Lane sums up his leg implant experience (scroll down a couple entries if you haven’t seen it yet) by simply saying, “My body just did not want it at all.”
The rather unpleasant photos below were taken two weeks after the implant was put in.
A day after Lane took the sutures out, the wound opened up and nearly a liter of yellowish-clear fluid poured out of the incision — the previous three nights he’d been running a high fever accompanied by heavy sweats, general ill-health, and a stiff neck. After consulting with Brian on the phone, who inserted the boobs, they agreed that taking it out was the right thing to do. Because it was the holidays, Lane’s staff weren’t around, so in a one hour DIY procedure and with his wife’s assistance he removed it. Thankfully it’s now healing well — flat chested once again — and looking much better.
It’s unclear whether this was the early stages of septic shock, or if his body was straining to reject the large piece of silicon.
However, I’d really like to emphasize that Lane is a healthy guy that’s aware of body modification issues, and Brian is an experienced and clean practitioner — even in the best of cases, things can and often do go horribly wrong. If Lane had not removed the implant when he did, he could very easily have become seriously ill or even died without emergency care. If you choose to explore the world of heavy modification, it’s your responsibility to not just find a good artist you can trust, but also to be completely aware of what you’re getting yourself into and be very in tune with your own body. I can not repeat enough that things go wrong for everyone, and it’s these cases we need to prepare for. Being prepared is what will keep them as nothing but temporary setbacks instead of permanent setbacks.
Note to self: If you’ve been feeling nauseous all day, editing ModBlog entries may not always help take your mind off it..
– Roo
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
Um… where’s the part about him taking a proper dose of antibiotics? By the time it’s so far along that you’re running a high temp and all that mess, you’re way past clearing it up by removing the offending object.
Note to Roo: Come on, you have to admit that the title of this entry at least made you laugh 🙂
PS. Don’t forget: http://www.torontopolarbear.com/
Fake hoots are not always the best.
It’s too bad they didn’t heal… if you check out photo 7 (the full implant, removed), you can see the nipples, which would have popped out with full definition a la the detail in the cupcakes.
Aw I’m really sad to read about this, I loved the implants with that tattoo! Sorry to hear about Lane feeling so ill as well 🙁
Glad he’s much better after removal though. Happy healing!
some women get breast implants and get them removed because of sickness and rejection. It is very true.
I have read and seen bad stuff about breast implants.
Too bad they didn’t work out – it was an awesome idea
A liter of fluid. Damn. I picture him putting a Nalgene bottle under the wound, lancing, and telling his leg “when” just before it tops off. Either that or a giant measuring cup.
“funkadelica” Antibiotics only help deal with bacterial infections. I am not suffering from a bacterial infection. My body was trying to reject the implant. Now that it’s out I feel 100% better and no sign of infection. If it was bacterial I’d still be getting worse without antibiotics. Removal of what my body was trying to reject allowed my system to settle down.
Sad to hear 🙁 i loved the boob implants on that tattoo!!
Glad you’re feeling better Lane!
Damned shame, the implant looked amazing. Do you think the location of it might have been a reason why it was irritated? I had the thought that a leg implant (esp. so close to the calf muscle) is a lot harder to get to ‘settle’ and heal than an arm one.
I just learned I’m capable of looking at photos of infectious wound drainage and eating hummus at the same time.
Rawk.
I’m sorry that the implant just didn’t take. It looked great when it was new. (Glad all’s well now that it’s gone, tho.)
Adding onto what Lane said, an infection would likely have had a different discharge (thicker/darker) than he experienced… I agree with his assessment that his body was attempting to reject the implant.
I’m gonna be honest, this is the first time I have ever felt ill while being on Modblog. I don’t even know why, these pictures aren’t that bad at all.
Wow, it seems like such a short time since they were put in, but I’m very glad that he’s okay!
Just a side note: those tits are huge. I mean…some humans don’t even have them that big. Can you imagine getting in a fight with someone that ended in “WELL MY TATTOO HAS BIGGER TITS THAN YOU DO!” Haha, man.
