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*Treatment results may vary
Awful Experience
This review has been long over due, it has taken me a while to fully process the treatment and trauma that this Dr has put me through. These last 2 years of my life have been absolute torture In the hands of this man.
I had met with Dr Ottole back in 2016 for a TT he had explained everything in detail, I felt very comfortable with him right off the bat and decided to go through with the procedure It was a tough recovery but overall, all went well.
2 years later in 2019 having had a great outcome the first time and having lost a lot of weight I decided it was time for a lift had a mastopexy done and loved my results.
Now early 2020 comes and this is when this endless nightmare all started and would be the end of the old happy me.
I went in for a consultation for a brachioplasty and a tattoo removal TT cover up that I had gotten and wanted removed. I had lost a lot of weight and had lots of lose skin, the only way to get rid of that was by having a brachioplasty. Dr Ottole suggested that I’d have an extended one, one which entails to have incisions start from my elbow all around my breast (a long, long scar) he said that it would it tighten my breast and make everything look “smooth” and make my breast “perkier” he made the procedure sound as if it were going to be something simple, nice and subtle. We never discussed the scars or the drastic change that it would have on my body. My breast will never ever be the same because of the careless, greedy way he went about the procedure. Now I know all surgeries leave scars and things can go wrong but something like this is just not recommended by most plastic surgeons unless you’ve loss about 150 to 200 lbs.
06/2020 The day of the surgery he marks me up, I tell him what to look out for and his “ya ya ya” means nothing, if you’re having surgery with this man he will do what he pleases and won’t listen to what you want. I’ve learned this about him the hard way. They wheel me in and hrs later the surgery is over. Upon waking up I see and hear the surgical team rushing to the next patient which I thought was odd. One thing that he does and I know for a fact is he often books multiple People in a day making him rush and do very undesirable work. Having 3 surgeries and 2 revisions by him, I know this is something to be 100% accurate.
Hours after getting home I’m able to remove all the gauzing only to reveal the poor/ careless work that he had done. My arms scars were wavy, my breasts were definitely not the same as he removed so much scar tissue on the lateral sides of my breasts and in the front causing my breast to sag and making the sides so off that other Drs who have seen his work say “it looked troubling” and that its something “they would never ever combine!”
Why he did what he did? Idk it will always be beyond me. It looks as if he had experimented on me, as the Post-op pictures on his website of other patients who’ve gotten brachioplasties who’ve lost more weight, had way more skin hanging, look nothing like the the Mess he left me with. It was senseless on his part. The TT tattoo that he removed was also so off and wavy just a complete nightmare that cost me not only over 15k but over 2 years of my life and still it is not resolved. I call him and immediately ask him what went wrong, he was assuring me that things would change and to give it “time”.
Another thing that happened that really bothered me and I’m not sure if Dr Ottole is even aware of this, is that every-time you have surgery and pay full price they give you a silagen kit for the scaring, I paid 15k for the brachioplasty and TT tattoo removal and when my follow up came I asked his nurse Nadia about it, she responded with “you have to purchase it” I was shocked that she would even say that because I just had, had a major surgery with Dr Ottole and paid full price 15k to be exact. I’ve had surgeries with other surgeons and this is something that is always provided when you have surgery, it was so rude of her to basically not want to give it to me. For what reason? Who knows? Caught her on a bad day maybe, ultimately it should have been given to me. I mentioned it to their amazing patient coordinator Sarah (who now is gone) and she looked at me and said “she didn’t give it to you?” I was baffled. (SMH)
Anyways Time flies by and still no change so, I’am back and forth with follow ups, he suggests a revision a year later, I wasn’t oppose to it as everyone makes mistakes and I desperately wanted it fixed, he waves his own fee and still charges me the surgical center fee along with the anesthesia fee, which I felt was not ok! if a Dr (plastic surgeon) makes a mistake it should be at his cost because it’s indeed his mistake.
06/2021, 1 year later I pay out of pocket & go in for the 1st revision and come out worst, my breast looked off, wavy from the sides with dints! Dr Ottole dropped them by pulling them down to my ribs by removing “excess skin” he should not have done that! I didn’t ask for my breast to be pulled down like that he should have discussed it with me but again he made that decision on his own, completely careless and again my left arm scar had bulging in the end of my elbow everything was a complete ugly disaster! all over again I was left distraught.
