Susan MacLennan, MD

I specifically looked for a provider who could provide Motiva implants *and* took my insurance, and Dr MacLennan did both. The surgery and recovery were easy and uneventful, and navigating the pre-operative appointments and consultations was a breeze as well.

I am a 31 year old, currently 180 pounds 5'7" 36J cup (my right boobs is smaller closer to an I cup) who has wanted a breast reduction for 20 years. (These guys appeared when I was 11, and the reaction at school was no fun) I have had chronic rashes, back/shoulder/neck pain, and a hunched posture ( I call my neck my humpback). I have done physical therapy, medications, and myofascial release with no relief. At smaller weights my breasts would become slightly smaller but even at 125 pounds in my early to mid twenties the smallest I got down to was a big 34H/ small 34I cup, with no change in symptoms. I was honestly scared of such a big procedure, but my sister had it done 5 years ago and it changed her quality of life. I really wanted to wait until after I had kids before doing this procedure in case of any interference with breastfeeding. After having a c-section for my twins in the summer of 2021 following a horrendous pregnancy, a surgery didn't seem so scary anymore and I decided to go for it! Updated on 11 Apr 2023: I had my consultation with Dr Maclennon a couple of weeks ago. She was very professional and understanding. She told me that she was pretty positive I would be covered by my insurance which was great. I felt very comfortable with her and heard a lot of good things so far. Originally I was told to plan for a date in June but then my insurance approval came back in just one day and they told me they had an cancellation on April 19th. So all of the sudden I’m a couple weeks away from surgery! Updated on 15 Apr 2023: Updated on 20 Apr 2023: Had my preop appointment today! She sent in all of my prescriptions to the pharmacy. She asked me in “an ideal world” what size do I want to be…I don’t know! Small enough to relieve all symptoms and also proportionate my body and I told her I trust her judgement. Hopefully she has good judgement, I figure I’m going to think it’s small even if it isn’t because I won’t be used to it. She gave the usual preop instructions. Shower with antibacterial soap, have a comfy bra and ice packs for afterwards, don’t eat after dinner time the night before, Have a responsible party drive you and listen to postop care instructions with you, my sister is taking me and will be helping me the first week. She had hers done a few years ago so she understands the whole process. Updated on 20 Apr 2023: I wasnt nervous until I walked to the building, Dr MacLennan preformed my surgery at Green Mountain Surgery Center at 10am. My sister came in with me, we went over all the postop instructions and got an iv put in rather quickly. Within 45 minutes of arriving I was wheeled off into the operating room. When I had a previous general anesthesia surgery in 2017 at memorial hospital in NH they started giving something to put me to sleep as they wheeled me off to the OR so I was asleep by the time I arrived. However, today they brought me in and had me get on the table myself, get in position to where I was just looking up at the OR light and for a while before they put me to sleep. It was very anxiety provoking and not as smooth a transition. It wasn’t a horrible negative but I preferred my previous surgery where they put me out sooner. I woke up around 2:40pm, extremely tired and groggy. Didn’t feel much if any pain at first. Some stinging and itching only. I could not keep myself awake, my sister stopped and got me Dunkin’ which was great. I got home at 4ish and immediately went up to bed, my sister woke me up around 7pm to take my Celebrex and have some dinner, my twins were so sad that I couldnt pick them up or put them to bed as usual I went right back to sleep until about 10pm when my sister woke me up to give me some 1000mg Tylenol. I was prescribed 5 Vicodin pills to take if needed. Today wasn’t so bad, I hear the 2nd and 3rd days are the worst so I am saving the until I absolutely feel I need them. I finally felt less groggy and watched some TV (Love is Blind) and had some snacks. Pain is still manageable but slowly increasing. Just within the past couple hours the swelling has stared to increase quite a bit. I’m having some pelvic pains the said might be gas or GI pains front the anesthesia, hopefully will go away be tomorrow, right now that hurts more than my breasts. They look sooo small to me. I wanted them small but I think it’s just a bit of a shock for right now after 20 years of my old boobs. That’s my surgery