O Médico e Cirurgião Roger Leir

Implant Removals Performed in California 1996 On Saturday, May 18, 1996 three people underwent the surgical removal of unusual foreign objects from their bodies at a private medical facility in Granada Hills, California, near Los Angeles.

Two of the people reportedly believe they have had contact with alien beings who may have installed the so-called implants. The third person said he did not believe he had ever had alien contact. Instead, he said, the object might have been installed under his jaw during dental surgery several years ago.

The surgeries were performed by a team headed by Dr. Roger Leir and Houston-based hypnotherapist Derrel Sims, the same team that performed similar and much-discussed implant removals last August. About 30 invited observers crowded a small meeting room outside the operating room and watched the operations on closed-circuit television.

Among those present were Whitley Strieber and his wife Ann, Robert O. Dean and his wife Cecilia, television producer Robert Kiviat, filmmaker Paul Davids, attorney Daniel Sheehan, hypnotherapists Debra Lindemann, Barbara Lamb and Donna Higbee, and CNI News editor Michael Lindemann.

A number of Japanese guests were also present. The first two operations went very quickly. Both patients were women, and each one had a similar object removed from the calf of her left leg. These objects were very close to the surface and were removed following a simple incision.

They were described by Dr. Leir as "nodules" of indeterminate composition. When excised, each was surrounded by tissue. Both objects with their surrounding tissue were approximately cylindrical and measured about 1 centimeter long by one-half centimeter wide. Dr. Leir explained that the tissue would be removed from the objects, and then the tissue and the objects would be analyzed separately. Results of the tests might not be available for several weeks or more.

It was not immediately clear whether or not the objects removed from the two women were metallic. After her operation, which involved only local anesthetic, the first of the women answered questions for the observing audience. She said she first suspected the presence of an implant after she discovered an unexplained "scoop mark" on her left calf about one year ago. Subsequent x-rays indicated the presence of an object.

This woman, an active member of a local MUFON chapter, already considered herself an abductee, and said she is also convinced that abduction has run in her family for several generations. After learning of the work of Derrel Sims and Dr. Leir, she volunteered to have the object removed for study. She said she did not experience any sensation of pain or any change in her body during or immediately after the surgery. She said she believes she has another object in her right ear that should also be removed for study. There was no indication if or when this would happen.

Commenting on the implications of these surgeries, she said: "I hope doctors will see that this is real. So many people need help and support. There aren't enough support groups. Most abductees don't have a support system." She also said she would like her encounter experiences to end, and that she fears for her two children. She does not believe her children have had encounters yet. The second woman patient did not make any public comments following her operation. The third patient, a man in his mid-30s, presented a very different situation. He does not believe he has had alien encounters.

Instead, he believes an object was inserted into the flesh of his neck below his left jaw during dental surgery for the removal of a molar several years ago. At the time, he was employed by a Department of Defense subcontractor, and the dentist was recommended to him by his employer.

No evidence was offered as to why the dentist or the employer would be involved in placing an implant in this man. However, he said that immediately after the dental surgery, he began hearing two distinct voices in his head. He had himself examined and tested by several different specialists in an effort to rid himself of the annoying voices, but to no avail. Finally, he underwent MRI and x-ray scans, which clearly revealed the presence of a foreign object in the tissue below his left jaw.

The operation to remove this object was much more difficult than the other two surgeries. A device called a flouroscan was used to locate the object during the surgery. Despite clear x-rays, Dr. Leir said that without the flouroscan it would have been extremely difficult to remove the object, which was at least one-half inch below the surface of the man's neck and shrouded in fatty tissue. From the moment of the first incision, the surgeons took 31 minutes to finally remove the object. This writer was allowed a brief look at the object. It appeared metallic, silver-gray in color and shaped like a tiny flat disc, approximately 3 millimeters in diameter.

The physicians noted that there had been no scar on the man's face indicating the penetration of such an object from the outside. It is therefore possible that the object was inserted from inside the mouth. The man had received a local anesthetic and was able to leave the clinic shortly after the conclusion of his surgery.

However, his operation had obviously been a physical and emotional ordeal for him, and he declined to answer questions. The fact of unexplained foreign objects in the bodies of abductees opens a whole new chapter in the serious research of possible human encounters with other intelligence. However, the possibility that the object removed from the third patient may have come from a human agency points to a very different and potentially alarming mystery. Was this man the subject of some form of mind-control experiment? Is the object possibly a "tag" or "tracking device"? Will the voices in his head stop now that the object is removed?

CNI News will continue to follow this developing story. Author Whitley Strieber, an observer at these surgeries, praised the courage of the three patients and the pioneering efforts of the Leir-Sims team.

Strieber said he too believes he may have one or more implants in his body, and he intends to have them removed. However, he said he also believes it is appropriate for other medical teams to undertake this work, and he expects to have his own implants removed and studied at facilities in his home town of San Antonio, Texas, at some future time.