After all is done, i think the removal of the piece was inevitably due to the size of the piece and the tightness of Lane’s skin. Due to the enormous length of the piece, we couldn’t place the incision far enough away that the tools would still reach where the pocket needed to be made without wrapping around his leg. We’d noticed during the closing how difficult it was to pull the wound together, which required some deep, extra sutures. Unfortunately, since the tools aren’t flexible, there was no way to create the pocket for this piece with an incision further away. I could barely get it to where it needed to be as it was. In retrospect, an incision from the bottom could’ve been possible, creating a large T shaped pocket for insertion, but i didn’t foresee any problems closing the wound as it was.
After speaking with Lane on the day of the removal, we agreed that a large amount of lymph and plasma needed to be drained from the pocket, which is not abnormal with subdermal implants. Since it wasn’t done manually by needle lancing, as it didn’t seem visually necessary, the buildup was enough to open the already weak incision site. There were never signs of local infection, which causes wonder why he had a fever that went away after the removal without any need for antibiotics. Perhaps coincidence. The chaffed spot over the piece was only due to the tightness and friction from the wrapping, as it settled once he stopped.
I’m very glad Lane had the sense and ability to remove the piece at the time, as it was now obvious the incision just wouldn’t hold. I know he’d contemplated re-closing the wound after draining the pocket, but there is a probable expectancy that the incision site would remain weak and reopen again at some time in the future.
Brian – Fever can be caused by injury alone without any infection; I’d assume it was related.
In any case, Shannon, you’re definitely right. It was a learning experience that will hopefully remain as a “temporary” setback.
Temporary for sure, no harm done… And I think it illustrates that even in the best case scenario (good health, experienced practitioner and subject, etc) sometimes things don’t go as planned.
Although the funny thing is that Lane’s good health (tight skin) likely caused some of the problem…!
The title is indeed amusing… I hope that the incision either heals well, or becomes one bitching scar.
I want to say a huge thankyou to Lane, Brian and Shannon for posting this. I am sorry it didn’t work for Lane’s sake but I wont to let Brian know how professional it is for him to cooperate in this story.
I am VERY pleased to see modblog telling the other side to modifications. It’s way time modblog was used to educate others that not all mods are successful. Risk of rejection with large pieces is always a bit of an experiment.
I am quite sure that the people involved were particularly careful about being “clean” and that the rejection was just his body not wanting to heal with the implants.
I think to see an artists discuss the success and failures of a mod is very admirable. I really hope modblog and all artists will see that sharing this type of thing is what being professional is all about
Oh my god, that first photo is just foul – a gaping, pussy maw.
Aaaaarrgh!!!!!
And I agree that it’s a bummer about losing the implants. For a short while there Lane had one great set of norgs 😉
Too bad. Now all those stupid websites *Cough*ebaums*cough* will have to post the aftermath.
If BME content is being stolen and posted on other sites, please send links to those sites to me at [email protected] so I can continue to get your pictures removed from other sites as I have been doing for years.
newaddict: Thank you very much. I think it’s important for people to understand their risks so they can make an educated decision about their modification. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one i foresaw prior to the wound closure after the procedure was done. I still thought the wound had a good chance of keeping holding strength, though. Enough that it was worth trying to heal it. It seems that was not the case.
I am admittedly hard on myself in these situations, and am quite upset with myself for not being able to recognize this problem before starting the procedure, but now i know. Thousands of cosmetic procedures go wrong each year by schooled professionals, right? 🙂
Re: Cosmetic procedures — What percentage of breast implants end up scarred up, shifted out of place, with various sorts of nerve damage, or otherwise unsatisfactory? AFAIK it’s in the realm of 25%, although it may be higher. Cosmetic surgeons definitely have a far higher complication rate than body modification practitioners.
Re: Photos on other blogs — as long as they retain the ModBlog/BME url on the images, it’s generally OK with me (and fair use anyway so it wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t) as it helps bring people to BME who want to learn more.
(To be clear I’m talking about blogs, not sites that just repost galleries)
I can’t stress enough that this situation was “NOT” caused by anything Brian did. Brian gave me a great deal of information before hand, he explained the procedure, the risks, and the aftercare very well and made sure I understood everything first. His procedure was by far the cleanest and smoothest I have ever witnessed. He has the highest standards I have seen when it comes to procedure and use of his skills. He then monitored me the following day and we have been on the phone with each other every other day since. He did everything in his power and above and beyond to ensure my safety. My body simply wanted to reject the implant. Now that it’s out my health has greatly improved and my leg looks great. I’ll post an update at ten days after the removal to show everyone how it is doing.
