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Breast Fat Transfer - 1.5 yrs Nightmare, I hope it ends

ORIGINAL POST

Nightmare That Will Last for Life

bonny1971
I had a fat transfer to breast on in November of 2017. It is the end of May 2019, and there is still no end to the nightmare. I have cried almost every day , have not had intimate relationships, not much fun with anyone or anything at all because of feeling destroyed, depressed, and going from one surgery to another to fix what Dr. Bednar did. I will relate this step by step.
Dr. Bednar injected 400cc-s into each of my 80cc sized breasts on November 17, 2017. Two weeks after the sutures opened and dead fat started leaking out of them. I had fever, vomiting, couldn't work for 2 weeks, and had to work from home after because I constantly had to change wound dressings as dead stuff kept leaking for 1.5 months. As a result I ended up with 2 drastically different sized breasts, innumerate breast lumps, lots of unsightly scars, and trauma that have changed me for life.
I've had 4 more fat transfer procedures and lump removal surgery in the last 1.5 years and my breasts are still asymmetrical – even though the volume is getting close to being the same, one nipple is now hanging lower and looks more outwards then the other and even if I go for nipple repositioning and end up with a visible scar from it, doctors can't guarantee the nipple will settle into the right position.
I am exhausted from constant consultations with doctors, surgeries and recoveries. I do not wish anyone to go through this.

bonny1971's provider

Edward J. Bednar, MD

Edward J. Bednar, MD

Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

4.6 | 237 Reviews
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Replies (41)

