Brandi Glanville shares health update after learning cause of facial parasite

The former reality star discovered what caused her parasite after getting a sonogram

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Brandi Glanville is sharing an update on her facial disfigurement, revealing it was caused by a parasite that developed from ruptured breast implants.

Glanville, 53, first revealed in December 2024 that she had a suspected parasite on her face and paid $70,000 for treatment. However, her health challenges continued in the year that followed, with Botched co-host Dr. Terry Dubrow telling her in January 2025 that her facial disfigurement was actually from “an infectious process or a foreign body reaction to something she’s had injected.”

She has since spoken openly about the condition on social media, sharing candid photos of her disfigurement as she underwent biopsies, and even teasing in December that she finally received a diagnosis that she would share “soon.”

Now, Glanville is officially revealing that news, telling TMZ that she “definitely had a parasite,” which led to the facial disfigurement. However, after further testing, she learned that the parasite was caused by a rupture of her decades-old breast implants.

“I was shocked, because they’re implants that I’ve had for almost 20 years, they looked fine, they felt fine, the mammogram said they were fine, it wasn’t until I had a sonogram,” she told the outlet Wednesday. “I was like, ‘Maybe just check that too, why not?’”

Brandi Glanville says she was ‘shocked’ to learn her ruptured breast implants caused a facial parasite (Getty)

Glanville first experienced facial disfigurement in 2024 (X/@BrandiGlanville)

She said that she was urged to get her implants looked at after checking “everything else” and seeing “21 doctors.

“You really should change your breast implants every ten years, and I just didn't,” she said. “I learned a really, really hard lesson.”

Glanville — who starred on RHOBH from 2011-2016 and reappeared from 2019-2020 — expanded on the condition during an interview with Inside Edition prior to having surgery to remove the implants. “I had a complete rupture on the right,” she told the outlet. “Silicone was in all of my lymph nodes. I’m feeling petrified.”

Her plastic surgeon, Dr. Ariel Ourian, also spoke about the procedure, calling the reality star’s case “really complicated.”

“It is torn, it is ripped, and this is actually much worse than I had expected,” he said of Glanville’s right implant, while noting that the second implant was intact. “I think she’s going to be really happy with putting in fresh, new implants that have a lower risk of rupture.”

Glanville (Getty Images for Rock of Ages Ho)

A week later, Glanville told Inside Edition she was already feeling better. “I may have been isolated for three years, it’s been hell,” she said. “But now I want to live my life again. I’m ready.”

Aside from the facial disfigurement, Glanville previously opened up about the jarring symptoms of her illness. In April 2025, she was rushed to the hospital after being unable to move her head and neck.

“My head and neck would not move for four hours this morning. I could not get out of my bed,” she told her followers on X. “I called 911, had a lovely trip in the ambulance. Now I am at this amazing place after sitting in a wheelchair in the waiting room for four hours.”

When asked what she thought triggered the illness, Glanville said she believed she had been infected by a previously undiscovered species of human ectoparasite while filming Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip in Morocco in 2022.