At the age of 55, Tara Thompson thought she was finally doing something for herself. After years raising two children and spending most of her working life in swimsuits under the Hawaiian sun, the fishing boat captain wanted to feel confident in a bikini again.
A breast lift and augmentation felt like the perfect fresh start – a long-awaited 'present to herself' to fix what she called her 'biggest insecurity'. She paid $11,000 for the surgery in 2020, increasing her bust from a 36C to a 36D, hoping it would mark the beginning of a happier, more confident chapter of her life.
Instead, it was the beginning of a five-year ordeal that would leave her disfigured, in constant pain and desperately regretting her decision to ever go under the knife.
'I wanted to give myself that present,' Thompson, from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, said. 'It was the beginning of a new chapter.'
Initially, the operation appeared to go well. But months later, in February 2021, Thompson noticed something alarming – her left breast had become unusually hard.
When she initially went back to her surgeon complaining about the hardness, she was told she needed a revision procedure. During a check-up, doctors reportedly discovered a significant amount of dried blood trapped inside her left breast. The implant had to be removed, forcing Thompson into a third surgery.
Then came an even more horrifying complication. Days later, the blood supply to her left nipple failed, causing the tissue to die – a serious condition known as necrosis.
'The nipple started to turn black,' she said. 'I was shocked. I was very sick at this stage. I couldn't eat.'
Tests then revealed she had developed multiple infections. While the exact bacteria involved were not identified, Thompson suffered what she described as a catastrophic post-surgical infection that caused tissue death in her nipple, detached her pectoral muscle and left her battling three separate infectious diseases.
'I was riddled with infection,' she said.
According to Thompson, her surgeon warned her to 'get on the next flight out or you will die'. She underwent emergency surgery to remove the implant entirely. Three months later, doctors inserted a replacement implant – but Thompson immediately felt something was wrong.
'It felt like the implant was up around my collarbone,' she said. 'It had all this dimpling.'
Eventually, she underwent yet another operation to remove the implant again. But by then, the physical toll on her body had become overwhelming. She developed severe back pain and painful muscle spasms so intense that members of her fishing crew reportedly had to help her off the boat so she could lie down.
'I couldn't brush my hair,' she said. 'I went from 140lbs to 111lbs. My entire world was just blowing up. I was in daily pain. I was just surviving, not functioning.'
Surgeons later discovered that her pectoral muscle – the large chest muscle running from the sternum across the upper ribs – had become detached.
In 2024, Thompson finally decided to have both implants permanently removed. Now, she says she has been left with severe scarring, deep indentations around her nipples and only a fraction of the strength she once had.
The emotional impact has proved just as devastating. 'I'm single,' she said. 'I haven't reached that point where mentally I can let somebody see me without a top on. It's put me off dating. I think I've been beyond botched.'
She says the ordeal has completely changed the way she views cosmetic surgery and insists she will never have implants again. 'I still have physical pain now,' she said. 'I'll never get implants again.'
Now, Thompson is urging other women considering breast augmentation to think carefully before going ahead. 'I'd say to anyone looking to get breast implants, make sure you do extensive research before going into surgery,' she said. She also said her original surgeon persuaded her to go larger than she had initially planned – something she now regrets.