I continue to go to the follow ups extremely displeased where he then suggests that he can go back again and try and fix it. 6 months after my last revision, he goes into detail on what can be done, and says that I need a Capsulectomie/ Capsulloraphie to tighten the Breasts.
The point wasn’t for it to be perfect but
At least some improvement, you shouldn’t go in for a revision and have it come out worst. The mental trauma of being being put Under over and over again and to deal with the pain not once but 3x is extremely physically and mentally draining. At this point after the first two failed attempts to “try” and fix it, him using the same technique I should have gone elsewhere but at the moment I felt maybe this time he would do it right because he was being very reassuring.
I opted for the revision one last time,he again waved his “own fee” and charged me the surgical center fee that (he owns) and the anesthesia fee. After the first two mistakes that he made it would have only been fair to wave the whole thing but Of course that wasn’t the case. I pay for the surgical fees and decided To also pay for bigger implants as I had mentioned earlier he had cut them twice up so bad they were a lot smaller, wavy, uneven and lop sided, I thought that by purchasing bigger implants I would have a better outcome thinking they would fill in the dibs, and dints and give me more projection.
That did not happen.
Unfortunately 3 months after my last revision we were back to square one, he had cut my breast again from the bottom when I asked him not to! bringing them down even more than the first two times, my breasts were asymmetrical, Lumpy, still lop sided with uneven scars below my ribs. Breast implants supposed to be above your ribs and not down over your ribs and he knows this, my arm scar was the worst it could have ever been it was uneven and huge, till today it still throbs.
When I had gone in for the suture removal he had over looked a few stitches on my breasts and on my under arm, I had to pull them off on my own 7 weeks after he had “removed all of them” and no they were not dissolvable.
Fast forward to my last follow up.
I had an appointment that I wasn’t reminded of by the new front desk and missed it, When I emailed them in regards To why I wasn’t reminded, they replied with “do you still want to come in ?” I was Stunned to even get asked such a question when my treatment wasn’t completely done with Dr Ottole, of-course I had to go in and discuss with him how much I hated what he had done.
I have to point out that after Sarah and Celeste left the way things have been handled with the receptionists have not been the same. Sarah and Celeste were both very punctual, kind, and quick to respond. They’d always made sure to remind me of appointments, cancelations etc… They were both really amazing at what they did, not that the new patient coordinator isn’t good at what she does, or the new phone girl who could be friendlier, maybe it’s just the lack of experience.
I kept trying to get seen sooner as what he had done to me was weighing very heavy on me they kept pushing my appointment further and further that was the last straw for me. I was extremely distraught!! I lost my job because of the deep depression I fell into, I isolated myself from family and friends, broke off my engagement as I couldn’t be intimate with my partner with the deformities Dr O’toole had left me with. My life had changed over night for the worst.
I sent an email stating that I was going to seek legal advice and take it up with the medical board, Something I’am not in the wrong for saying. The email wasn’t sent to threaten
Dr Ottole or to get anything for free because all the work that I’ve had done by him has in fact been paid for (nothing was for free!) It was to let him know that I was sick With stress and had to take matters into my own hands.
I wonder how Dr O’Toole would feel if a plastic surgeon did this to one of his daughters, or granddaughters what advice would he give them? I’m sure it wouldn’t be to live with it and move on.
02/2022 My last follow up comes and this is where it really gets ugly, he evaluates me again, I start pointing out the asymmetry on my breasts that is incredibly noticeable, show him my arm scar and proceed to tell him how unsatisfied I was.
Dr O’Toole then tries to gas light me by saying it’s my body (No!! it’s the careless work that you did!!) (it’s the careless way you stitched me up!) he gets a ruler and measures my breasts and tells me one is in fact lower than the other he’s there with a ruler standing saying this like it’s nothing, him noticing this and acknowledging it, but blaming me?! talk about reverse psychology.
I’m going back and forth with him asking why he did what he did, if he wouldn’t have cut me up the way he did back when I had the brachioplasty I wouldn’t be going through these awful revisions and mess, he didn’t even know what to say other than give me the most invalid, outrageous excuses knowing he was in the wrong.
