NEW YORK, June 29 (UPI) -- Stephanie March is opening up about her "scary" experience with plastic surgery.
The 41-year-old actress shared her nightmare plastic surgery story in an essay for Refinery 29 after getting breast implants in the wake of her split from Bobby Flay.
"I was 39 years old, and my life was disintegrating," March recalled. "I could not fix it -- any of it. My job. My relationship. My life. But not being one to sit on a problem ... I decided to try one last thing."
"What I did next was exactly what you are not supposed to do when it comes to plastic surgery. I decided to change my body because I couldn't change my life," she explained.
March was initially happy after having her surgery in August 2014 but spiraled after her right implant became infected and burst in October. She had another infection and rupture in December and later learned she was allergic to the implants.
"In April [2015], after so much back and forth and so many pieces of gauze and soft bras and waiting to operate until the infections cleared up and not being able to use my arms properly ... It was time to move on and deal with my life. I said, 'Enough of this,'" the star recounted.
March had the implants removed and has since expanded her business, moved to a new apartment and started dating Daniel Benton. The actress was optimistic about her future in the essay, saying she anticipates summer 2016 "with great joy."
"I have accepted this episode as a part of my larger story," she said of her plastic surgery experience. "Every day, the evidence of all that happened fades a little more, and my year of living terribly recedes into memory."
March, who plays Alexandra Cabot on Law & Order: SVU, told Extra in November that "business is good" and that it's "really a good time" in her life. She and Flay split in March 2015 after 10 years of marriage.
