Liza C.G. Wu

As a transgender woman, my chest was something that always triggered my dysphoria and made me extremely uncomfortable. After going to a top rated manhattan doctor and being stuck with multiple problems/ a popped lung during surgery, I was left with health issues and deformed breasts that were too firm, too high and completely unnatural looking. I was skeptical of touching them again, but knew I had to fix this problem in order to feel happy in my own skin. My OBGYN recommended doctor Wu to me, and after researching her a bit, I felt that she was the person I would trust to give me the body I always imagined I should have. I was instantly comfortable with Dr. Wu, she is to-the-point, but also friendly and genuinely seems to care about her patients. She LISTENS. I told her I wanted to double the size of my breasts to a Full D, and while I’m very thin, I ended up a bit larger than that, but I literally could not be happier with my results. My breasts are so soft, they sit in a completely natural position, and I even have a crease underneath which a lot of trans women don’t get even after surgery. It’s been over 2 years since my surgery and I’ve had zero issues. I’m so happy I trusted Dr. Wu to do my surgery, she truly is a master of what she does. I would recommend her to anyone and everyone who needs a reconstructive surgery, or just wants a breast augmentation, and I would certainly go back to her if I ever wanted to change my chest again. I could not be more thrilled to see my results, they look perfect, and I’m beyond happy!

Dr wu is extremely arrogant and lacks a single sympathetic bone in her body. I had read online reviews about her cold, interruptive and rude bedside manner but I thought if she was a good enough surgeon I could get over that. I was wrong. Why UPenn allows this as they took her side with my complaints to them I’ll never know. I met with her to revise a reconstruction that had fallen apart. She said I needed my implants removed, I agreed, she said I had a severe animation deformity, I agreed and she said I needed my nipples removed to which I disagreed. Her plan was to remove the implants and put expanders above the muscle and use alloderm after the correction of the symmastia and removal of the nipples. She said she would only add a little saline to the expanders and be prepared to wake up flat. I know I was left a mess by my previous surgeon but she allowed little input on my part and was interruptive when I’d try to ask questions. Surgery seemed to go well. I woke up with expanders filled over 500 cc’s to my surprise but in a lot of pain. Surgery was a Friday in Philadelphia and I lived in Delaware. By day 5 I was sure I was infected as this wasnt my first go around so I made an appt and was driven up there to be told I was fine even though I registered a temp over 101 and when I asked for additional pain meds I was given 10 Tylenol w/ codeine. As the week went on I was more sick. Keeping in communication through phone I was told I was fine until finally at day 9 the oncall asked me to send a pic. I was told to get to the hospital immediate. Upon arrival I was running an extremely high fever and was tachycardic. I was infected with aggressive pseudomonas in my left breast and my breast was growing larger by the hour. The pain was excruciating. I lost my expander 2 days later. She immediately wanted to do a lat flap and I didn’t agree. That seemed a bit aggressive so soon and I realize because she would make so much more money. 3 weeks later after expressing concern about my right breast being infected I was again dismissed until she had no choice but to admit and I indeed had pseudomonas again. This time ultrasound showed a very fluid filled breast and the next night I was taken down wide awake for an incision and drainage. As a former surgical scheduler I never once scheduled this with the patient wide awake. I was scared and taken down to the basement for the procedure. The radiologist cheerfully showed me a crystal clear sample and we pleased to show me I was not infected. I knew he punctured my expander. Then I was left alone in the OR while everyone chatted in another area. He went back in and took another disgusting looking sample and I Knew before he confirmed it that he’d punctured my expander and the first sample Was sterile expander fluid. The doc comes to my room the night before the expander was to be surgically removed because it now couldn’t be saved and dr wu convinced me and my hubby that my sample was clean of bacteria and she wanted to put in the permanent implant. We expressed our disagreement but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She called my hubby after surgery instead of coming to me to explain she was unaware of the mistake with the puncture but still cut out my “infected alloderm” and cleaned the pocket and placed an implant that I didn’t want for fear of further infection. Came home to a red breast after a few days and my primary insisted I see infectious disease who insisted I have the implant removed or have a picc line. I was exhausted and throughout the entire process she was downright irritable, had no patience for my emotions as id lost more than I’d gained in this ordeal and am now flat as a board with nothing in my chest. If you can handle her belittling attitude and impatience that she is your surgeon, she beat me down mentally and I wouldn’t recommend her to anyone in my shoes. It’s a shame because she came highly recommended due to her beautiful work. I won’t deny that but there were many opportunities for infection to be handled early on and not ignored but I was ignored and she is responsible for me being Flat. I left the hospital with a HORRIBLE case of thrush. The pain was indescribable and was a result of all the antibiotics I was on. I don’t know where I’m going from here. Upenn wants nothing to do with this situation and has offered me my records for free. How generous of them.