A single mum who was left 'sobbing in pain' has revealed how her breast implants poisoned her body for years.
Sara Gowen, 38, from Montana, US, has opened up about how she was on the brink of death after her breast implants slowly began to poison her – and shockingly said that doctors didn't even believe her.
The mum-of-two sons, Boston, 16 and Herb, 14, said that in 2014, she decided to get a boob job. After feeling insecure about her chest - especially after seeing her body change after childbirth - Sara said that she thought having this breast augmentation would help her "fix problems".
The hairstylist was a 34B at the time, and she was booked in with plastic surgeons in March of that same year to increase her cup size to 34DD.
However, Sara revealed that she had no idea of the nightmare that would soon follow.
Speaking about why she chose to go under the knife back then, she told NeedToKnow.online : "At the time, I was a young single mum working in a salon, putting pressure on myself which was increased by working in the beauty industry.
"My insecurities were overwhelming and in my broken mindset I remember thinking 'new boobs will fix all my problems'."
The 38-year-old continued: "I was going to have this beautiful body, I was going to be so confident, I was finally going to fit in and at the time it just made sense!
"I had no idea what was coming."
Sara says she used $3,500 (£3,080) of her savings to pay for the implants.
And at first, she was left feeling happy with the look and feel of her new breasts. However, just a month after the operation, she began experiencing unimaginable pain which was located in her bladder.
She said: "I would spend most of my time in the bathtub trying to get any relief I could.
"Soon I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder called interstitial cystitis.
"It feels like salt on an open wound all day long in your bladder."
Then in April 2014, Sara had a procedure called bladder distention surgery to help with the pain, but there was no relief to her symptoms at all.
A month later, she began bleeding profusely.
Medics - who according to the mum still believed that the pain was linked to her bladder - recommended the mum have a hysterectomy, which she had in June 2014.
Tragically, the pain remained and Sara said her body "no longer felt like her own", as she was thrown into early menopause.
Over the years that followed, the mum-of-two was in and out of emergency rooms. She also ended up being prescribed a range of different medications - including nerve blocks.
Finally, at their wits' ends, her doctors suggested that she get a spinal cord stimulator, which is a battery pack embedded under the skin that has wires attached to the bladder.
Sara said: "The nerve blocks were excruciating and my body hated the chemicals in the meds but it was worth the three days of pain relief it would give me.
"I was desperate and the spinal cord stimulator sounded like my only option, so I agreed to the surgery.
"The very next day the world was shut down due to Covid and I was unable to get the operation and they stopped my nerve blocks cold turkey.
The mum added she spent most of her days "sobbing in pain" and felt she was "slowly slipping away", adding: "I lost so much weight, at one point I was just seven stone.
"I was dying, but nobody seemed to believe me."
However, she finally reached a turning point after reading an article she stumbled across online that described a woman who had a breast implant illness and became allergic to certain foods, and was suffering other symptoms that fit Sara's.
Speaking about this breakthrough, the hairstylist said: "I was desperately trying to find answers so I asked my doctor for a blood test and sure enough, I had become allergic to gluten.
"This was a huge puzzle piece for me and where I really started to put things together.
"I was reading story after story of women removing their implants because of mystery illnesses and feeling better!"
Certain that the sicknesses and symptoms were coming from her breast implants, Sara then decided it was time to have them removed. But she was unable to afford the $20,000 (£17,600) surgery as it was not covered by insurance.
Two years later, sicker than ever and no longer able to stand the pain, she turned to her sister for help with organising a loan for the much-needed operation.
She said: "I was told [by doctors] that everything was in my head and that I should check myself into the psych ward.
"But I knew it was my breasts and I needed them out.
"Not only was I being poisoned by the toxins and chemicals in the shell of the implant but I was also being poisoned by mould the implant had grown.
"I’ve since learned that mould is common in saline implants due to the valve where the saline is put in."
Since having her implants removed in June 2021, Sara said she couldn't be happier. She has recovered from the list of symptoms she was suffering, and is now urging others to look out for themselves.
Sara has started a non-profit charity to raise money to help pay for explant surgeries (@the.curly.tomboy) so others won't have to go through what she did.
The mum said: "The first thing I said when I woke up is 'oh my god, I can breathe'.
"The whites of my eyes brightened back up instantly, the redness in my skin went away, the changes I noticed in the first hour were so wild!
"A year on, my bladder pain is non-existent, my weight has stabilised and my mental health is on a great path.
"I’m so thankful to be alive and here to watch my boys grow."