Warning! Do your research.

I got breast implants from Dr. Criswell 4 years ago. I was 21 years old and saved for years, working all through college to pay for breast augmentation. I started with nothing- not even a full A cup and got size 350 cc saline implants at his suggestion. Immediately after surgery I noticed that they weren’t even and that they never really dropped, but honestly I was just so happy to have boobs finally. It wasn’t until I noticed pain in my left breast that I started to get concerned. I ignored it for about a year or so before I went to see Dr. Criswell. During the appointment he said that my implant was displaced but that it wouldn’t be causing me pain; the displacement was just the reason they were uneven (my left implant was almost all the way to my armpit at this point). He said IF I am worried about the appearance (who isn’t that’s why I got implants lol!), he could fix it, but it wouldn’t take my pain away. I said ok and went to the next room to speak with the lady who deals with pricing to see how much it would cost to fix the displacement. They were going to charge me almost $4,000 to take my left implant out, sew up the pocket that had opened up causing it to be displaced, and put the same implant back in. That’s not something I could do right in the moment, so I waited, since he said the pain wouldn’t be fixed anyway. About 6 months later, the pain was so unbearable and all day every day that I called his office again. I was told that there was no way Dr. Criswell could see me for 4 weeks, even under these extremely painful circumstances. So I went in to see his wife, who I had never met before. She told me the same thing that he did months prior- that the displacement is not what is causing me pain. In addition, she told me I might be suffering from permanent nerve damage from surgery and maybe I should go get that checked out by someone else. She rushed me out of the office and said there was nothing they could do about my pain on their end. So, I went to my primary care physician. She suggested I get a mammogram and an ultrasound to figure out where the pain was coming from. I was sent to Charlotte Radiology breast center for the mammogram and ultrasound. Everything came back clear. (I spent thousands of dollars on these tests because at the time I was working for a start up company that did not provide health insurance.) They suggested I go to see another plastic surgeon since there was nothing they could see on their end to be causing the pain, besides the implant displacement. I booked a consultation with a surgeon that my friend had great results with. He told me right away- yes, implant displacement most definitely can cause pain. It has come out of the pocket and is in a location it’s not supposed to be- pretty obvious, right? He recommended that I get my original surgeon to fix the displacement, since my original surgeon would probably be able to do it with little to no cost. When I told him that Dr. Criswell was going to charge me almost $4,000 to sew up the pocket and put the original implant back in, he was shocked. He told me that it was my decision, but that he would be happy to do the surgery. He was very polite and informative. I told him I was interested in potentially getting completely new implants since I would have to spend $$$ anyway on sewing up the pocket, and asked him if there was anything he could do about some of the other things I disliked about my implants from Dr. Criswell. My implants were super hard, displaced, very round and unnatural, and my nipple placement was almost at the very bottom of my breast. Not a good look. He basically told me he could fix all of that, in addition to probably correcting the pain caused by the implant displacement. So, I made the decision to go with this new surgeon! I have been pain free ever since and have beautiful, soft, amazing new breast implants! This surgery to correct the displacement and aesthetic issues was almost a year ago- November 2017. I’m just now getting the courage to write about my experience with Dr. Criswell telling me that my pain was not caused by my implant displacement, which in turn cost me thousands of dollars in unnecessary screenings for an otherwise healthy 24 year old, as well as months of pain, and giving me the impression that nothing could ever be done about my pain. I’m writing this so that another young girl doesn’t go through this. Do your research, there are plenty of talented AND ethical plastic surgeons in Charlotte.