Clea Shearer Needs Ninth Surgery to Get Leaking Implant Removed After Mastectomy

Clea Shearer is undergoing emergency surgery to get a leaking breast implant removed after her mastectomy.

The professional organizer and star of Get Organized with the Home Edit shared the news in an Instagram Story video on Tuesday, April 15. In January, she said she underwent her eighth procedure since being diagnosed with stage 2 invasive mammary carcinoma, an aggressive form of breast cancer, in March 2022.

Following the surgeries, including a double mastectomy and a procedure to remove her ovaries, Shearer had been declared cancer-free in November 2022 and underwent breast reconstruction surgery two years later. 

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“This is a bit of a shock, but I am headed to the hospital right now for surgery #9,” Shearer said Tuesday. “As you guys know, my right breast has been giving me issues and complications this entire time, and it’s finally reached kind of its limit.”

She noted that her incision began “leaking heavily” a couple of days ago and was “open to my implant and leaking a lot.”

Being that she was away from home at the time, Shearer said she called her doctor, who told her to keep it bandaged but said she would need surgery that would involve removing the implant in her right breast “entirely and to go flat with a prosthetic.”

“I have like a hard time saying it without crying, cause this is like, you know, absolutely not what I wanted, and it basically puts me back into April 2022, right after my double mastectomy,” she said. “I will essentially have a single mastectomy on one side. I will be completely flat.”

Shearer said that she hopes to undergo a Latissimus dorsi flap surgery in November. The procedure involves taking skin, fat and muscle from the back to transfer it under the skin to the chest, per the Mayo Clinic.

“Hopefully, that will be the end of all of these insane complications. But this one is pretty traumatic for me,” said Shearer, who noted that she usually doesn’t get nervous and considers herself a “pro at surgery.”

“But this one, I don’t know. The level of trauma I think is really gonna be difficult for me. Usually, every surgery you go in, at least I do, I hope that you come out and things are better,” she said. “Like that is the point.”

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“And this time, I just feel like it’s the only surgery I’ve had since my double mastectomy that just puts me so far back. And anyway, like I said, this is not what I wanted, but I’m out of options,” continued Shearer.

On Tuesday afternoon, Shearer updated her fans by sharing an Instagram post with a photo of herself recovering after surgery, noting that she is “bandaged to high heaven, drains inserted, and in a lot of pain”.

“Also different from my previous surgeries: I’m devastated and feel a sense of anger. I’ve fought so hard over the years and now I’m right back at square one. I’m sure those feelings will fade, and I’ll get through it like I always do,” she wrote.

“But today I’m allowing myself to just be upset. Tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll see what it brings, but I know for sure my journey has shifted. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming along with me,” continued Shearer.