Ugh. Was totally eating bean enchilada soup. Thanks, guys.
PS, this is probably my favorite entry title to date.
I was quite proud of it
Wow thats too bad that happened to you Lane! Its sure a good thing you were able to remove it yourself with your wifes assistance. Thank you Shannon for showing that other side of bodymods, the side that everyone seems to want to hide from us all.
Thanx!
Lane certainly wouldn’t be the first person in history to experience problems with silicone breast implants. 🙂
>>What percentage of breast implants end up scarred up, shifted out of place, with various sorts of nerve damage, or otherwise unsatisfactory? AFAIK it’s in the realm of 25%, although it may be higher.
It is higher. I was shocked to find out that nearly 40% of breast implants end up with complications that often require further work. There is some argument that goes toward implying that surgeons purposely don’t do cosmetic work 100% correct to further increase revenue for repeat visits although I can’t substantiate that claim myself.
Whether it’s that high because of malice/subterfuge, incompetence, or because the procedure is generally non-viable, it’s disturbing in any of those options… To say nothing of the fact that even with “success” a huge percentage of breast implants look good only when hidden behind clothing and appear rather disturbing and grotesque* in the nude (in which case one has to wonder why a padded bra — or just a lift if they insist on surgery — wouldn’t be a better solution for most people).
I can’t imagine how quickly body modification would get shut down if we held ourselves to as “high” a standard as the medical profession.
—
* PS. How funny is it that I think breast implants are grotesque but am all for people chopping off fingers and so on?
Oh thank god he’s okay! That could have gone horribly, horribly wrong for him, good thing they caught it in time and he was able to do something about it himself. Too bad it didn’t last though, the implants were pretty sweet.
To be clear though, I think if someone has realistic notions about breast implants and wants them, they should go for it of course.
How about links to support the statistics that are being quoted?
Type “breast implant complications” and so on into Google and you’ll find tons of links supporting it, both in terms of general info pages and more in depth studies on PubMed and other more serious sites.
Wow, lucky they got it out in time
>>>How about links to support the statistics that are being quoted?
They are quoted in Psychological Aspects of Plastic Surgery: Clinical, Empirical, and Ethical Perspectives by David B. Sarwer.
A hefty tome but well worth the purchase ($140). Some fascinating perspectives on the motivations and psychological decisions behind cosmetic surgery.
3 things: 1) I’ll jump on the ‘Brian Decker is great’ bandwagon (if there’s any more room). I’ve gotten work by Brian, and watched him do work on other people as well. He is – by far – the most skilled practitioner I’ve ever come in contact with. His sterile procedure is seriously a lot better than many of the medical professionals I’ve come in contact with. As has been pointed out, sometimes shit happens regardless (especially when you’re pushing the envelope). Bear in mind, people who go into HOSPITALS for surgery frequently get infections….. 2) A former tattoo artist of mine had breast implants, which had to be removed because she developed infections – and this was some time after they’d been put in, like at least a year. 3) This wasn’t the best entry to read right after finishing dinner. Not quite as bad as the video I saw here a while back showing a guy chopping his own ding-dong off (I couldn’t finish watching that), but I don’t believe I’ll be eating any custard in the foreseeable future.
oh come on people, get off the tired “oh my goodness, there are sooo many problems with breast implants” tip. Of course there are problems, they’re breast implants, its a major surgery and people keep them for, um, how bout half their lives…. When you try implanting something that large in your body and keeping it for 25 years then lets see if you can claim your implants didn’t shift, harden or generally change in appearance over time. And considering the fact that there are still innovations being made in surgical prodecures, implant design and manufacture, of course there are issues and, like with every surgical procedure, the surgery itself is being imnproved. What was the controversy a few modblog posts back… hacks performing “heavy” mods because there is a demand for such procedures garuntees that people will seek out hack services. There are some shitty plastic surgeons and they will continue to do hack jobs because there will continue to be a demand for their services and not everyone can get to or afford to go to a highly skilled surgeon.
