Plastic surgery gone bad: how common?

ABC News retold the story of Korean plastic surgery addict who used a syringe with cooking oil to inject her own face.  While this is an extreme case, how frequently do you see bad plastic surgery? What are the most common cases and causes?

3 answers to “Plastic surgery gone bad: how common?”

A: not too often

Steven Wallach, MD

Fortunately, most surgeons are very competent and the majority of patients get good to excellent results. On the other hand, patients do seek me out for revisions of many types of aesthetic surgery.  But, the % of patients that fall into this category in my practice is very low.

A: Plastic surgery gone bad: Don't be fooled

David Shafer, MD

While the patient in your question injected herself, it is still a good question to inquire about bad plastic surgery. My first suggestion if you are considering surgery is to go to someone trained specifically in plastic surgery. There are many people out there claiming that they are surgeons or cosmetic... more

A: Yikes!

Robert M. Freund, MD

It is always a touchy subject to discuss bad surgery. Surgery can have a bad outcome for many reasons: Adverse effects can happen to anyone, regardless of the surgery or doctor. Things like infections, drug reactions, implant rejections or skin necrosis (wound healing problems) can happen to anyone. I always... more

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