A Gold Coast TV host turned her breast implant horror into a memoir

TV host, author and former Gold Coast local Andi Lew is encouraging women to “explant” implants and is empowering women in her tell all memoir.

TV host and author Andi Lew has used her 10th book to beg women to remove their breast implants.

At the launch of Treasured Chest, held at her mother’s art gallery in Mermaid Beach, Lew was surrounded by women eager to hear how she survived a life-threatening implant rupture.

“I start to get emotional when I talk about that because I’m a survivor of breast implant illness and undetected rupture,” she said.

“This is the most difficult yet important book I’ve written. I turned my darkness into light to show what’s possible when life gives you trials.

“We also need to get funding for the forgotten women who are carrying the shame — they are dying to be well.

“They cannot afford that $14,000 surgery and upwards.”

Wellness expert Andi Lew recently underwent surgery to have her breast implants removed after suffering for years with an undetected rupture. Photographer: Christian Anstey

Lew, 50, who has a 13-year-old son, had implant surgery eight years ago.

All was going well until she started to feel ill with symptoms including hair loss, tinnitus, shortness of breath, anxiety, inflammation, and gut and digestive issues.

“In my case, six surgeons and an MRI said you’re fine, so I waited too long – but I knew my body was shutting down,” she said.

“So we are traditionally looking for a hole in the bag, when you’re looking through a MRI – we now realise that doesn’t need to be a hole, it can actually be an entire gel bleed.”

Lew had explant surgery done in March by Professor Anand Deva, who also wrote the foreword in Treasured Chest.

She joins a growing number of Gold Coasters opting to have their implants removed, from model Shannon Hottes to wellness influencer Georgie Stevenson.

Lew grew up on the Gold Coast, attending Surfers Paradise primary school and Merrimac high, and was a performer at Warner Bros. Movie World.

She went on to become a TV and radio host in Melbourne and Sydney and has recently moved to Beverly Hills in Los Angeles.

TV and radio host Andi Lew launches her 10th book "Treasured Chest" in the Gold Coast

Returning to her hometown for the launch of her book, Lew encouraged women to embrace their scars when opting for the explant surgery, or to get annual checks of their implants.

She said the book was for women “with or without implants” and provided a first-hand account of the logistics, financial and emotional cost involved in breast implant and explant surgery.

An estimated 20,000 women undergo breast augmentation surgery every year in Australia, according to the Australian Breast Device Registry.

Treasured Chest is available at bookstores and through website andilew.com