I bring up the Silagen kit, letting him know in-front of his nurse Nadia how she was saying I had to pay for it, trying to let him know it wasn’t even given to me with my first brachioplasty and that’s when he was sent over the edge. After all the horrible scaring this Dr left me with it would only be fair to give me the Silagen kit that was included with the 15k brachioplasty that I had done and NEVER got.
Dr Ottole then proceeds to points his finger in my face and raise his voice, and I quote…
“The email you sent was very threatening! What I’ve done for you I’ve done for no other patient! if you think you’re going to come in here making threats for free scar gel and surgeries you’re wrong!! Take me to court, sue me! because I will fight this to the end and you will get NOTHING!!”
He’s right, I’ve gotten nothing out of this but debt, deformities and severe depression.
Immediately I start breaking down in tears as I’ve never in my life been spoken to like this by any medical professional or any man for that matter, the fact that he would speak to me the way he did after all that he put me through just goes to show how he could careless about what he has done to me. After all the endless emails I’ve sent to him in regards to how depressed and displeased I was, how I would tell him in my follow ups how this was affecting my daily life, losing sleep all in his hands him knowing this, to have zero Accountability and then to yell at me the way he did is completely wrong on his part to say I was shocked is understatement.
All this is very disheartening as I really liked and trusted Dr O’Toole, had I not trusted him I wouldn’t have gone to him as many times as I did. I wouldn’t have referred, family and friends who’ve also had work done by him by me referring them.
If I could go back in time, I would have never opted for the extended brachioplasty that he suggested as it changed my life for the worst.I would have done the regular lift and my life today would have been a lot different.
I now have to find a Dr who specializes in Breast revisions, pay double if not triple and try to move forward from this nightmare that will never be forgotten. The precious time that I’ve lost, with my significant other, family and friends is something I will never get back all in the hands of Dr O’toole.
Anyone having plastic surgery with this Dr be very careful and discuss in detail exactly what you want done, ask about the scaring, ask about the healing process make sure to carefully address your areas of concern as this can happen to anyone. Speaking from experience the outcome could be extremely negatively life changing.
I had met with Dr Ottole back in 2016 for a TT he had explained everything in detail, I felt very comfortable with him right off the bat and decided to go through with the procedure It was a tough recovery but overall, all went well.
2 years later in 2019 having had a great outcome the first time and having lost a lot of weight I decided it was time for a lift had a mastopexy done and loved my results.
Now early 2020 comes and this is when this endless nightmare all started and would be the end of the old happy me.
I went in for a consultation for a brachioplasty and a tattoo removal TT cover up that I had gotten and wanted removed. I had lost a lot of weight and had lots of lose skin, the only way to get rid of that was by having a brachioplasty. Dr Ottole suggested that I’d have an extended one, one which entails to have incisions start from my elbow all around my breast (a long, long scar) he said that it would it tighten my breast and make everything look “smooth” and make my breast “perkier” he made the procedure sound as if it were going to be something simple, nice and subtle. We never discussed the scars or the drastic change that it would have on my body. My breast will never ever be the same because of the careless, greedy way he went about the procedure. Now I know all surgeries leave scars and things can go wrong but something like this is just not recommended by most plastic surgeons unless you’ve loss about 150 to 200 lbs.
06/2020 The day of the surgery he marks me up, I tell him what to look out for and his “ya ya ya” means nothing, if you’re having surgery with this man he will do what he pleases and won’t listen to what you want. I’ve learned this about him the hard way. They wheel me in and hrs later the surgery is over. Upon waking up I see and hear the surgical team rushing to the next patient which I thought was odd. One thing that he does and I know for a fact is he often books multiple People in a day making him rush and do very undesirable work. Having 3 surgeries and 2 revisions by him, I know this is something to be 100% accurate.
Hours after getting home I’m able to remove all the gauzing only to reveal the poor/ careless work that he had done. My arms scars were wavy, my breasts were definitely not the same as he removed so much scar tissue on the lateral sides of my breasts and in the front causing my breast to sag and making the sides so off that other Drs who have seen his work say “it looked troubling” and that its something “they would never ever combine!”
