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Fat transfer to my breast. Total bust:(

UPDATED FROM dandee737
6 months post

Contour irregularities and second opinion

$9,800
My thighs have these huge contour irregularities. I went to another plastic surgeon and he said Dr. Burns over lipoed my thighs and now I have skin sagging. I also have really bad irregularities on both sides of my right thigh. It looks so awful. The other surgeon says it would cost 15k for him to fix the problems and do another transfer. Dr. Burns is clearly not a thorough surgeon and didn't care. Less then one hour in surgery speaks volumes! This other doctor says it would take 4 hours to do a breast fat transfer. If you look between Dr. Burns website and Realself he has pictures he is claiming to a "fat transfer" but are actually implants. I'm repulsed at the fact that he is so misleading and won't stand by his work!

dandee737's provider

John L. Burns Jr., MD

John L. Burns Jr., MD

Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

4.7 | 207 Reviews
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Replies (0)

UPDATED FROM dandee737
6 months post

Complications! I would not recommend!!

After reaching out to Dr. Burns about my results he sent me a quote to do another fat transfer. The total of the quote was almost just as much as the first round. A week later out of the blue I ended up having a red area appear on my breast, followed by a bruise. When the bruising healed I have a line of indention down my breast. I had to get breast imaging done because I was worried it was cancer. The imaging came back normal except the fat cyst that appeared from the transfer. Thank God I got a baseline imaging because this could have been misconstrued as cancer. I reached out again, again he recommended a second fat transfer but I can't pay the 8k to do it again! This entire experience had been awful! I have so many regrets! I am left feeling deformed. I have a huge chunk of fat missing from my right thigh from the lipo. It's very noticeable. I have an indention in my stomach that's unsightly and now i have an indention in my breast. I just can't recommend this procedure with Dr. Burns.

Replies (5)

im so sorry to hear about your outcome :(( what are you going to do now?? can these dents and issues be fixed?
Right now I am just trying to "deal" with these issues. It's caused me so much anxiety that have now led to panic attacks. Thinking that I had breast cancer was so scary! Dr. Burns recommended doing a second fat transfer to try to make the breast indention go away. He didn't offer to do it for a price I could afford. It was just as expensive as the first go. He admits no fault in my situation. I could get the procedure done again with someone else. This has cost me so much financially, emotionally and mentally. It's hard to trust another doctor again. He seems so genuine and I was completely wrong.
I am so sorry to hear about this! :( I can only imagine how you’re feeling now. please be kind to yourself and know that this wasn’t your fault and it was the last thing that you expected. I’m wondering whether it might be a good idea to get all these issues fixed by another skilled surgeon, but this is up to you! let your mind and body heal ❤️ sending you lots of love and strength!
Thank you for your kind words.
Hello, i am very sorry that you are unhappy with your results. I can only See a slight difference, but your Breast Look so Great ( i would love to have your size, can only Dream about it). But of course it is a massive dissapoinent to pay so much Money, the downtime and the Pain and have such minimal result. Where did he got the fat from ? 1. Hour seems to be very short…
I had my fat Transfer on Friday- the surgery was 3 h, she could only insert 250 in each Breast. I was an aa before and i Hope to be an a After the Transfer. I am afraid i will loose it.My doctor told me before that up to 9 month After it is difficult to do a scan of the Breast, you can get zysysts .. so i think this is unfortunately normal. But he should have informed you!!
Thank you for the kind words! The fat was harvested from my abdomen, back and thighs. I have lipo irregularities in my thighs now. I think a smaller volume sticks better and it only takes 100-150 cc of fat for one cup size! So maybe you will get a cup size!! I was informed about the cyst. However, I was not too concerned about the cyst I was more upset about the long line indentation that it caused. I'm trying to just be happy with the way I look now because I can't afford to do it again.
Thank you for your answer. Yes i understand what you mean, it is hard to have surgery and after that your breast and Body has Scars. I cant understand how your doctor can be so unbothered :(( what did he say to the before and After pictures ?
I am just very sorry for your experience But want you to know that i think your breast are still absolutely beautiful and your abdominem Looks super flat.
The time After the surgery is really difficult for me, because i am afraid that i will loose the fat or that the results of the lipo arent good. I had my surgery here in Germany in a Clinic that is specialized in fat Transfer and liposuction. But still i am worried. The doctor was very nice but as we see with your experience we dont know for sure. There are happy as Long as we pay. I am 5 days out - my abdonomen Looks `strange`, swollen etc… but i Hope this is normal at this Stage??
UPDATED FROM dandee737
4 months post

I lost everything:(

I am 4 months post op. Originally, I was very pleased with my results. There were some minor concerns that I could get over. Dr. Burns transferred 700cc to each breast which I thought seemed like ALOT! He told me due to my frame and height that 700 cc was appropriate. The surgery was quick, I was in and out in less than an hour. Now, I'm wondering was he rushing? I'm not sure but judging on my results I now question everything! I have two intentions in my thighs and one dimple in my stomach from the lipo. This was an unexpected result. Prior to the surgery I didn't have any stretch marks or scars so the indention in my abdomen is very unsightly and I'm very insecure about it. I reached out and they said I could come in and he would do a subscision.I drove 4.5 hours to Dallas and he attempted to fix it. He didn't give me enough lidocaine and I was in excruciating pain. He spent less then 5 minutes with me and never asked to see my results of my breast fat transfer. I had felt like over the last month that I was not retaining the fat he transferred and my body had reabsorbed it. I wanted to wait to see the before and after pictures. When I got them a few days later I was in total shock. It looked like I never got a transfer done at all. There is a zero difference! I am so baffled after 700cc to each breast! I just want to cry! After spending so much money, taking time off work and not being able to lift my children in fear of losing my results, I'm left so disappointed. My lipo looks good but I have 17 scars 3 of which are indented! I reached out to the office and no response. Dr. Burns is so nice. I'm so shocked this happened to me. I'm very surprised he never addressed my concerns despite two attempts at reaching out to him.

Replies (1)

I am 4 weeks post op (different doctor) and I already feel like there is no difference. It looked great the first week and I fear that my body just absorbed it all. I'm questioning the proper technique in how my doctor harvested and inserted the fat. I was also given very little post care instructions so I'm still confused if I did things right afterwards. It's so disappointing and makes me cry.
I'm so sorry this happened to you as well. To add insult to injury I have had continued issues and mammogram and ultrasound changes in my breast that could be confused for cancer obscuring my imaging. It's so disappointing!