day! I’ll probably update tomorrow Updated on 20 Apr 2023: It is the morning after, it is more painful and swollen today but still bearable without the Vicodin. I was surprised how yesterday the dr never came in afterwards to tell me how it went, how much they took off, any other things that they may have encountered, etc. but I do have my follow up a week from today and I’m sure I can ask all the questions then. I am still feeling very small. I know that having almost no boobs is still preferable to my old boobs, but I was expecting them to be close to my sisters size who had her reduction 5 years ago and mine look much smaller. Mine are also kind of cone shaped now, but I know they need to settle and honestly it’s not a big deal. Updated on 20 Apr 2023: I don’t want to jinx it but the pan is not as bad as I was preparing for! Not even close to a C-Section or laparoscopy or ovarian cysts or endometriosis. Hopefully it stays that way, I’m very surprised. Don’t get me wrong it is uncomfortable and there are zingers and itching and burning but it’s not too bad. Dr. MacLennan did call me today and let know that by the time I woke up yesterday she was already in another surgery so she apologized for not being able to talk to me afterwards. Unfortunately my period started overnight which is unfortunate timing and honestly the Endo pain is worse as of now than the surgery pain. I had my first shower this morning and it wasn’t painful at all, just weird. Here a a picture, they looks so small and kind of weird shaped but I know they aren’t at their final stage yet. Updated on 21 Apr 2023: Day 3 after surgery. The bruising is looking worse and they are at their most swollen. But honestly still bearable and not as bad as I was expecting! Mostly itchy and not liking having to sleep on my back. I took off my surgical bra today and switched to a clean stretchy zip front recovery bra which is much more comfortable. Updated on 24 Apr 2023: The discomfort actually is worse at this point, before my incisions were all numb so the pain wasn’t so bad. Ever since yesterday I can feel the incisions sting and itch. The edges of the anchors under the armpits and right in the middle where they come together are the most painful. But honestly still not as bad so was expecting! Updated on 26 Apr 2023: Incisions sting and are sore. Leaking yellow fluid still, mostly after showering. Bruises are yellow and seem to be starting to fade. The swelling has gone down significantly over the past 2 days. The itchiness is no fun. The main sources of pain are the ends of the incisions on my side under the armpits, and the middle spot underneath the breast where the vertical incision meets the under boob incision. The tape has stayed on 100% has not budged at all. I know a lot of people say there tape falls off within the first week but mine has stayed put. It will be my one week mark today! Tomorrow is my first post-op appt. Updated on 30 Apr 2023: I had my one week post op appt yesterday. It went great and they said I was healing very well. The under sections of the incisions have already closed. I still have some yellow leakage on the under breast incisions in the middle and the outer edges and a little bleeding around the nipple sutures. The bruising is much less and all at the yellow stage. Honestly it looks better than I was expecting! The swelling is way down. Pain is very minimal, Some stinging where the leakage is and sensitivity of the skin but that’s it. Updated on 8 May 2023: It’s been almost 3 weeks. I am so happy so far. I’m getting used to looking in the mirror and seeing myself with small boobs. It’s surprising how fast I feel like the new boobs are my normal and part of me. I thought it would be weirder and I would feel like an identity crisis or something but I only had that initial shock the first couple days. The majority of the swelling is gone. They are looking and feeling more like normal boobs. Most of the incisions are closed with the exception of my left outer underboob, and a tiny spot at both of the T intersections. There is a lot of stinging itchiness but not really pain. My skin has some nerve pain sensitivity that reminds me of how my skin felt after other surgeries. Sometimes random nipple zingers, and I have soreness only on the outer sides now. Overall recovery has been much smoother than I expected. I can sleep with a slight turn to my aside if I am careful and that’s been the best. Oh and I stared wearing silicone tape around the nipple incisions because those have fully closed. I know for the next couple weeks it’s just taking it easy and no lifting which is hard because of my twin toddlers but at least the painful part is over!

