A woman has gone viral on social media after revealing the struggle she had with her breast implants until she removed them and discovered that one of them was infested with mold.
Melissa Lima, who goes by the handle @melissalima713 on TikTok, explained that she got breast implants in 2002 because "being in front of the camera made [her] insecure about [her] body".
She went on to disclose how, eight years later, she began to feel intense pain in her body and didn’t know what the cause of it was, despite speaking to "hundreds" of medical specialists.
"In 2010, I started becoming sick with severe joint pain, depression, and unexplained inflammation," Melissa wrote in the overlay text of the video, as she showed pictures and clips of her swollen face. "After [hundreds] of doctors and still no answer, I just gave up."
Watch Melissa's TikTok below:The TikToker then described how the discomfort impacted her daily life, writing: "As a single mom, I couldn’t get out of bed to cook for my boys and would often would if they would be better off [without] me."
She showed photos of her swollen legs, feet, and buttocks, and wrote that a "good friend" of hers encouraged her to research breast implant illness.
After her research, the mother-of-two said that "in October 2020, I made a decision that literally changed my life," as she decided to get her breast implants removed.
Melissa then shared a video of a hand holding a breast implant that she says was filled with "mold" and was removed during her surgery. She then posted a side-by-side photo of the two saline implants, with one mildewed while the other implant was still clear.
The rejoiced woman then documented how her body changed immediately after taking out the implants, explaining: "My face and eyes literally changed within hours. I finally felt like me again!"
She then concluded in her video by writing in her clip that now she's living her "best life" and said she's grateful that her sons have "their mom back".
Last month, Melissa spoke with BuzzFeed about her experience after her video garnered 5.3 million views on the social media platform.
The mother described some of her initial symptoms in 2010, including brain fog, fatigue, and intestinal issues, and revealed that after medics performed multiple blood tests, they discovered that her symptoms were from having Hashimoto’s disease.
According to Mayo Clinic, Hashimoto’s disease is "an autoimmune disorder affecting the thyroid gland," explaining that the "immune-system cells lead to the death of the thyroid's hormone-producing cells".
Melissa highlighted that after doing her reading about breast implant illness, she knew that she wanted to remove the implants, even if she wasn’t sure that it would relieve her pain.
"I didn’t know if removing them was going to 'cure' my problems. However, I was so sick, I decided I was going to get them taken out either way," she explained.
Furthermore, the TikToker told the outlet that after her surgery, her doctor said that he was stunned and told Melissa that he’d "never seen" mold inside of an implant before.
Now that it's been two years since her surgery, Melissa expressed that she is "back to [her] normal self," even though she still has to take medication for Hashimoto's disease and has "joint pain" in her hips.
"Other than that, I’m happy, healthy, and more importantly, extremely lucky to be able to get back to my normal self," she added.