I got breast implants 3 years ago (which so many of you here on modblog love (former IAm copper_wire)) and they look and feel great. No, they dont look and feel like real boobs, but thats because they’re fake. I went to a great surgeon and had some extra scarring because of my skin color and the way I scar, but my surgeon was wonderful and the result was wonderful and i did my homework like anyone going in for any fort of serious procedure should. The one thing that has been unpleasant about having fake boobs has been the ignorance, stupidity and general closed-mindedness of people i meet who find out I have fake boobs. People have a lot of prejudices and pre-concieved notions about the kind of people who get plastic surgery, the supposed emotional problems these people suffer from and the supposed bad way these surgeries turn out. So many people have no idea what they are talking about. Guess what, you’ve probably met a hell of a lot of poeple with breast implants and you probably had no idea, you only notice or hear about the ones that are fucked up. end bitchfest.
My sister-in-law was pretty smart when she decided to get a boob job. Since she worked for a law firm at the time, she went to their best malpractice lawyer and asked him which surgeon in town was reliable. Her boobs came out great.
Too bad about Lane’s boobs though! I thought the whole idea was really cool. I really like seeing this sort of content on modblog though, just to remind people that sometimes we can take all the precautions in the world and our body will simply say “No.”
I can’t tell you how funny I find it that we’re debating real breast implants here. And Roo, surely you know by now that messing with BME is very unlikely to settle your stomach. 🙂
If anyone feels like attacking stealers-of-material, howsabout hitting up ebaums… they’ve been doing it for ages. Case in point: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/61738/ Here’s your reposted gallery. Surely all of us could rally behind knocking some sense into them.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/search/criteria=tattoos
For that matter, I’m almost positive most of these are bme material. Though I’m sure that must be common knowledge by now.
Reading all the comments on this story at ebaumsworld makes me feel really bad for all the intolerant people of world.
>>People have a lot of prejudices and pre-concieved notions about the kind of people who get plastic surgery, the supposed emotional problems these people suffer from and the supposed bad way these surgeries turn out.
Nothing ‘supposed’ about well document, empirical evidence.
I guarantee that the reason you had breast implants is shared by many many women so these ‘pre-conceived notions’ are actually well established and quite common traits.
There are only two major reasons for breast augmentation, cosmetic or re-constructive. Am guessing yours was cosmetic. This in itself shows quite openly the reasons for you doing it.
Unless of course you have a completely new reason for breast augmentation that hasn’t already been well documented, in which case please feel free to share it with us.
Broadly speaking cosmetic surgery is the desire to improve your appearance in line with society’s idea of beauty.
Body modification is the desire to redefine society’s (and our own) idea of beauty.
Giles.. to be fair, any body modification is on some level cosmetic, unless you really are piercing your cervix or something of the sort. There are always spiritual and emotional meanings behind the best of them, of course, but in the end, you are changing your body to fit more in line with your own mental image of beauty. And I won’t deny that the Britney Spearses of the world are going along in line with society’s views…. but really, I’m willing to bet the vast majority of people who undergo breast implants are going along with their own mental image of beauty, not “society’s view.” Surely, society has affected them, but it affects everyone in one way or another.
How many people get tattoos and piercings to be different than society? How many people here on BME have seen some interesting tattoo or piercing and wanted the same thing, or something similar? Why do you think microdermals are so popular all of a sudden? People see it, they like it, and they want it some imitation of it. Society affects all but the most recluse of hermits. It’s the same way with breast implants, which are just another valid body mod.
Your reasons for body modification may be to change others’ views of beauty, but many accept modifications as beautiful already, and want to change their bodies accordingly.
>>Giles.. to be fair, any body modification is on some level cosmetic
Well it depends on how you define cosmetic. The pure motivation in getting a modification and the level of acceptance from the status quo are both vastly different.
Very few people gets a labret to ‘fit in’. If they do then they will regret doing so very quickly as the tolerance from society in general will be low (although improving).
Whilst many will throw up their arms claiming the decision to increase their bust size was theirs the truth lies very deep in the way that society moulds people’s view of how their body should be. This does occur within BodMod but to a lesser degree.
