37,760 I want to thank you. 667 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:39,200 I feel like one of the things 668 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,480 that is so clear from talking to you is that this is not 669 00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:47,040 a very simple process to understand, but it's great to know 670 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:50,560 that professionals like yourself out there are really listening to women 671 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,720 who are, you know, I think probably 672 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,000 tired of recently have been kind of at a loss 673 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,000 for this and for what to do and where to go. 674 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:04,360 If people want to see whether they're in the Austin area or not, 675 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:06,680 what's the best way to get in touch with you? 676 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:08,400 Well, we think education's the best. 677 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,800 So my podcast Breast Implant Illness is the one where I drop 678 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,800 as much educational information at no charge to anybody, so I can learn 679 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,200 that way or shows I've been on like Dave Asprey or Lauren Bostic. 680 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,560 And then you can obviously go to our you URLs Doctor Robert Whitfield dot 681 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,560 com and breast implant illness expert dot com. 682 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:28,000 Amazing. 683 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:29,000 I want to thank you so much 684 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:32,000 for being on good luck with your patients who are coming in today 685 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:35,680 and of course you listening at home if you have questions that you want me 686 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:36,840 to pass on to Dr. 687 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:39,200 Whitfield or his team, I'm always happy to do so. 688 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,360 You can email us at hello@artbeautypodcast.com. 689 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,920 You can find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube @ArtBeautypodcast. 690 00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:48,440 I want to thank you so much for being with us today. 691 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:50,920 Dr. Whitfield Thanks for having me. 692 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,200 And as always, we will see you next Tuesday. I 693 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:02,520 write.