The bubbly Marissa “Lala” Gonzalez has a lot to say on “Lulu & Lala,” her show with her identical twin, the equally bubbly Marianella “Lulu” Gonzalez, airing daily on New York’s 103.5 KTU and on the app iHeart Radio. As a radio personality and blogger, she’s interviewed celebrities like Selena Gomez and Leonardo DiCaprio, shared what it’s like to compete on “The Amazing Race” and explored diversity on reality TV.
However, anyone who follows her on air, on YouTube or online knows that lately, she’s been moved by a subject that’s particularly close to her heart – in more ways than one. In mid-December 2022, Gonzalez underwent surgery to remove breast implants after experiencing health issues including a neck rash, itchy eyes and migraines.
A Bergen resident with her sister, she has become a passionate advocate for knowing the long-term consequences of choosing implants. “Since I’ve done a post about it, so many men and women have been contacting me with questions,” she says. To help young women as she says they helped when she was looking for information, she shares her story with us here.
When did you get breast implants and what motivated you?
I got them around April 2019 when I was 34. I had no excuse. I wasn’t flat chested. I just thought I wanted to have more cleavage and be a bit sexier. I always wanted to have fuller boobs. In my 20s, I wanted to not have to wear padding. I had saved the money, thought I needed it, and got it. Now I’m thinking “Why?”
You and your sister do so much together, but not this. Did it feel different?
This was a discussion my sister and I disagreed on. We do everything together. We’re the type to love being twins, so she wasn’t happy about me getting them. He did not go with me to my consultation and refused to participate in it. He didn’t think I needed them and he thought we wouldn’t be twins anymore.
When did you first start noticing problems and what were they?
Maybe three months after I had the implants put in, I noticed that the right one had fallen out of its pocket (created under the breast tissue to hold the implant in place) and was uneven. Also, the left one was hard. You massage them and after a month they should feel like natural boobs, but they didn’t for me. I went to the doctor and said “Something is wrong, it’s wrong”. But he was pushing me away, and that was all that mattered.
So I started looking for another doctor. This doctor suggested I go bigger, because maybe my pocket was bigger than the implant. I didn’t want to go that big ― my goal was a small C, and I ended up with a double D. Within a year, I had two surgeries, and then there was COVID. I started getting a rash on my neck, my eyes itched and my skin was red because I had eczema. I was wondering if it was my diet or my body changing with age. I also started using organic makeup. The dermatologist gave me creams and pills, but none of them worked. Then I started getting migraines and thought my head was going to explode. My heart raced and I tried to ignore them.
I was disappointed. nothing worked. Insecurities started to show up and from wanting to be sexy to wearing oversized jackets and keeping to myself. I couldn’t go to a chiropractor or wear a bra because it hurt. They looked tough too. I was ashamed to be seen by anyone, including my friend.
How did you decide to undergo implant removal surgery?
I had seen a video of a friend who had gone through the removal process and started researching. My cousin did the same thing – she had them for nine years and they were worse than me. We exchanged research and stories and said “Let’s do this together.” She had seen Dr. David Rankin (chief of plastic surgery at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida) on a Facebook group page about explantation, and decided he was the guy. He stopped putting implants in women about four or five years ago when he started noticing the damage it was doing to women. He now specializes in degeneration. His assistant, Dee Hicks – Mama Bear – has done so much for the transplant community. He was instrumental in asking the FDA to put a black box warning on implants.
Dr. Rankin consults on Zoom, but I wanted to see him in person. He said my implants were encapsulated (when scar tissue forms tight capsules around them) and wouldn’t get better. He told me I needed corrective surgery.
Was the decision to undergo another surgery difficult?
It’s not an easy decision. I was scared. I never had children and wanted to know that when I did, I would be able to breastfeed them. And what would it look like? Would I have loose skin? Dee was nice enough to talk sense into me and tell me it wasn’t getting better and could get worse. It’s human nature to care about how you look, but then you think about your health, which money can’t buy. It sucks to feel sick. I’d rather be healthy with a scar than not have one and feel sick all the time.
How was it after the operation?
You leave the hospital the same day without complications. My surgery was at 6 in the morning, and by 2 in the afternoon, I felt like I could take a walk on the beach, like I’d gotten a second wind. I could finally take a deep breath and know that everything was going to be okay. I had my body back.
They put drains on you and a huge adhesive bandage. this was more uncomfortable, annoying and itchy. The drains are in one for a week and a half. You have to sleep sitting up for the first three weeks, and that takes a toll on your back, which is difficult to recover from.
They say it takes 6-9 months to recover, depending on your internals. They had to rub out one of my breasts because it was so encased. It is difficult for a doctor to remove the entire capsule, but it is necessary because the capsule contains silicone from the implant.
Today, I feel great. I put vitamin E oil on the scars and my boobs are healing perfectly. I just got cleared to do arm exercises, I can go back to the gym and I can buy bikinis and dresses.
What advice would you give to women considering breast implants?
I have read that explanting is a trend, and it is not. It won’t go away. People get implants because they have health problems. It bothers me when I see it. Also, young women out there who are thinking about getting implants, do your research on the long term consequences and how it will affect your health and those you love as well. My mom saw what I went through. When I suffer, the family suffers.
And remember: healthy is sexy. You may think implants are sexy, but there’s nothing sexier than being healthy.
[Sidebar]
Quick information on breast implant removal
According to a 2022 report published by the National Institutes of Health:
*Breast augmentation remains one of the most popular procedures in the field of plastic surgery.
*A growing number of women, however, are turning to social media to find information and share their experiences with a group of symptoms referred to as “breast implant disease.”
*In recent years, the number of breast implant removals has increased as the safety of silicone-based implants has been questioned by academics and the public. Analysis of annual cases between 2006 and 2019 shows that the incidence of breast implant removal increased by more than 30 percent during that period.