One of the pure motivations behind BodMod originally included the desire to free yourself from the constraints of society’s coercive ability to tell us how we should look etc. Piercing has in it’s roots a liberating ideology where gay men and BDSM practitioners could hide their enthusiasms under their clothes knowing that those in power could not touch them. True liberation and freedom from a society determined to force it’s ideas on us.
The media in general embraces breast enlargement as it knows it helped create it. ‘It’ wants women to look the way it says (Hollywood, Magazines sell more etc).
As Shannon points out, BodMod (especially heavy mods) is a rebel movement outside of society and as such we will never see Paully Unstoppable accepted totally for who he is rather instead we get people like Louie in books such as Believe it or not.
Society WANTS us to be the freakshow it demands.
that’s such a bummer it didn’t work out, I was loving that idea!
Sad Lane’s boobs didn’t work out; I’m sure it’ll be remembered for quite a while to come, though.
I’m loving the discussion in the comments here, it’s all fascinating to read.
‘Society WANTS us to be the freakshow it demands.’ – Giles
Regardless of my views in this debate, I’ve gotta say – amen to that.
i wasn’t a huge fan of the idea in the first place, personally. but it does suck that they rejected. a LITER of fluid? hrhbbhhhllkk
So yeah… BACK ON TOPIC.
Lane’s boobies looked great.
It’s a shame, he should totally try it again with maybe trying the incision underneath aswell.
Well, if he does end up with a scar, the stories will be crazy.
“Oh, that? Yeah, that’s where I had boob implants removed from my leg.”
Not something you hear every day!
it was pretty much already been said…But I’m glad to see this posted…Kudos for posting it and kudos go to Brian for being willing to let this situation be made public, same with Lane.
As it will clearly show that even with the best of situations, problems can occur.
I’m glad to hear Lane is doing a lot better now. That could have been a very nasty situation had it not been done on someone who knew what was going on, how to treat it,etc.
>>So yeah… BACK ON TOPIC.
🙂 yes apologies for that.
On the topic of cosmetic surgery complications, i recently had a genioplasty procedure (chin implant). It was performed by arguably the most qualified and respected maxillofacial surgeons in my city. I had a reaction very similar to lanes. I was on a sizable dose of antibiotics. I rinsed every 20 minutes with salt water. Lots of pus pouring from incisions in my mouth and on my neck. Lots of horrific green bruising. And swelling to the point of being unrecognizable. Simply put, your body is smart. When you put something in it that isnt meant to be there, its coming out.
How many people do you think, Shannon, are going to take the fall for the first death in “the community” due to highly irresponsible practitioners pretending to be doctors?
Personally, I have a really big boner about the idea of a few of these motherfuckers in prison. Yes, I know, maybe I’m a little sensitive about the whole thing. But its all fun and games until someone’s kid dies, eh? And I do mean fun and games.
Of course Shannon, you’re ultimately to blame for all of this. No matter how many warnings you post, the fact is you’ve encouraged this sort of behavior thousands of times, and from the very beginning.
>>Of course Shannon, you’re ultimately to blame for all of this.
If you mean he is to blame for documenting the best and worst body modifications around the world then yes I agree, he is to blame.
If you mean he is to blame for the sloppy actions of others then NO, he isn’t at all.
“yttrx” that is ridiculous, then your saying that CNN is to blame for all the terrorist bombings for documenting and reporting on them. Give your head a shake man. Is the beetles responsible for all the deaths due to LSD for writing the song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds? “no”. Shannon documents events, provides good information about them and always explains the risks associated with the activity. We encourage ourselves to do things. He gives us the pro’s and con’s about the activity. Shannon is in no way responsible for what I had done.
p.s. Lane I wasn’t in any way saying the reaction documented here was down to sloppy actions, I was referring to the actions of non-professionals who mess things up for the rest.
Just thought I’d best clarify that.
OUCH!!
As a body mod enthusiast, I didn’t bat an eyelash at this. Shit happens with mods (it’s happened more than once with my own) and kudos to the people that can recognize when their body has clearly told them enough is enough.
