William D. Leighton, MD (in memoriam)

Dr. Leighton worked his magic with my breasts that had been totally disfigured by another well-known Phoenix plastic surgeon. The previous doctor left me with railroad tracks on both breasts and I underwent severe depression until I found Dr. Leighton. Now, after 20 years have passed, I do need replacements but not due to Dr. Leighton - just due to maintenance of old implants. I sorely miss Dr. Leighton and wish he were still in this world and practicing his craft.

I believe this man should not be operating on anyone. Many mistakes were made and I will need revision surgery. He frequently dropped F-Bombs during visits and he did not effectively answer my questions before or after surgery. I am afraid for anyone who may decide to have this procedure or any surgery done with him.

After having a lift and implants done in the past, I had 5 different consultations with surgeons. All said I needed the surgery done in two procedures, one to have the implants changed out, and one to have the breast lift redone, EXCEPT Dr. Leighton who assured me he could do it effectively in ONE surgery. Why I didnt listen to all the others is beyond me BUT why would anyone want to have two surgeries if a confident well established surgeon says he can do it it one. Initially, it appeared to be a good experience until issues occurred, then I was talked down to, was yelled at which was very unprofessional for a surgeon of his so called caliber. I ended up with a large hole in my breast due to skin that died and in the end my nipple died also. I am left with NO NIPPLE on one side and several plastic surgeons said that with all the scar tissue they CANT make it any better so I am left with the only option of having a tattoo for a nipple. Although plastic surgery is not a perfect science, Dr. Leighton should have been more upfront about what things could have occurred, had I known what I know now, I never would have gone in for the procedure. Besides the $12,500 I spent its nothing compared to what kind of number it did to me mentally and physically. My husband and I are both in the medical field, well schooled and not "stupid" my husband tried to speak with him from one professional to another and asked for a refund as I need to have the work redone but am not comfortable going back to someone who gave me the results I am left with, his response was "the money is better spent on burn victims" I would have had so much more respect for this man had he handled me differently. He did pay to have my nipple tattooed but those results are not good at all because the skin is so thin. I did my homework, but I didnt dig deep enough, listen to your instincts, find out how long his staff has been with him, and NOT a office manager but the nurses that work with him on a day to day basis, are they really RN's or are they just beautiful woman that look the part? Find out if there are gaps in the surgeons history and WHY....then get a list of questions and make sure he or she signs them just as you are asked to sign papers. Be pro active, question question question the surgeon. Ask what happens in a worse case scenario about your procedure...If I can help one person NOT go through what I will have to live with for the rest of my life because of my surgery with Dr. William Leighton I will have felt I made a difference.

Updated on 5 Dec 2013:
The tattoo HAS NOT HELD the pigmentation and my left breast is severely deformed, I have lost so much volume due to the nipple necrosis. Prior to Dr. Leighton doing the surgery if he would have taken the time to throughly review my chart he would have found that I had a larger implant in my right breast, as my breasts were different sizes. He put the same size implants in both breasts, so now not only am I a whole cup size smaller (I was to go larger than what I was before) but one breast is considerably smaller than the the other. I still have so much (hard) scar tissue and my scars are awful.. they are so long and so visible even after using Mederma advance scar gel. I am so disappointed the way my whole situation was handled and these results are devastating both physically and mentally.

Updated on 30 May 2014:


Updated on 15 Aug 2014: