Michelle Visage will be best known to fans as the sassy, no-nonsense and perennially glamorous judge on Rupaul's Drag Race, as well as on Ireland's Got Talent.
On the former, the former girl-group member and author, is as dazzling as the drag queens she praises and critiques, with one feature of her own a constant source of jokes, adoration, and envy: her considerable décolletage.
After what she calls "20 years of sickness", Visage is advocating for greater attention around Breast Implant Illness (BII). Speaking over the phone from the UK on The Ryan Tubridy Show this morning, Visage shared her journey.
Visage explains that she has struggled with an autoimmune condition in her thyroid for years without answers from doctors, despite being "probably one of the healthiest people you'd ever meet, with the way I eat and take care of my body".
"I don't ever drink alcohol, I don't ever smoke, do drugs and I can't reverse the situation".
"Over the past 20 years, I did not have one doctor in a slew of about 30 to 40 doctors that said 'you know what? This could be your breast implants'".
Having filled in the gaps in her knowledge using research, led by a "gut instinct", and bolstered by the shared experiences of around 70,000 women in one Facebook group alone, she is certain that "there is a scientific link to breast implants and health and cancer".
However, it is important to note that HSE does not recognise breast implant illness, nor has it been observed in medical literature.
Visage first got implants as a member of the girl group Seduction, during her early 20's. "I always felt growing up that I was less than because society, male-dominated society, told us women that we were not sexy. You read the likes of Playboy ... and I looked at the likes of these women and I thought 'I'll never be like that'.
"I had boyfriends make fun of me because I was flat-chested and instead of embracing it, I took the surgery route. Yes, I loved them, I enjoyed them fully, but nobody told me, nobody warned me that this could happen 10, 15, 20 years down the line."
Visage had her first set of implants one at 21, followed by two more sets at 26 and 33. Her final set were done after the previous ones had started to leak. However, Visage explains that she believes that BII is caused by the "shell of the implant", rather than a more dramatic incident such as a leak or what kind of implant a person has.
Visage started experiencing what she now believes are symptoms of BII aged between 23 and 24, when she started having heart palpitations. Since then, she has gone through numerous tests to find the cause of various health issues.
"I'm 50 and I've had four full stress tests and heart exams, I've had brain scans, everything that I could do I've done, and all of them are normal, thank God."
In an "explant" surgery earlier this year, Visage had her implants removed, which involved a "full breast reconstruction". Outlining how intense the surgery is, Visage explained that the only way to fully remove implants is to undergo a "total capsulectomy" or "en-bloc".
After an initial month of serious struggle post-surgery, Visage now says that she feels better than she has "in the past 15 years".
Visage stresses that she does not believe that BII will not affect everyone who has breast implants, and states that she is not "anti-plastic surgery" but rather "pro-information". Visage and her husband are now taking part in a documentary on the topic, as reviews are held on the impact of breast implants on health.
"Just be aware and be your own advocate, because no one's going to advocate for us."
You can hear Ryan’s full interview with Michelle, as well as the rest of The Ryan Tubridy Show by clicking the video at the top of the page.
