“Botched in Miami”: Ashley P’s Story
Ashley shared her story about being botched in Miami in one of the plastic surgery Facebook groups. I reached out to see if she would share her story. It is a good lesson in advocating for yourself and trusting your gut! When you feel like something is off, it's off. Don't let the plastic surgeon (or any doctor!) dismiss you. The sooner you seek care, the better.
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“I hope this post can not only help others make the right choice for them when it comes to the Dr that I used but raise awareness on advocating for yourself…”
“This is my experience with a doctor in Miami. I am 6 weeks post-op. I don't regret my surgery but I wanted to share my story. “
“I had an Extended Tummy Tuck (ETT) with muscle repair (MR), breast lift, arm lift, and chin lipo. I started having issues with my arms around the 3 week mark. I saw the doctor in his office and was assured they were healing normal. “
“Almost a week later I went to take a shower and my arms looked like the first 3 photos below. I immediately sent him the photos to review. He called me and assured me they were healing and ok.”
“The last photo was a week after the hospital where the healthy tissue has started to heal.”
“We had a FaceTime follow up the next day. I was very worried, and sent the photos to my sister who is an APRN. She advised me to go to the emergency room immediately. “
“I go to the emergency room, the provider that saw me was immediately shocked by all the puss and black tissue. I was told I had an infection in both arms they need to be cleaned and they strongly advise me to go back down to Miami.”
“I stated that I didn't feel comfortable considering I was told for a week that my arms were fine. The attending physician called my plastic surgeon and he (the surgeon) was extremely rude and argumentative and refused to speak to them. He then called me to scold me for going to the emergency room and stating that I need to go down to the office tomorrow morning to have him look at it. ”
“The ER provider said that because it was plastic surgery it would be difficult to find someone in my area that would treat me. They wanted to admit me where the infection but they wanted the doctor to admit me down in Miami and he refused.”
“I was truly appalled with how he reacted to not only me but to the providers in the ER that we're only trying to help me. “
“Luckily, the ER provider felt so bad due to how the surgeon spoke to me that he consulted with a plastic surgeon in Orlando and was able to find a general surgeon that would provide care. ”
“They admitted me to the hospital, cleaned up my arms and started me IV antibiotics. I saw infectious disease and general surgery. I spent two nights in the hospital and was referred to wound care and follow up with surgery. “
“I will never follow up nor see him again and after speaking with a few ladies who had complications I learned that he was rude to them as well.”
“I understand that infections can happen to any plastic surgeon however his behavior was unacceptable.”
“I will never recommend him to anyone and to be honest I'm really surprised that in my research prior to booking with him I never read a bad review. If he treated me (and the few other women I've talked to) like this I can't imagine he hasn't treated other woman like this.”
“I hope that if you have concern and you were told that it was totally fine and normal but you still feel like something is off, please seek care from another provider to ensure that you are OK.”
Lessons Learned
I chatted with Ashley to find out if this doctor was board certified, and if there was anything that raised a red flag prior to surgery. She searched medical review sites, Google, Facebook groups, etc and found no bad reviews about this surgeon. The surgeon is double board certified and has no formal complaints against him.
This goes to show how difficult it is to find out the TRUTH with plastic surgeons. Victims get paid off, threatened, and overall shamed (like Sivan was) when they get botched, so many times it goes unreported.
If you are botched, PLEASE leave reviews on all of the websites you possibly can! Yelp, Google, RealSelf… do what you can to warn others about the surgeon who did this to you.
YES infections happen with surgery, YES there are risks, YES people even die, but that information needs to be public so we can make informed decisions.
Before booking a surgery with any surgeon – even a board certified one – make sure you check all reviews, and Google phrases like “(doctor's name) botched” or “(doctor's name) death” – also look in Facebook groups like:
Also, look at Real Self for reviews!
