Charles A. McLaughlin, MD

I wanted flatter stomach and was living in Tampa at the time. Went to Dr Mclaughlin. his cost was fair, he was very professional. It was out patient. He did an excellent job, his cuts were small, the scars faded fast, I wore the compression garment 2 weeks and his follow up was great. My stomach is still flat today and I never had a wavy look that you see with a lot f stomach lipo. I was very pleased with Dr McLauhlin and his staff. Again this was in 2004 so I am not sure how things are today with him, but I was very pleased with him and his staff. Surprised to see only 2 reviews.

I had faith in this doctor as he had done two other procedures over the past 30 years....breast augmentation and nose job. The breasts in '83, nose in '93. Both were wonderful results.
I am now post op facelift 2 YEARS.
The facelift was a huge disappointment. Doctor was abrupt, wouldn't answer questions except with wise guy remarks. He kept leaving the room in the middle of a question. I had to have him come back into the room every time I went. My scars are large and wide. The one under my chin goes from side to side of my face. My neck is a mess, much worse than before. I can't breathe at night or when I bend my head down to type or read. I have jowls I never had before. My eyes are not the same, one has crease and other is more open. He left the stitches in my eyes for almost two weeks and now the scars are large and pinched looking. His staff said I was too picky. He said the scars would flatten out. Two years later they have not. I went to pick up my file today,to take to an ENT plastic surgeon. Im now 2 years post op and there were no pictures in with the papers. I asked for them and was told "he" would have to pick them out of the file. He was there and they asked if I wanted to see him. I said why not. He took forever to come into the exam room and handed my pictures to me then went to leave. I said what is wrong with my neck I can't breathe at night. He poked around my swollen looking jaw line and said you have a large thyroid. I said I had a large thyroid before surgery and I could breathe. He said I must have something wrong with my thyroid. I had worried about that, too, and just had a thyroid echo sound and there was nothing wrong. I told him that. He said, well, I don't know what's wrong with your neck. Then turned around and left.
6 mos after the facelift (1.5 years ago) he suggested some Sculptra and I said sure, I wanted the vertical lines from nose to mouth that I thought he would fill with fat, filled. He put the Scuptra ABOVE the creases, so now I have a hump on top of the still deep lines. Also, he put it in my lip once until I stopped him and said NO! I had read the literature THEY gave me and it said to never inject into lips. I now have a hard ball in my lip about the size and feel of a pencil eraser. It has to be cut out . NOT by him is my answer to that. He seems unsocialized and petulant. He is chronically late, his staff is defensive and rude. Waiting time is over an hour just to be snubbed or have your questions rebuffed. I hope this review keeps someone else from getting scarred and unhappy.

Updated on 1 Aug 2014:
The photo shown here is the AFTER photo!

Updated on 1 Aug 2014:
It seems to get worse as time goes by. I had an echo sound on my thyroid to eliminate any problem with it...All is fine.

Horrid experience. Why? I am convinced the plastic surgeon just did what made him the most money and NOT what would be the most effective.

My scar was bound down, but the surface was otherwise smooth thanks in large part to my doing my own peels. But it was horribly bound down. Three times I asked the surgeon DO YOU think this will IMPROVE MY SCAR? Any trained professional would have recognized the type of scar and treated it appropriately. After the scar revision all I had was more scar tissue.

When I was referred to a dermatological surgeon, he said subcision is the best for your type of scar, then possibly follow up that with Co2 laser to soften. Well that WAS the thing to do, not cutting open again which just made another incision. But it's all about the money. And that is the sad truth. Too many surgeons tend to just recommend what they are comfortable doing, not necessarily what is the best approach.

About three months after the surgery my scars were just as bound down only worse: I had more incisions. I begged the plastics guy to just try to release, or do, subcision. He did though he acted like it was beneath him. Well he released my right side so well and I was extatic. But within two weeks it bound down again. My dermatologic surgeon used ephinephrine to cut down on the bleeding and bruising, a special subcision instrument and knew what "plane" in the skin to cut it to mitigate the chances of them tacking down again.

Well, the difference is amazing.

Please know these scars are a nightmare as they are on my FACE and effected my speech. Money, not my best interests, governed the "recommendatons" of the three plastic surgeons I saw. Last thing, when my scar revision did not turn out so well, the surgeon's attitude was snotty. He also acted like doing the subcision was beneath him. It also cost $350 and done in the office under local. No general anesthesia risk.

Please email me if anyone needs specifics of who and where. The care at the clinic was disgraceful; my surgery was at 9:30 but I did not go back until 11:30.

Please do not publish this if realself is going to edit my comments to avoid upsetting the plastic surgeons on this board. They need to have their eyes opened to the realities of what people go through.