Why he did what he did? Idk it will always be beyond me. It looks as if he had experimented on me, as the Post-op pictures on his website of other patients who’ve gotten brachioplasties who’ve lost more weight, had way more skin hanging, look nothing like the the Mess he left me with. It was senseless on his part. The TT tattoo that he removed was also so off and wavy just a complete nightmare that cost me not only over 15k but over 2 years of my life and still it is not resolved. I call him and immediately ask him what went wrong, he was assuring me that things would change and to give it “time”.
Another thing that happened that really bothered me and I’m not sure if Dr Ottole is even aware of this, is that every-time you have surgery and pay full price they give you a silagen kit for the scaring, I paid 15k for the brachioplasty and TT tattoo removal and when my follow up came I asked his nurse Nadia about it, she responded with “you have to purchase it” I was shocked that she would even say that because I just had, had a major surgery with Dr Ottole and paid full price 15k to be exact. I’ve had surgeries with other surgeons and this is something that is always provided when you have surgery, it was so rude of her to basically not want to give it to me. For what reason? Who knows? Caught her on a bad day maybe, ultimately it should have been given to me. I mentioned it to their amazing patient coordinator Sarah (who now is gone) and she looked at me and said “she didn’t give it to you?” I was baffled. (SMH)
Anyways Time flies by and still no change so, I’am back and forth with follow ups, he suggests a revision a year later, I wasn’t oppose to it as everyone makes mistakes and I desperately wanted it fixed, he waves his own fee and still charges me the surgical center fee along with the anesthesia fee, which I felt was not ok! if a Dr (plastic surgeon) makes a mistake it should be at his cost because it’s indeed his mistake.
06/2021, 1 year later I pay out of pocket & go in for the 1st revision and come out worst, my breast looked off, wavy from the sides with dints! Dr Ottole dropped them by pulling them down to my ribs by removing “excess skin” he should not have done that! I didn’t ask for my breast to be pulled down like that he should have discussed it with me but again he made that decision on his own, completely careless and again my left arm scar had bulging in the end of my elbow everything was a complete ugly disaster! all over again I was left distraught.
I continue to go to the follow ups extremely displeased where he then suggests that he can go back again and try and fix it. 6 months after my last revision, he goes into detail on what can be done, and says that I need a Capsulectomie/ Capsulloraphie to tighten the Breasts.
The point wasn’t for it to be perfect but
At least some improvement, you shouldn’t go in for a revision and have it come out worst. The mental trauma of being being put Under over and over again and to deal with the pain not once but 3x is extremely physically and mentally draining. At this point after the first two failed attempts to “try” and fix it, him using the same technique I should have gone elsewhere but at the moment I felt maybe this time he would do it right because he was being very reassuring.
I opted for the revision one last time,he again waved his “own fee” and charged me the surgical center fee that (he owns) and the anesthesia fee. After the first two mistakes that he made it would have only been fair to wave the whole thing but Of course that wasn’t the case. I pay for the surgical fees and decided To also pay for bigger implants as I had mentioned earlier he had cut them twice up so bad they were a lot smaller, wavy, uneven and lop sided, I thought that by purchasing bigger implants I would have a better outcome thinking they would fill in the dibs, and dints and give me more projection.
That did not happen.
Unfortunately 3 months after my last revision we were back to square one, he had cut my breast again from the bottom when I asked him not to! bringing them down even more than the first two times, my breasts were asymmetrical, Lumpy, still lop sided with uneven scars below my ribs. Breast implants supposed to be above your ribs and not down over your ribs and he knows this, my arm scar was the worst it could have ever been it was uneven and huge, till today it still throbs.
When I had gone in for the suture removal he had over looked a few stitches on my breasts and on my under arm, I had to pull them off on my own 7 weeks after he had “removed all of them” and no they were not dissolvable.
Fast forward to my last follow up.
I had an appointment that I wasn’t reminded of by the new front desk and missed it, When I emailed them in regards To why I wasn’t reminded, they replied with “do you still want to come in ?” I was Stunned to even get asked such a question when my treatment wasn’t completely done with Dr Ottole, of-course I had to go in and discuss with him how much I hated what he had done.
