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Breast Implant Illness (BII)
Franziska Buttgereit
Affiliation: Theater Freiburg, Germany
Keywords: Women, Breast, Implant, Medicine, Diagnosis, Symptoms, BII
Categories: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Medicine
DOI: 10.17160/josha.7.6.725
Languages: English
BII is not an official medical diagnosis. Women with breast implants who experience a variety of physical symptoms often associate them with their breast implants, referring to them as Breast Implant Illness (BII). These symptoms include, for example: fatigue, chest pain, hair loss, headache, chills, sensitivity to light and other chronic pain, rash, body odor, anxiety, drowsiness, sleep disorders, depression, and even neurological and hormonal problems. Affected patients attribute their issues to their implants, whether they be filled with saline or silicone, textured or smooth.. The recent surge in patients reporting symptoms of BII appears to be due to social media. There is a Facebook group of more than 50,000 members, all of whom report symptoms of BII. This is not to say that social media is the cause of the BII, but it may be responsible for the rapid increase in awareness and coverage.