Michelle Visage Evicts Her 'Toxic Sacks of Silicone'

Michelle Visage’s breasts are at least as delightful an element of RuPaul’s Drag Race as Ross Mathews, and next time we see them (Visage’s breasts, not Ross Mathews), they’ll be sans implants.

Visage recently told People that she had her implants removed and endured an agonizing-sounding four-week recovery because she worried they might be exacerbating an autoimmune disorder called Hashimoto’s disease:

“If you think about it, your immune system fights off invaders, and the biggest invaders in my body are two giant blobs of silicone,” she said. “My autoimmune disease could be triggered by these invaders. So they needed to come out.”

Hashimoto’s attacks the thyroid gland, and Visage’s symptoms include brain fog, hair loss, fatigue, and weight gain. She was first diagnosed at 29, and though studies don’t definitively conclude that breast implants cause or worsen autoimmune disorders, Visage says the fine print on the consent forms for implants is worrying:

“Nothing was making sense,” Visage said. “And I kept coming back to the fact that when you get implants, you sign off, and on the paperwork it says that complaints of autoimmune disorders have been reported but there is no conclusive evidence that implants cause this. It felt like they were just negating everything they have heard over and over.”

Her first Instagram posts without what Visage calls her “toxic sacks of silicone” look great. And she’s not really fussed about any negative feedback over her slightly smaller chest, telling People, “My brain and my wit far surpass my boobs.” And that’s without even factoring in her charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.