I had my procedure was on 3/2/22. Surgery went good. I woke up in a little pain, but more like a stomach ache with a little soreness where lipo was done. Of course lots of tightness. I had the drainless tummy tuck. The staff was great getting me comfortable for the 2 HR drive home. Once I got home in bed I was pretty comfortable minimal pain. Getting up walking around is where I experience most of my pain. I didn't sleep much last night. This morning I'm feeling ok. Not feeling sick or anything just sore. It's tolerable with making sure I'm on top of my meds. All my focus is on my tummy I don't even notice my breasts. I did start drinking arnica 2 weeks prior to surgery and going to keep drinking through recovery. I will keep updating through my recovery and get pics when I can unfortunately I forgot before pics. Updated on 4 Mar 2022: I actually got some good sleep last night. Feeling better pain wise this morning walking around. I can stand a little straighter. My back hurts from being hunched over. I've been tolerating all the meds good. Updated on 7 Mar 2022: Most of the pain has subsided. My back still hurts I'm still hunched over, but standing straighter everyday. I'm still using a chair in the shower because my back still hurts. I'm still really swollen and bruised. I finally got pics I'll add today.

Let me start out by saying that the ten-thousand dollar price tag I placed on my surgery includes the cost of my hotel room and the cost of the CNAs that took care of me and might not be what other patients have payed. Just so I don't sound like an advertisement I'll start out saying that the privacy issues in this office need to be improved. What one surgeon did was to have me sign a contract on printed paper instead of electonically. There was a specific question which let patients decide if they wanted to have their photos shared for educational and advertising purposes. I answered NO. I would suggest that Dr. Maclennan's office do the same. Instead, they had me sign the pre-surgical agreement electronically and the request to share my breast pictures with people outside the office who are not involved in my care was lumped in with a number of other questions. I asked them if I could have my photos not be shared with the public and they told me they would not share them, but this was only a verbal agreement. As most people know, a verbal agreement is not legally binding and because some surgeons work with high risk populations who are more likely to file a lawsuit, the patient privacy issue needs to be treated separately from permission to perform surgery. If you check this out on Google, a lot of patients have taken huge offense when they find that their surgery videos and photos of them undressed were shared on public media as is described in this link. https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/when-posting-about-patients-social-media-unethical-medutainment/2018-04 I also have to say that her office is extremely hot. They give patients a heavy, thick gown to wear and I really think they should offer a lighter gown if they want to keep their office so warm or give patients a choice between a heavy gown or a lightweight gown. A lesser concern is that when the thin tape she used to cover my stitches after surgery started to fall off, I replaced it with more thin tape supplied by her during follow-up Later I found some strong and thick tape in the drug store that made me feel more secure and held me better while I heeled. WITH THAT SAID, the rest of my experience with them was nearly perfect. On the day of surgery, I was afraid of complications but none ever happened. Unlike some other surgeons, she said I could shower the day after surgery and used absorbable stitches even though some surgeons say they use staples. The procedure took about two hours even though some surgeons claim to take four. Although some surgeons were adamant that I not use a CNA after surgery, Dr. Maclennan did not object to this and took a huge interest in how the agency aides did with my post-surgical care. For one thing, using the agency meant that I did not have to involve my family members in my treatment or even tell them I was scheduled for surgery. This was good since I have resented all the stereotyping of patients with the assumption that they ALL have a dedicated family member or friend who has time to stay with them. As is often the case with older people, my friends are all in poor health and my family members are all very busy and I didn't want to bother them! In times past, this had the risk of disqualifying me as a candidate for surgery. While some surgeons I consulted with were not even affiliated with a hotel, Dr. Maclennan was affiliated with the Residence Inn Marriot which is only a five-minute