Danica Patrick shared a flashback photo in a bikini to bring awareness to breast implant illness (BII). After recently removing breast implants that she had gotten in her 30s, the racecar icon took a bold step in sharing her experience with breast implant illness to enlighten others about the health risks.
"Boobs Won't Make You Perfect"The 40-year-old former IndyCar champion shared an old photo on Instagram wearing a blue two-piece bikini (pre-surgery) with an enlightening message.
"I wish I could [have] told this 32-year-old girl that boobs won't make you more perfect or have it all or be more feminine," she wrote. Patrick added that the pressures of cultural trends, social media and filters, and unhealed trauma fed into her decision to get a boob job.
Deciding To Remove The ImplantsDanica, who has appeared on numerous magazine covers in her hay day, including two Sports Illustrated swimsuit features, revealed she removed the implants last month (April 27) after years of suffering from several severe symptoms that she believes were caused by the surgery.
"I wasn't sure I was ready to share this…. but then I remembered that true vulnerability is sharing something you're not really ready to. So here it is," Danica began.
"I got breast implants November of 2014. I got them because I want to have it all. I was really fit, but I didn't have boobs. So I got them. Everything went well, and I was happy with them."
"Fast forward about 3 years to early 2018, and I noticed that my hair was not as healthy and was breaking off. I also gained a few pounds and had no luck losing it. Then fast forward to late 2020…. and the wheels came off. I had cycle irregularity, gained more weight, my hair wasn't looking healthy at all, and my face was a different shape (weird, I know). So I went down the rabbit hole to figure it out. I did every test that could be done."
Danica's Symptoms From The ImplantsThe Pretty Intense author and podcast host went on to list an exhaustive list of symptoms from a range of medical tests including hypothyroidism, heavy metal toxicity, severe leaky gut, hypoglycemia, and low estrogen, DHEA, testosterone, magnesium, white blood count, vitamin D, and progesterone, to name just a few.
Patrick also shared before and after photos just a couple of hours post-surgery and revealed that she had begun feeling better and even saw improvements in her skin.
"I had them removed on Wednesday. The picture is a snapshot of a few hours before and after. Within hours after surgery, this is what I noticed – my face had more color and less dark circles (no food before the second pic), my face started producing oil again, I could take a 30% deeper breath into my chest already, and I had so much energy when I woke up (and surgery was at 230pm)," she wrote.
My Breast Implant Illness JourneyDanica went into thorough detail about her breast implant journey on her YouTube vlog where she was joined by her doctor, Dr. Shaun Parson who performed her explant surgery. Watch full the discussion here:
]]>The Inquisitr
