‘Mold’ in woman’s breast implant came ‘close to killing’ her

A woman’s botched breast implant surgery left her dealing with a frightening autoimmune disease — which immediately turned itself around after the “moldy” implant was removed.

Sharing her struggle on TikTok in a clip viewed 5.3 million times, Melissa Lima — former wife to late Dodgers pitcher Jose Lima — said she first got her implants in 2002 and was left with “severe joint pain, depression and unexplained inflammation” by 2010.

In a montage of photos where the single mother’s face and body are swelled to alarming levels, Lima added that “after [hundreds] of doctors and still no answer, I just gave up… As a single mom, I couldn’t get out of bed to cook for my boys and would often wonder if they would be better off [without] me.”

Speaking to Buzzfeed, Lima said she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid.

Ten years after she was first battling symptoms, Lima elected to have the implants removed — making the shocking discovery of the gunk that had been inside her body for a decade.

“These things were so close to killing me,” she posted to Instagram in 2020, showcasing the “mold” from her right implant. “I wasn’t even getting out of bed anymore.”

Almost immediately after having the deficient implant removed, Lima said on TikTok that her “face and eyes literally changed within hours.”

“I still have to take medication for Hashimoto’s and I have joint pain in my hips,” she told Buzzfeed, mentioning she’s about 90% of the way back to normal. “Other than that, I’m happy, healthy and more importantly, extremely lucky to be able to get back to my normal self.” 

Since the life-changing removal, Lima has preached breast health online and even went to the length of doing a Q&A about proper implant care with her doctor, Charles Polsen.

“Most people are recommending [replacement implants] every 10 years and the reason for that is the rate of [risk] goes up after each year. So we starting seeing an increase after five years and at 10 years about 10 or 15% of patients see a rupture,” Polsen said.

“If you don’t automatically get it replaced, you should see your surgeon and get an ultrasound done or an MRI.”

In hindsight, Lima has no regrets because of the awareness she’s raising for breast implant illness, a broad term describing a bevy of scenarios related to her own.

“Two years ago I would have said [I regret them], but today, I say no because of the thousands of people it has impacted since posting on TikTok,” Lima told Buzzfeed.

“Between my inbox full of women saying they’re going through the same thing and now have possible answers, to other women calling my plastic surgeon and scheduling an appointment to get them taken out… I felt like it was my duty to share, and that’s the only reason I did,” she said.