Millicent Rovelo, MD

I needed a plastic surgeon who did corrective breast surgery post-lumpectomy and radiation. My cancer surgeon referred me to two highly trained specialists, one of which was Dr. Rovelo.

Why I chose Dr. Rovelo over the other surgeon: She has an amazing bedside manner; her staff is above and beyond respectful and kind; she is an outstanding surgeon. Outstanding.

Every detail leading up to my surgery was handled with care and personalized attention. When I have had questions pre- and post-procedure, Dr. Rovelo's assistant promptly returned my emails with answers given by the doctor. If you have health insurance, Dr. Rovelo's staff will work with your insurance company.

But the best part is this:
I am now 8-weeks post-op and am 100% satisfied with Dr. Rovelo's work. I wish I could give her and her staff 10 stars!

A close friend is a heart surgeon and she referred me to Dr Millicent Rovelo. She felt having a woman to speak with about my situation would benefit me, and it most certainly did.

After the nightmare I’d been living through, making the call to just make an appt was difficult. I was running just a couple minutes late for my first consult and called the office to let them know, and although I was cursing(at myself) Shauna(the office administrator) was so sweet and polite and helpful guiding me to the office.

Let me talk a minute about Shauna. She is a young woman with such poise. So calm, so collected, she flows through that office with such grace. I truly admire the presence of her.

Now, I was called in for my consult and when Dr Rovelo came in I explained to her what brought me to her(if you haven’t read my review on my first surgeon, please do to understand how emotional this was having to tell a complete stranger). She listened to everything I had to say. She didn’t sit there making assumptions, she listened to every single word. When I finished and she saw the disaster sitting before her and simply said this is what I would do to correct this. She also made the point to not insult me and let me know she could make it work with what was there. But that wasn’t even a thought in my mind, because I couldn’t physically use my body the way it had been left. I left the appt knowing she could fix me but it would likely be more than one surgery and achieving symmetry would be a difficult task with the condition of stretching my breast had been left in. And I would still have to wait for them to ‘settle’, which meant I was unable to make a change until after May 2021.

When May 2021 came to an end, I had emailed the dr a couple of times, her responses explained to me it would likely be multiple surgeries to achieve a decent outcome, the recovery time would likely be longer than my first surgery with the amount of work she would need to do-using mesh for support and putting the breast back together after so much stretching with the overly large implants, I would have drains for 1-2 weeks and likely wouldn’t feel quite back to normal life for about 6 weeks. She reassured me that she felt the steps she was planning to take, downsizing and putting the implants in the appropriate position with appropriate support, would help subside my current issues and actually make me feel good about the implants because that is the purpose of implants, to feel good about myself.

June 2021 I had another consultation with Dr Rovelo, after discovering that my previous surgeon also did not complete the muscle repair of my tummy tuck. She again, only discussed with me how she would make corrections & what my scars would look like. It was devastating hearing her telling the steps she’d take for a tummy tuck were exactly what the previous surgeon told me he was doing, then did not, only removed excess skin and poorly and crookedly closed up my stomach.

We discussed once more the plan for my breasts, she said this would be more of a reconstruction than a simple revision. A full anchor breast lift would be necessary after removing and replacing implants to an appropriate size and position. The surgery would likely take about 5-6 hours. She gave me a list of tests she would require and said a physical would need to be done.

Getting tests done took a little bit of extra work, as I have Kaiser Permanente and they would give me everything I needed except the medical clearance. We pay out of pocket as we are self employed, so it didn’t make sense to me that they were denying me this. After checking with a few local Urgent Care offices and them turning me away because my surgery wasn’t medically necessary (although, I followed all requests of Kaiser by breastfeeding my children over a course of 6 years, took care of my body following a healthy diet, my breasts had been depleted and I was left with empty sacks of skin. I was a woman wanting to still feel entirely like a woman, but Kaiser still says no. It’s ridiculous.) Shauna gave me a couple of place to go to receive medical clearance, which also almost turned me away but I told them I wasn’t leaving without what I needed especially after driving an hour, waiting 3 hours and still with another hour ahead of me home. When I finally was able to see the doctor, it was disappointing to have her sit there making assumptions about why I was wanting to go through with this surgery and why I had done the surgeries in the first place. It’s upsetting because she was just another person looking at my body as if I had chosen the overblown outcome, had she seen the condition of my body under my clothes maybe she would have refrained from judgment. In the end, she reviewed my tests that I brought from Kaiser and she faxed over the medical clearance the next day. I called Shauna the next day, July 20th making sure the medical clearance form was received, she let me know it had been and apologized for not messaging me(apologies weren’t necessary but that is in her character, sincere and sweet). Everything was ready and set for surgery the next day. That afternoon, the anesthesiologist texted me a message, with info about the surgery location/phone numbers, introducing himself, letting me know what times I should stop eating and drinking, what the plan was with medication before and during surgery and assuring myself I was in great hands that would keep me safe and comfortable before, during and after surgery. I didn’t initially respond as I was shocked that I was receiving such stellar care. He messaged once more later in the evening, telling me they would take great care of me and to have a good night. I responded thanking him for the messages, letting him know it was greatly appreciated and also telling him to have a good night. His messages really help put my thoughts and anxiousness at ease.