drive from the surgery center and only a five-minute drive from her office. As if this wasn't enough, the hotel shuttle actually drove me to the surgery appointment. While some practitioners have a way that they dig their fingers into your breasts and make it seem like you're being exploited by a five-year-old, Dr. Maclennan never did this and instead knows how to work with patients in a dignified manner. She said she could probably take me down to a C-cup but in the end, she took me down to a B-cup. The happiest moment of my surgery was when I took off my clothes the next day and saw the compression bra they put on me when I was still under anesthesia. It looked like something that might have fit me as a twelve-year-old. When I took it off for hand-washing, I noticed the size was listed as small. As a result of this, I have never been so fascinated with bras since I was ten years old. While in years past, I only had two or three bras, I now have a collection of them. Because I can now wear revealing shirts without looking rediculous, I like to be colar coordiated and I have a blue bra for my blue shirts and a grey bra for my grey shirts and a black bra for my black shirts. I also was happy to find new support bras that really do work for me unlike the old ones that never really helped me at all. While at least one surgeon responded to my complaints by saying that "It might be just they way your breast tissue is," I found that after surgery that all the heavy and creepy feelings were gone out of my breasts. It sounds silly to suggest that breast reduction could get rid of post-traumatic stress disorder, but this was part of what happened with me. One surgeon told me about post-surgical itch and made it sound as if I could fully expect this. As a result, I studied post-surgical itch and bought medications that were considered safe to combine to treat it. This was only to find out that I woke up I didn't itch and as I heeled, I still didn't itch. The OTC meds I had for post-surgical itch are still sitting around waiting to be used for other purposes. I also expected to wake up in severe pain and instead found that the pain was minimal and I did not need the narcotic meds she prescribed for me. I had also read stories on here about girls who threw up and were dizzy after surgery, but I found that I was not nauseous at all and within an hour after surgery, could walk by myself. I used ice packs instead of narcotics. I'm adamant about buying POP-ICE in preference over heavier and thicker ice packs because you can fit them over the contours of you breasts. I also used wet, frozen wash clothes to handle pain. I also took Tylenol. While some surgeons ask that you not drive for at least a week after surgery, this office left it up to my own discretion. I think part of why I was safe driving the next day was that I never used the prescribed narcotics. My weeks of healing were some of the happiest weeks of the my year even though I followed post-surgical directions and did not swim. At my six-month-follow-up appointment, I asked Dr. Maclennan about liposuction for my hips and legs. She was completely honest about it and did not try to make it sound better than it really is. She admitted to the complications that can occur and that the amount of tissue she could take out would be less than what most people hope for. What tops it all off, is that the post surgical compression bras they want patients to use are for sale in their office. I really did not look forward to bra-shopping since one saleslady had already mislead me by taking out some whorish looking bra and expected me to buy it and also because even now with all my hours of browsing in the bra departments, I still can't find a compression bra as good as what they sell in their office. I will also alert you that since you can't lift up your arms after surgery, you can put these bras on over your feet. Just be careful that your feet, which are usually contaminated by being on the floor, do not touch the bra which is going on over healing stitches. With all the millions of breast pictures on here, I won't post any. I do have my own before and after pictures but have only kept the ones in which I'm fully clothed since I do not trust any of my computers to be safe from spy-ware. Dr. Maclennan is worth the distance you might travel if you can't find a surgeon you like.

Finally at 35 years old, two children, I have received the procedure of my dreams!!! A bilateral breast augmentation!!! And I couldn’t be happier with Dr. Maclennan, who has been patient, competent, and knowledgeable about everything involving this process. Thank you for everything and the wonderful team of clinicians and nurses that support you and the surgery center! I will post some pictures soon!