I have to point out that after Sarah and Celeste left the way things have been handled with the receptionists have not been the same. Sarah and Celeste were both very punctual, kind, and quick to respond. They’d always made sure to remind me of appointments, cancelations etc… They were both really amazing at what they did, not that the new patient coordinator isn’t good at what she does, or the new phone girl who could be friendlier, maybe it’s just the lack of experience.
I kept trying to get seen sooner as what he had done to me was weighing very heavy on me they kept pushing my appointment further and further that was the last straw for me. I was extremely distraught!! I lost my job because of the deep depression I fell into, I isolated myself from family and friends, broke off my engagement as I couldn’t be intimate with my partner with the deformities Dr O’toole had left me with. My life had changed over night for the worst.
I sent an email stating that I was going to seek legal advice and take it up with the medical board, Something I’am not in the wrong for saying. The email wasn’t sent to threaten
Dr Ottole or to get anything for free because all the work that I’ve had done by him has in fact been paid for (nothing was for free!) It was to let him know that I was sick With stress and had to take matters into my own hands.
I wonder how Dr O’Toole would feel if a plastic surgeon did this to one of his daughters, or granddaughters what advice would he give them? I’m sure it wouldn’t be to live with it and move on.
02/2022 My last follow up comes and this is where it really gets ugly, he evaluates me again, I start pointing out the asymmetry on my breasts that is incredibly noticeable, show him my arm scar and proceed to tell him how unsatisfied I was.
Dr O’Toole then tries to gas light me by saying it’s my body (No!! it’s the careless work that you did!!) (it’s the careless way you stitched me up!) he gets a ruler and measures my breasts and tells me one is in fact lower than the other he’s there with a ruler standing saying this like it’s nothing, him noticing this and acknowledging it, but blaming me?! talk about reverse psychology.
I’m going back and forth with him asking why he did what he did, if he wouldn’t have cut me up the way he did back when I had the brachioplasty I wouldn’t be going through these awful revisions and mess, he didn’t even know what to say other than give me the most invalid, outrageous excuses knowing he was in the wrong.
I bring up the Silagen kit, letting him know in-front of his nurse Nadia how she was saying I had to pay for it, trying to let him know it wasn’t even given to me with my first brachioplasty and that’s when he was sent over the edge. After all the horrible scaring this Dr left me with it would only be fair to give me the Silagen kit that was included with the 15k brachioplasty that I had done and NEVER got.
Dr Ottole then proceeds to points his finger in my face and raise his voice, and I quote…
“The email you sent was very threatening! What I’ve done for you I’ve done for no other patient! if you think you’re going to come in here making threats for free scar gel and surgeries you’re wrong!! Take me to court, sue me! because I will fight this to the end and you will get NOTHING!!”
He’s right, I’ve gotten nothing out of this but debt, deformities and severe depression.
Immediately I start breaking down in tears as I’ve never in my life been spoken to like this by any medical professional or any man for that matter, the fact that he would speak to me the way he did after all that he put me through just goes to show how he could careless about what he has done to me. After all the endless emails I’ve sent to him in regards to how depressed and displeased I was, how I would tell him in my follow ups how this was affecting my daily life, losing sleep all in his hands him knowing this, to have zero Accountability and then to yell at me the way he did is completely wrong on his part to say I was shocked is understatement.
All this is very disheartening as I really liked and trusted Dr O’Toole, had I not trusted him I wouldn’t have gone to him as many times as I did. I wouldn’t have referred, family and friends who’ve also had work done by him by me referring them.
If I could go back in time, I would have never opted for the extended brachioplasty that he suggested as it changed my life for the worst.I would have done the regular lift and my life today would have been a lot different.
I now have to find a Dr who specializes in Breast revisions, pay double if not triple and try to move forward from this nightmare that will never be forgotten. The precious time that I’ve lost, with my significant other, family and friends is something I will never get back all in the hands of Dr O’toole.
Anyone having plastic surgery with this Dr be very careful and discuss in detail exactly what you want done, ask about the scaring, ask about the healing process make sure to carefully address your areas of concern as this can happen to anyone. Speaking from experience the outcome could be extremely negatively life changing.
Provider Review
Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
542 South Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena, California