Reality Star Gets Life-Saving Surgery After Shocking Implant Rupture

Reality star Brandi Glanville, 53, revealed she underwent a life-saving surgery earlier this month. The procedure marked a new chapter in her years-long battle with debilitating medical symptoms, including mysterious facial disfigurement.

In early February, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum went in for a sonogram after she noticed one of her breasts looked smaller than the other, she told The Daily Enquirer, a newsletter by the editors of the National Enquirer.

Glanville, who got breast implants in 2007 after welcoming her second son with then-husband Third Watch actor Eddie Cibrian, 52, received unsettling news during her visit.

“The woman [who] did the sonogram was like, ‘Brandi, you need to get those out yesterday.’ She’s like, ‘You have a slow leak in your left [implant] and your right [implant] is completely ruptured, and it’s in all of your lymph nodes under both arms,” she recalled.

“It’s something that I could die from if I hadn’t figured it out,” she told the outlet, noting that the type of breast implants she received is now “illegal” and no longer manufactured.

Breast implants typically need replacing every 10 to 15 years. The FDA recommends that patients with breast implants get them examined and screened five to six years after surgery, and every two years after that, to make sure they have not been damaged, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Glanville said she felt “just scared to death” following the news, which required her to undergo explant surgery as soon as possible.

She chose Beverly Hills-based board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Ariel Ourian, as her surgeon.

“[Dr. Ourian] said there’s scar tissue built up and he doesn’t know what he’s going to find in the lymph nodes and how much scraping he’s going to do, so our second plan would be to put another implant in—which I was like, ‘Nope!’” she said.

Glanville said she is done with implants for good: “I don’t want silicone in my body at all.”

The problems with her implants might be the answer to her battle with a cluster of symptoms, including stiff muscles and problems with her vision.

Glanville has also battled with a mysterious facial disfigurement, which doctors suspected was a parasite, since filming The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip in Morocco in 2023.

There may be a connection between her facial symptoms and the breast implants, Glanville said, revealing that the sonogram specialist told her, “Whatever’s going on in your face, it can’t drain because your lymph nodes are clogged with silicone.”

Ahead of the surgery, Glanville said she was looking forward to changes in her life. “I want to look better again, I want to work again, I want to have energy again,” she said.

Glanville had looked into breast implant illness prior to her sonogram.

Breast implant illness is not an official medical diagnosis, but the term refers to over 50 reported symptoms that some people with breast implants experience, either right after surgery or later down the line.

The symptoms can include skin and vision issues, hair loss, and muscle pain, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Glanville initially revealed her facial condition in late 2024 with a photo on X, and later shared that her facial swelling had led her to lose two teeth and lock herself in her house.

By the time she received a diagnosis in December 2025, she spent $100,000 seeking answers about the cause of her distressing symptoms.