May 29, 2019
Oh no I’m so sorry to hear about your plight. Don’t give up, I’m sure you will find a doctor to fix your breast issue
May 29, 2019
My heart goes out to you for all the suffering you have to go through! I'm so sorry and this really sounds and looks like an absolute nightmare you are experiencing. I don't understand why he would press that much fat into breasts that clearly have way too little breast tissue to accomodate 440cc. I would imagine 200cc would have been the absolute maximum. Your case really makes me speechless because all reputable specialists seem to agree for fat cells to survive they need blood supply. With how little breast tissue you had, it really seems a no brainer that 400cc wouldnt have the necessary blood supply to survive . I live in Europe and have my surgery in a week and for the longest time I always had this regret in the back of my mind that if it had been possible financially and logistically, Dr. Bednar would have been the surgeon I really would have liked to have chosen. However, your case (and another case) makes me absolutely relieved that I didn't choose him. I have slightly larger breasts than you but still very, very small (AA/small A cups) and I really think while Dr. Bednar may be a great choice for women with larger sized breasts or deflated breasts after pregnancy or even for those who want a breast fat transfer after silicone removal, he is an absolute no no for women with extremely small breasts.
Your body has gone through so much trauma if you can I would really give myself a little bit more time to heal before you undergo another procedure. But please take heart in the knowledge that there are specialists out there, who will definitely be able to correct the damage that has been done and you don't have to live with the current situation. You need someone who for instance also does breast reconstructions with breast fat after breast cancer. Because it's not about just stuffing breasts but a significan expertise in handling scars and scar tissue. I really wish you all the very best!!
May 30, 2019
Thank you, Anska. What you say were also my thoughts about Dr. Bednar's expertese. He seems to do a lot if these procedure but probably not enough or never before me has done it on someone of my size. I had something sink in my belly when he told me how much fat he injected in me the day after surgery. I subconsciously probably knew it was dangerous. Later I learned that you are not supposed to inject more than double amount of your current size. I wish you best luck with your procedure. Make sure you ask your surgeon how much fat he plans to put in and stay in the safer side then the sorry one.
May 30, 2019
Thanks Bonny and yes, we have already discussed that I will receive 250cc as an absolute maximum, possibly even less. My Dr. strongly believes less is more and that you need two procedures to gain 1 cup.
Regarding your own situation, I assume you live in the US? Have you looked at Dr. Christina Ahn at that NYC Breast Reconstruction Centre? I have come across her by chance as she and the Centre don't do any Marketing. She seems to be an absolute specialiste and from what I've read I think you would be in extremely experienced hands because she basically deals with highly complex cases on a daily basis. Here's a link to the Centre and also the realself profile.
http://www.nycbreastreconstruction.com/
https://www.realself.com/find/New-York/New-York-City/Plastic-Surgeon/Christina-Ahn
May 30, 2019
Please message me. I had super similar experience. I am still trying to heal from it and it has been very frustrating with no help on their end. I had that same gut feeling and ignored it, just hoped for the best. Really wish I would have walked out that day.
June 3, 2019
please share your experience? I need all the guidance i can get at the moment so id really appreciate any advice or insight you could give?
August 28, 2019
Hi Mandy, how would you like me to share besides posting here? Send me a direct message if you want to chat in more detail with me.
January 20, 2021
Did you have a similar experience with Dr. Bednar? Can you please share to help us girls who are considering going to him for fat transfer?
May 29, 2019
Dear Bonny, words fail me...what happened to you is outrageous. I really do hope you will be able to love your body again, it's been through so much. I think you look good.
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May 30, 2019
Im so sorry this happened to you! I hope you feel better soon, what a scary experience you had to go through! Please dont be so hard on yourself! I agree with the comment above you still do look good! <3 Im sure this is very hard to deal with but there's so many good doctors out there I'm sure you will find someone to give you the results you are looking for! Don't give up. Lean on your family and friends when you need to or even people in this community! We all wish nothing but the best for you and I hope you recover quickly!
May 30, 2019
Thank you for your support, ladies. I am surprised how many comments I got right away. I was in a real panicky state, completely speechless and devastated for a long time and really really hoped that next surgery would fix it all, and this would just be a nuisance in my life. But surgery after surgery my situation doesn't get fixed. I guess when I feel powerlessness and nearing the "not much I can do" place, I think all I can do is tell my story. I look at flat chested women every day for the last year and a half and think how gorgeous they are, how I should have never, ever, tried to go for "surgical" way of improving my looks. It is very, very dangerous. Complications are very, very real. I would be so happy to have my 34AA breasts now with no scars all over my body from all of the lipos. I'd be a completely different person if I didn't go though such an emotional trauma for a year and a half and God know how long more. Think hard if you really need it. Implants are much safer in my opinion. Take them out and all bad things they might create will be gone(unless you are one of the few unlucky ones to get a lymphoma). Thank you for your support again.
Please let me know of any extremely precise super magician plastic surgeon out there to fix me.
August 10, 2019
Have you heard of a TV show called Botched. 2 gifted plastic surgeons are there to fix patients who have had botched surgery. They are in orange county CA and you don't have to be on television to receive their care. Dr. Debrow and Dr. Nasif (sp. check_) are the Dr.s. may be able to help you. I hope the best for you.
UPDATED FROM bonny1971
1 year post

