By Angelina Cappiello
Breast augmentation is the most sought-after cosmetic surgery for women and ranks as the second most frequently performed cosmetic surgery in the United States. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than two million women worldwide have undergone silicone breast implant (SBI) procedures.
Unfortunately, many women who have breast implants may be experiencing Breast Implant Illness (BII) without realizing it. Although the exact cause is still unknown, BII may be linked to autoimmune or inflammatory reactions. The symptoms of BII can vary and include migraines, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and gastrointestinal issues, making it difficult to diagnose.
Raising awareness about the at times debilitating illness, iHeartRadio/TV Host Xen Sams, who transitioned from a career in modeling to becoming a prominent media figure, engaged in a candid conversation with Preferred Health Magazine. The media maven sat down to discuss her journey with BII, an illness that after 14 years she triumphantly and quite literally eliminated from her life.
PREFERRED HEALTH MAGAZINE: When did you decide implants were something that you were interested in getting?
XEN SAMS: I got my implants when I was in my early 20s. I had just recently battled thyroid cancer, and I was diagnosed with Graves' disease. I underwent radioactive iodine treatment and lost a lot of weight as a result of the radiation, including my eyelashes and my eyebrows. However, the weight loss shook me because I was at the height of my modeling career.
I was signed to Elite New York under Monique Pillard and shot many swimwear and lingerie campaigns. I was doing a lot of catalog work, and when I lost the weight, I lost my breasts, and I didn't feel good about myself, and I didn't want to model at all anymore. I took a year off, met my husband, went to the Conservatory, and trained as an actor at Strasberg and Stella Adler Acting Studio. When I started dating my husband, he said, 'You know you should be so happy about surviving cancer; your body looks great. You should go back to modeling.' And I did. I started getting requests, except I was no longer the chest size I was.
So, I decided, you know what, I'll get implants.
I got 250CC's saline implants. I didn't do any major reconstruction. It was just straight up under the muscle. I had it done in Canada, came back, and had absolutely no issues and no symptoms for 14 years. Everything was fine until I noticed one starting to lower last August.
Interestingly enough, I had a segment on my show called the 'Rankin difference,' which was all about breast implant illness. All the voices in the BII community who had implants and who were told by the medical community that their concerns and their symptoms were not valid it was hogwash. It was in their head. It was just symptomatic of something else. Now, the irony is that I would come on the segments, and I would say, by the way, I have had saline implants for 14 years, and I don't have an issue, but I do want to bring your concerns to the airwaves. Fast forward, I called Dr. Rankin, and I said I think I have a rupture.
In December, I booked to have my breast implants removed, and I made the decision not to implant and get a natural lift instead because I had heard all of the horror stories about breast implant illness. At that point, the FDA, in October of 2021, issued a black box warning stating that all implants, whether it's saline, silicone, any shape, or any form, can cause cancer.
There are certain types of cancers on the rise, and it's "implant at your own risk," and it's up to the surgeons to give the women this disclosure, which, unfortunately, more often than not, they skim over, telling the women these are perfectly safe. When we know they're not, they're no longer perfectly safe.
PHM: Several symptoms can be associated with BII; such as headaches, fatigue, memory loss, rash, "brain fog," joint pain, and gastrointestinal problems. So, it's hard to decipher, and I'm sure a lot of women are misdiagnosed. What were some of the symptoms you suffered with?
XS: In the months leading up to my explant surgery, I did not know this, but I had high blood pressure in the morning, and I did not know why I would wake up with a high diastolic number. The lower number was high, which made no sense to me because I'm active. I don't smoke. I don't have any medical complexities, so for me to have high blood pressure, especially at my age, I didn't understand why. And then, by noon, everything would drop to normal to a very normal blood pressure of 110 / 65. But I would wake up with 130 / 100.
I took 150 primary tests, 66 secondary tests, and 4 MRIs with and without contrast. Doctors said, 'You're fine. Go home. It's stress, or it could be premenopausal.' I got a million different answers, but nobody could tell me why.
I started going to this Ayurvedic company named Mukta Vati, and that somewhat worked,
but I still did not nip it in the bud.
PHM: When did you finally understand that it was time to remove your implants?
XS: I explanted on December 18th. I went to Jupiter, FL to see Dr. Rankin and take my implants out. Upon taking out the implants, he noticed one of them had a leaking valve. The saline had been leaking out of the valve slowly. I thought it was a rupture, but it wasn't. But inside the valve. There was mold; you could see it floating. We realized that I was slowly being poisoned by mold toxicity because the saline was seeping out through that valve that was taking the mold with it. And when I would sleep at night, I wasn't able to sweat it off, if you will.