However, as a medic, this made me cringe a little. But, again, kudos to you for recognizing when your body had had enough. I don’t see any red streaks going up your leg, which means that sepsis had not yet set it, but it very easily could have.
Also, yttrx, that is easily one of the most ridiculous statements I have ever read. Yes, let’s blame Shannon for killing stupid, irresponsible people who, despite all the warnings, all the information Shannon has posted about the importance of following proper safety procedures when getting modded and all the positive press, enlightenment and understanding Shannon has brought to the body mod community at large, let’s blame him because some idiot decided to ignore all that and suffered the consequences of their very stupid actions.
Props to Lane and Brian for posting comments here and being open about what happened. I’m really impressed that everyone involved showed up to comment here, and it just makes me respect them even more. Thank you for posting this Shannon, and it is wonderful to see you (almost) back. I’m glad Lane’s healing up and I hope everything turns out fine!
so now that we’ve extablished that silicone is risky to the body im wondering:
why did lane/brian pick that material when there are other, perhaps, safer materials, except for the fact that they might feel like “real” boobs?
I don’t understand how you came to that conclusion, commonwealth. Nobody blamed the silicone as a material. Thousands of silicone implants have been done with no reaction. It is tested for long term implant use. It is used commonly in chin implants, calves, noses, pectorals, etc., by licensed cosmetic surgeons. It is likely that any foreign body could’ve given Lane the same reaction.
i just watched a documentary on breasts and one of the subjects they touched on was silicone implants. when they begin to leak they poison the body causing immune problems and possibly cancer. thats why people switched to saline implants instead.
Commonwealth – As I understand it, that’s an urban legend that’s since been debunked, and it was mostly junk science that propelled those lawsuits. Silicone breast implants are again becoming available.
While there were some rare problems, the issues that people in this community had with silicone were PRIMARILY related to issues with silicone body jewelry (not implants). Also, this is solid silicone, which is quite different from the liquid/gel in terms of how it can disperse in the body.
shannon-wow that’s really interesting. i wasnt trying to sound like a know it all i was just wondering why they material was picked instead of another save for the fact that it would feel like close to real boobs.
Its really unfortunate his implants didn’t take well, but I am happy that these types of stories get posted to keep us all in touch with the reality of the situation.
yay!….now go shoot some ink in your eye with a needle….cause that’s another great idea….
The silicone breast implants currently available are NOTHING like the ones that leaked into hundreds of thousand of women’s bodies causing numerous illnesses.
Well, thousands of women have made that claim, but as has been mentioned many times before in these comments, it’s junk science and has been thoroughly disproved by many studies. Plenty of women have got ugly scarred up breasts and similarly unpleasant results from breast implants, but there’s no evidence suggesting that “hundreds of thousands of women” got “numerous illnesses”.
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_implant_controversy
that looks like a nasty infection to me!
Wow, the medical ignorance being spit out here is really quite funny!
You guys – even the medic – don’t even know the definition of “sepsis”. It doesn’t have anything to do with “red streaks” – it means that a local infection has spread into the bloodstream. Often that is accompanied by fever, chills, sweats, and eventually can lead to multi-organ failure. You guys should really stop pretending you understand medical matters, when you are clueless.
Its hard to tell from the pictures how infected the wound site was – but it did appear to be infected. Any by the way, even BACTERIAL infections CAN clear up by themselves sometimes WITHOUT antibiotics, in a healthy person. “I &D”, or Incision and Drainage is the first line treatment for a local cellulitis (infection), with a possible abscess (pocket of infected material, combined with dead white blood cells who were killed while fighting off the infection.) Just because the wound cleared up without antibiotics, doesn’t mean it wasn’t infected.
You lucked out, and I do mean luck. If you guys want to play doctor so badly, why don’t you actually LEARN something about the body, biology, surgery, etc???
PoserSmasher said what I was gonna say. I had sepsis after a prostate biopsy. I had some of the same symptoms plus chills so bad my teeth chattered. I was in the hospital for six days receiving antibiotics of different types. Some serious dodo, I’m telling you.
LOL PUSS. did NO ONE noticed this typo? Anyway I still think implants are cool, no pain no gain hahaha 🙂