Another Saturday bawling

bonny1971
During the week I get up, rinse up, put make up on, go to work, deal with what's at hand – probably survival instinct. Weekends are different. Almost every Saturday in the past 1.5 years I wake up crying and checking my breasts out non-stop. I have come across research showing that 1 factor that affects the quality of a woman's life the most after breast cancer surgery is breast asymmetry https://www.youtube.com/watch?vMLp9Uf3_1_k. I can fully attest to that. The asymmetry I got after the fat transfer with Dr. Bednar preoccupies me almost every minute of my waking hours. I do my best to focus on work during the work hours but even in meetings with clients and definitely while working alone I get distracted by thoughts about it and sometimes have to apply mental strength not to start crying.
Today is a Saturday. I am sitting all day at home – crying, reading articles online about different approaches to breast asymmetry correction, looking for something I haven't heard yet that might help me, looking at doctors' "before and after"s – going over some of them for the n-th time. I don't want to go anywhere, don't want to see anyone, and I don't see any point in this life quite frankly until I feel whole again with my breasts being the same size and shape as it was before Dr. Bednar's procedure.
Lots of breast reconstruction doctors have pretty bad cases – women who came to them had entire or big parts of their breasts lost to cancer or they had severe tuberous breast deformities, so their "after" pictures are definitely better than what they started with – I hope they are happy – but in my case, my "before" often looks like their "after". It makes me fear whether it is ever possible to correct smaller asymmetry and deformity like I have, and the fact that mine is a smaller deformity than what you get from cancer doesn't make me feel any better. I did not have cancer. If I had cancer I am sure I would assess the situation differently. In my eyes I am drastically different from what I was naturally like symmetry-wise, and there is advice out there that I learned to live by: never compare yourself to others but strive to be better every day compared to what you were like before. And I am worse than before at no fault of my own. It's upsetting. Very.
My emotional pain may be exacerbated by the fact that I have very well trained eyes – I am a graphic designer, and I may see visual differences more distinctly than people who haven't spend as many years as I did analyzing things with half a pixel precision, but unfortunately I can not put other people's eyes into my head and connect them to my brain, and even if I did – that will take my ability to do my job as well as I do away. No one is perfectly symmetrical, I understand, but the way I was before was good enough for me, and now the difference is way more visible.
I don't know if this long rant is gonna be helpful to anyone. For me it may give me a little bit of an emotional relief. For you – I guess, you should know that Fat Transfer procedure has a risk of creating an asymmetry and it is way more agonizing to have it than what you may have thought when you didn't have it.

Replies (29)

June 9, 2019
I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I was going to use Dr Bednar, I'm from Australia but after reading your experience I will not go to him. I might not even have it at all. Good luck in your healing journey.
June 9, 2019
Thank you Tidda. Good luck to you too.
June 19, 2019
Not to be rude at all as that is not my intention, but after looking at these photos it seems Dr Bednar actually did quite a good job considering you had little to no body fat to harvest at the beginning. It is unfortunate that the dead fat cells leaked, they generally are reabsorbed by your body, however I feel like this is unique to your situation as I have never heard of this happening before. A breast augmentation can help you achieve the look you’re desiring and likely fix the problem. To be completely honest though, they don’t look bad to me at all. All the best with everything!
June 27, 2019
Hey Cassidy, not sure if you read through all of my comments on the photos but do be aware I had 4 surgeries after Dr. Bednar's original procedure. There is a photo of breast asymmetry right after his first surgery – it's the one following the bath tab photo with dead fat flowing down my belly and the crotch. Is that the one that you say he did a good job on? Or you referring to the asymmetry I still had after 3 procedure that he did trying to correct his first mishap? If it's the last one, do consider how much physical and emotional pain is between those photos. And in the end, I appreciate your trying to make me feel better saying that my breasts look ok to you, but as I said in one of my posts, I wish I could put your eyes into my head and not see the asymmetry and contour deformity that I did not have before Dr. Bednar's procedure. I wish I did not see the ugly scars all over my body either. I wish I could erase the emotional trauma from this experience too.
June 21, 2019
Why was my comment removed?
June 26, 2019
I had breasts about your same size and got implants for 26 years, explanted, waited a year and got fat transfer 120cc each side. It took well, breasts still small but filled in with cleavage. Then I went to more local PS who shoved in 400+ cc per side. Most did not take, breasts were larger but only maybe 150cc per side. I had no complications after the small transfer but had cysts requiring biopsy after the second. It is about placement and amount, also how the fat is harvested. I am so sorry you had a bad outcome. Your breasts will get larger when you get older and put on a few pounds...
UPDATED FROM bonny1971
2 years post

