Woman Could Lose 'World's Largest Breasts' to Infection

The breast implants that earned a Texas woman the coveted title of “World’s Largest Breasts” now have landed her in a hospital, fearing for her life.

Sheyla Hershey is no stranger to plastic surgery, claiming she has had more than 30 procedures. But her last breast augmentation in pursuit of claiming the largest breasts in the world has given her a dangerous staph infection in both breasts.

Hershey’s doctors told her they are concerned the infection could spread to her bloodstream, meaning those 38KKK breasts could cost the 30-year-old Brazilian model her life.

Click here to watch Dr. Manny discuss Sheyla's risks of increasing her breast size.

Dr. Jennifer Walden, a plastic surgeon and clinical instructor of plastic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, says that with each breast reportedly holding more than a gallon of silicone, it is no surprise that Hershey is suffering complications.

“We can see now with this infection that the point is, [this surgery] isn’t possible — she ended up getting implants that were abnormally large for her frame. The body is not able to support this tissue stretch,” Walden told FoxNews.com.

While looking at a picture of Hershey, one can only wonder, even with modern medicine, how this was possible.

With more than nine breast augmentations under her belt, Hershey’s breast pockets have been expanded a little more each time, and bigger implants have been squeezed in—which is where the problem is rooted.

“With a staph infection, she probably had an opening called a dehiscence; where there is so much pressure the incision will just open up. You can see the implant poking through the skin, and bacteria enter into breast pocket,” Walden said.

Walden said these are the types of problems commonly seen with overly large implants. Breast surgeries with implants of this proportion would never be permitted in the United States, due to federal requirements and regulations, but Hershey was able to get the surgery in Brazil.

“The whole situation is unfortunate for her because it has become a real medical problem. It’s also unfortunate for the doctors in Brazil because it is not safe for a patient,” she said.

A staph infection is not the only problem Hershey could have encountered with her implants.

“The implants would begin to sag on her chest, and they would likely cause her upper back and neck problems in time. She could have mobility issues, I would imagine, that interfere with activities of daily life,” she said.

Because of the infected tissue resulting from the staph infection, Hershey may end up with smaller breasts than she had when she started having augementations.

“She has gone from the woman with the biggest implants in the world to likely someone who is going to have to have something similar to a mastectomy to remove infected and irrefutably damaged breast tissue,” Walden said.