When you're sleeping at night, your body is just in docile mode, and it's not doing much except lying there. And so the mold was seeping into my bloodstream. It was causing me to sweat, sweat it out at night. I had major sweats. I would wake up, and the sheets were soaked, and I thought it was again pre-menopause and so that symptom of sweating at night and increased blood pressure in the morning. When correlated, when I took out the implants, I was fine for that week. No high blood pressure, symptoms went away, migraines went away.
I didn't know at the time, but I had always suffered from migraines for the last 15 years. Two years after I got my implants, I started suffering from migraines and then continued to suffer to the point where I would get migraine Botox shots.
PHM: After you explanted, your symptoms, including the high blood pressure and migraines, just stopped?
XS: I had a total capsulectomy. He got rid of everything that was in there that could have possibly been the cause. You have to get rid of the capsule. The capsule lectin is extremely important because that's where the tissue and all the cancerous or precancerous growths could happen due to whatever's leaching out of those implants, whether it's saline or silicone. We know for a fact both of them can cause cancer.
For me, it was a heaviness on my chest. It was night sweats. It was extreme blood pressure, high blood pressure in the morning. All symptoms went away within one week of the explanation. Six months later, I don't suffer from migraines any more. I sleep well at night.
It was a rude awakening. For me, because here I am saying I don't suffer from it and the entire time I had been suffering from breast implant illness.
PHM: Why is education about Breast Implant Illness important for all women to know?
XS: I know my mission is to educate as many women as possible and just let women know it's OK to implant but implant at your own risk. Once you implant, you will be a patient for life.
PHM: What are your doctors' reactions to seeing you well? Did they still say it could have been due to something other than BII?
XS: Believe it or not, every doctor I have said, 'Wow, we are believers now.' I documented the whole thing with photos, the entire surgery, my drains, and then I went one step further and sent out the implants to a lab and got a toxicology report. The mold growing inside that one faulty valve was the mold you find in washing machines. It was shocking to me that the FDA doesn't necessarily have to guarantee the valve, just the outer shell, if you will. So you don't know where these valves are coming from or where they're manufactured.
Women are putting implants into their bodies to help them look and feel better, and it's slowly poisoning them. And it's at the expense of us wanting to fit into a societal standard of a beautiful body.
PHM: There is a rise in women seeking a more natural look, or what some call a "ballet body." But in the end, natural ways like fat grafting are best.
XS: If you start to look at the female doctors, they're taking this holistic approach of natural fat grafting and using a mesh, perhaps. Implants are almost a thing of the past. They're not even sexy anymore. Most women want just to be all-natural.
PHM: What advice can you give women who are considering getting implants?
XS: I want to tell them it's not worth it. It's not worth the health risks. It's not worth the complications.
A woman just came to me yesterday and she's statuesque and beautiful, she's got a gorgeous body. She's a friend of mine, and she says, 'I have an ongoing active infection because of my breast implants, and I still don't want to take them out.' So, she's on antibiotics to combat the active infection that her implants are causing her. She's researching how to remove them but still wants to re-implant them. This is the rationale.
It takes a long time, especially in her field. I can see why that might be something important to her, but people need to understand that your health is more important than anything else. I think that's hard for a lot of women because our careers or what we deem as women usually pertain to our breasts. But it's going to take a while.
I want to tell women to #1. be realistic with themselves and look at what symptoms currently affect them that may or may not even be Related to their breasts and list every ailment they have. Ask, could it be your breast implants? Look at what it's telling you. Your body is always talking to you. #2 Implants cost money. They're maintenance. They also may not look the way you want them to look. They may be off to the side. They may show you don't know how your wall cavity is and how it sits, so you'll never get that perfect look, no matter what. And more importantly, start evaluating that this is not the first time you will go under. Once you start, you open up Pandora's box. You must prepare yourself for two or three more revisions, especially if you're going to get implants in your 20s. By the time you're 40, you need another surgery. By the time you're 60, you need another surgery. That's three elective surgeries. There could be complications. There could be infections, and more importantly, your breasts could be the very reason why you're not feeling well. Breast implant illness aggravates cells that are predisposed to cancer. So, women, please think twice, especially if you have breast cancer in your family history.
To learn more about Xen Sams visit her website at www.XenSams.com, and
'A Moment of Xen' Podcast Show AmomentofXen.com
A special thanks to Dr. David Rankin who performed the capsulectomy for Xen Sams, and Sari Katz, PA-C, Founder SkinBySari
■ Allergan Medical Trainer for treating surgical scars post-op.