It's going on the 3rd year – still crushed

bonny1971
Just wanted to put a quick update in. I had 2 more fat transfers (at this point 5). My breast size originally was 34AA, now it is still hardly a full 34A cup. The breasts are still different size, shape, and during the last surgery I had my nipple moved up. It is hard to see the difference in the picture taken from the front – it flattens out the volume but I can see it from my view looking down. The shape is different and even though the new doctor filled in the right breast's cleavage area, the right breast is still sloping down to the right more than the left one. One doctor I saw said that the only way to fix it back up is by moving the entire breast mound under the skin and suturing it to the muscle and it would be a very involved procedure which he refused to preform, thinking just moving the nipple up would fix it. It did not fix it.
It's hard to follow all the comments in the story, so to remind you, after I had my first fat transfer to breast with as Dr. Bednar, my left breast's incisions bursted open and all dead fat leaked out, leaving me with a severe asymmetry. I asked Dr. Bednar if it would be better to drain and scrape the right breast too because asymmetry was unbearable to me. He said he'd make the size even in a couple of months which didn't happen. He tried, but after 1.5 years of his trying the breasts were still uneven shape, size, and full of lumps. Leaving the right breast larger for a long time, made it sag and move in a different direction from the center of the chest wall than where the left breast is, so now even though another surgeon tried lifting it back to the symmetrical position with the left using a Benelli lift, it was not successful. All I got is a big scar around my right nipple and the right nipple stretched.
I know a lot of you will say it looks fine, but that is if you compare me to other people, people who went through cancer treatment or breast explant or .. it's just them. When it comes to you, there is no comparison. I started with a completely clean, symmetrical, scarless body, and I mourn it so much every day of my life for the 3rd holiday season that I don't get to enjoy, and I am so disappointed in the doctors, and in the world that does not protect you from something like this happening.

Replies (22)

January 3, 2020
I also had fat transfer after implants removed. 120CC first brought them up to flat, with upper pole fullness. Then 400CC by a different Dr. (who ruined my tummy and took way too much fat under my butt), which mostly didn't take, and had fat cysts(painful biopsies). Luckily I ended up with even B cups. Yours look ok, stop while you are ahead. Plastic surgery never seems to be 100% perfect, cannot expect it to be. Oh, I also had a facial skin rejuvenation procedure which left me scarred....again, quit while you are ahead!
January 5, 2020
I am sorry to hear about your struggles and bad surgeries, Kaitee. I agree with you, plastic surgery never accomplished what I wanted to accomplish and while one part would get slightly improved, I'd get it other parts of me deformed in the process. I hope you have healed and are able to move on.
January 10, 2020
Thanks. I still want to "finish up" but am less inclined as I get older. BTW, you are young and thin now, as you age weight creeps on and your breasts WILL get bigger. I looked a lot like you did, now am very satisfied with my size. Too big is a burden.
January 4, 2020
Glad you found a new doctor! I know your journey has been painful and traumatic; your strength throughout this ordeal is admirable. If it helps, I honestly didn't notice the asymmetry in shape until I read the line when you pointed it out, so I doubt anyone else will really notice it. Also I think I read something a while back about areola tattooing to improve the appearance of scars and make the borders look more natural. Depending on how the scar heals, you may want to consider that. I sincerely hope you'll soon feel more confident in your body bc after everything you've been through, you deserve that happiness.
January 5, 2020
Thank you, the last photo is only 2 weeks post-op, I think when swelling subsides more unevenness will be visible, but yeah, I do hope to somehow finally find peace
January 5, 2020
You look really good now, the best out of all your surgeries so far. Please stop now. Don't risk another Fat Transfer!
January 16, 2020
I'm so sorry about what you went through. I felt botched up after a plastic surgery myself and know how that feels. From what I can see, your breasts look great on your last photo and your scars will fade with time!
January 24, 2020
Thank you for your kind words, ladies. I removed my last photo for now because you are all saying I look great. I think they you are not reading the comment on the photo that it is only 7 days post-op: breasts look big and shapely with swelling and fat that hasn't been absorbed yet. I am at 6 weeks now, and I am way smaller already, the contour is less shapely, the asymmetry is more prominent. I will post at 3 or months post-op when it's all settled. I wish you best luck on your journey and I wish to everyone to heal soon and look beautiful. For those who haven't done a plastic surgery I wish never to do it (unless you have not much to loose).