I saw Dr MacLennan for a revision to my breast reconstruction after bilateral mastectomies from a cancer dx. The implants were hard, small and there were several areas where visible collapses on my chest had occurred. She was friendly, empathetic, honest about what had been done and what she could do, relatable and so confidant. She was sure she could fix the flaws from the previous surgery. I am SO HAPPY with everything after this revision, I feel like she knew exactly what I needed and delivered!!! I am complete and whole again and my breasts are amazing!! I would put my faith in her and her skills anyday!! She’s amazing!!!

Dr. MacLennan was fantastic. She made me feel very comfortable and informed. She was always pleasant and happy to answer any and all questions I had before, during and after my surgery. I'd highly recommend her.

For a variety of reasons, I waited until I was nearly 56 to get a much needed breast reduction. As I result, this was a blessing since I found and selected Dr. MacLennan as my surgeon. Dr. MacLennan had no issues with my age nor my "well nourished" weight. Unlike many women who ask for a specific cup size, I left that decision to Dr. MacLennan. She's truly an artist in her craft and I trusted her decision based upon her extensive experience and knowledge. As a result Dr. MacLennan picked the right size for my 5'10" frame and I'm thrilled with the results. Besides her incredible surgical skills, Dr. MacLennan is approachable, respectful, kind, and comes across as genuinely loving what she does and the positive impact she has on women's lives. I would also like to mention that her staff as well as the entire surgical and support team at the Banff hospital were outstanding. Based on my experience, I would not hesitate to recommend Dr. MacLennan for breast reduction surgery.

I am a 29 year old female with no previous pregnancies or births that had hated my labia from the day I was aware of its existence. I found myself self conscious with new lovers, and uncomfortable when exercising. For over a decade I had wanted to have a labiaplasty and finally took the plunge. I was fortunate to have a surgeon with amazing post op review photos and labiaplasty experience in my city. Dr. Maclennan performed my surgery under local anesthetic and was courteous to maintain my privacy and comfort throughout the process. She was compassionate and understanding and offered great medical advice on technique and appearance. The procedure was so comfortable I fell asleep during it. I felt no pain except for the needle prick for the freezing. The drive home was more painful than expected ( I believe my local wore off quicker than usual as I was in a terrible amount of pain 1.5 hours post op on the drive home and I generally have a high pain tolerance). Despite this, my swelling was minimal ( as seen in the above right top hand photo) with barely any bruising. I iced as needed and stayed fairly inactive on couch rest for 3 days initially. Within 3 days my swelling was down almost completely and my pain was managed with Tylenol and Advil ( rarely needed even then). I was given a prescription for t3s but only required them post op on day one. I had never taken a narcotic anymore and found them too overwhelming but effective. Given I felt I was comfortable to walk on day 4 with minimal discomfort and a stir crazy brain, I went for dinner with a friend and had little to no pain that evening. On day 8 my sutures are really itchy, with random spurts of minimal pain and my swelling is significantly decreased. I’m excited to have my labia soften to see the final result but already am ecstatic about the current appearance. I feel infinitely more confident and happy with my body already. Looking at some of the unfortunate photos of recovery with not so experienced surgeons perhaps, I am so fortunate to have found my surgeon for this delicate procedure that was versed in the wedge technique. I initially thought of the trim for myself but am relieved I went for this other procedure for a more natural suture line and appearance. My suggestion is to do research on your surgeons experience/ look at their photos. If you’ve wanted this for a long time, and want it to look the way you have pictured it, do not hesitate to find a surgeon who is good and DO NOT try and cut costs on something so personal and easily botched.

My breast reduction in May was the first surgical experience of my life and I haven’t a single negative comment to make. Dr. McLennan couldn’t be more attentive; I wasn’t left with a single unanswered question throughout the entire process and it was extremely easy to communicate. Even during an unexpected complication I felt completely at ease and reassured. Banff hardly felt like a hospital, the entire staff is incredibly caring and they create an easy and very welcoming environment. At 3 months out my results are phenomenal and I couldn’t be happier; looking back I cannot imagine being cared for better by Dr. McLennan and her team.