July 21st was the day of my surgery, we arrived right on time for 6am checkin. The initial nurse that was supposed to check us in had been in a small fender bender and we received a call from the nurse that was minutes away. Everyone was fine, I was checked in about 6:20. Everything went smoothly from there. When I met with Dr Rovelo for her to ‘draw the plan’ on me, I asked one last question,”I mean, have you ever seen anything this bad?!” She hung her head and shook it, telling me No. But I was confident in her skills. I was confident in my researching of her background. The way that she spoke about patients, there is such passion behind her words and so much compassion behind them as well. Her patients aren’t just a dollar sign. She takes great pride in what she does and has an understanding of the emotional aspect that comes with all of this. Her colleagues are the same, their words they share are of a competent, knowledgeable and passionate person, not of judgment and narcissism. They are every bit of amazing.

After 7 hours(YES, 7!), Dr Rovelo had completed my reconstruction and after an hour in recover they released me to my husband to go home for rest. I was quite sick the first evening, I have bad sinus issues so there was a lot of mucus in my throat making me not feel so well. But by 11:30pm I had finally been able to eat and was feeling better.

July 22nd I had an appt to meet with Dr Rovelo’s colleague, Dr Jay Calvert(I had researched him, found him to be stellar as mentioned above.) the first words out of his mouth were,”Dr Rovelo performed a miracle on you yesterday.” He let me know it was 7 hours of surgery and she did an amazing job. We took a peek, he said he was very excited, that I looked beautiful. I had to take his word for it as I couldn’t see very well with the swelling but did feel they looked significantly better in regards to shape and size.

July 24th, I had a 2nd appt with Dr Calvert, which went particularly well. I was able to see myself more clearly and nearly cried, my breasts are looking amazing, incredible, every word that can express joy is how well they look. They look like normal boobs again!

Today is July 25th, just four days post op, and I’ve had very little pain, small stinging pains here and there and a bit of pressure on the underside of my breasts where the mesh support has been placed, but I feel amazing. I would recommend Dr Rovelo and her colleagues to anyone looking for a team that will take great care and great pride in the entire process from start to finish.

I’ll be sure to update right after my future appointments but had to share my experience thus far as my experience has been 100% different from my first experience and needed people to know what an incredible team I have been so lucky to wind up working with.



Updated on 27 Jul 2021:
I realized I didn’t have my before pictures attached to the beginning of my review on Dr Rovelo. So I am Just adding my before pictures and after picture so people can see the disaster that was sitting in front of Dr Rovelo and the amazing work she did reconstructing my breasts!!

Updated on 29 Jul 2021:
Dr Rovelo took off and changed all the surgical tapes or steri strips or whatever they’re called. My husband was able to snap a picture once the first ones were taken off the right side, but the removal was a bit, uh, breathtaking and slightly painful, so he held my hand and forgot about taking for both sides. It was a bit painful when she placed the new ones as well. But everything is healing well and as expected and I couldn’t be happier with how I am looking at this point. Drains couldn’t get pulled because they’re still pushing out a bit too much, so 1 more week and they’re gone!! For a few days my right drain had a clot clogging the tube that wouldn’t release and kept making the fluid sort of regurgitate where the tube comes out the side of my breast, but Dr was able to finally push it thru all the way, so the regurgitation has finally stopped.
Will update again next week.

3 years ago I started my weight loss journey. It's been a journey that I would do all over again if I could. I've had the best experience thus far and still got more to go. I'm now waiting to do my stomach and lower body lift. I still need my arms done bit that will be last. I've had my thighs and buttocks done by Dr. Edward Ray and it's been amazing.

If your contemplating about starting your weight loss through either the gastric sleeve or Lap band I say go for it cause it will make all your self esteem and confidence go through the roof. Remember though it's not a quick fix it's a lifelong journey that you must set your heart and soul into. Good luck all.