Danica Patrick is opening up about the “emotional work” that came with her harrowing experience with breast implants.

On Wednesday, the race car driver took to Instagram again to express her regret about undergoing breast augmentation surgery nearly eight years ago.

“I wish I could of told this 32 year old girl that boobs won’t make you more perfect or have it all or be more feminine,” Patrick wrote in the caption of her post that featured the former IndyCar driver in a blue bikini before undergoing surgery.

“These were my reasons and to me these narratives are the problem. Implants just feed into it. Culture feeds into it. Social media feeds into it. Filters feed into it. Unhealed trauma feeds into it,” she wrote.

Patrick, who turned 40 in March, had her implants removed this month, after suffering medical complications she believed were caused by the implants, she shared in a separate Instagram post last week.

“The work is always an inside job,” Patrick said. “The real question is – how can I do the emotional work to see myself as perfect, having it all, and feminine? When we do that, we won’t seek outside validation or a way to get it. 

“The world is just a mirror to show us where we are not healed. Super grateful to be feeling better so quickly. To be clear, the transparency of the dangers of implants are an issue. I also understand that mastectomy’s require options. However, all I’m saying is, if we don’t have an insecurity issue… any potential risk or danger go away.”

In her initial post about her recent breast augmentation removal, Patrick said she got implants because she wanted to “have it all.” But, about three years after the surgery, Patrick said she began to notice health complications, including weight gain and hair breakage.

By the end of 2020, Patrick said the “wheels came off” in terms of her health.

“I had cycle irregularity, gained more weight, my hair wasn’t looking healthy at all and my face was a different shape (weird I know),” she wrote, before listing a bunch of symptoms she said were discovered from a range of medical tests, including, hypothyroidism, heavy metal toxicity, severe leaky gut, adrenal fatigue, temperature sensitivity, face swelling, weight gain and hair loss. 

Just hours after undergoing surgery to remove the implants, Patrick said she noticed a number of positive changes in her health.

“Within hours after surgery this is what I noticed – my face had more color and less dark circles … my face started producing oil again,” she wrote. “I could take a 30% deeper breath into my chest already, and I had so much energy when I woke up.”