Reader Laura’s Question:
“Sheyla Hershey is back in the news again. She’s the woman who was rumored to have had the world’s largest breast implants that had to have them removed because of an infection that nearly killed her. She is reported as having gone back to surgeons in Mexico and had her breast implants replaced. She is in the process of having them re-inflated to 38MMM. Looking at the current pictures of her her breasts look deformed. Do implants this large even exist as one unit? Do you think that she has multiple implants that are making her look lumpy? She also complained about saggy skin when she had her old implants removed. Is there any reason why the saggy skin wasn’t removed with the implants?”

An infection that set in after her 30th breast enlargement operation led to 5ft 3in Sheyla undergoing emergency operation in June 2010 that left with unattractive sagging skin where her implants had been. So obsessed was Sheyla with maintaining her Guinness World Record that the loss of her implants almost drove her to suicide. ‘Not having my breasts was killing me, I didn’t know if I could make it through 2012 without them,’ she said.
Source: dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2065621/I-feel-Woman-obsessed-
having-worlds-largest-breast-implants-tells-joy-reinflated-death-
scare.html

It is funny. Just as I write about a woman who has been (in my way of thinking) unfairly maligned for having her Labiae reduced, Sheyla Hershey returns like a phoenix to have her breast implants replaced. Her desire to have implants in the “World’s largest” class despite her tragic history of infection and hospitalization is at the least unwise. She is very likely better served with psychiatry than surgery.

On the issue of the excess skin, the fact that it was left when her infected implants were removed is the only reason she has any chance of hosting implants of any size again. As she is having surgery in Mexico, the limitations of the FDA are not in effect. The liability an American surgeon would have getting anywhere near that operation probably severely curtailed her ability to have implant surgery once again in the US anyway.

Sheyla is likely having multiple tissue expanders and/or breast implants placed and slowly over inflated to get to her goal size. As you probably know there are limitations as to how large standard FDA approved breast implants can be. At around 1000 cc each, a single unit will certainly fall short of Sheyla’s desires assuming her skin will reliably house the monster sized implants she wants. And that no pun intended is a stretch. Custom made implants are also an option when you have surgery outside of the US.

Even if she can avoid infection returning, she will at the very least look lumpy if not deformed due to the tissue loss and scarring of her previous breast surgery and infection. We can’t see her breasts very well as she is clothed. This might work to her advantage if she is able to work clothed. She was a model in the past.

Apparently Sheyla lied to her husband about the surgery and after she returned to the US, he threatened her with divorce.

Best Regards,

John Di Saia MD