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

UPDATED FROM bonny1971
3 years post

3.5 years ago it is still not ended

bonny1971
I got scars - lots of them, they didn't fade like it was promised, very scarred psyche - I still can't date, Dr. Bednar offered money and then refused to give it after I shared what happened in social media. All that was bad and hard to live through but I thought may be this was finally over. Nope. 5 months ago I got a lump in my lymphatic node in the armpit. I was terrified waiting for an appointment and an expertise of possible cancer. It turned out not cancer but an abscess - rejected fat tissue that was inflamed for years or months and finally came out close to the surface. My armpit was cut open, and it's been 3.5 months since I have been hoping it would heal. It hasn't. I don't have a summer again. The 4th year without sunbathing or swimming. I keep changing wound dressings. The wound closes and re-opens within a week with more yellow fluid coming out. A surgeon suggested i got a fistula. I am now to find treatment for this. Have looked on the internet- and it doesn't look promising. It may be a chronic fistula that, if left untreated, can lead to a network of fistulas in the breast and God only knows what's next. Please please please don't do this to yourself. Don't do high volume fat grafting. You can forget peace for the rest of your life.

bonny1971's provider

Edward J. Bednar, MD

Edward J. Bednar, MD

Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

4.6 | 238 Reviews
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Replies (5)

August 27, 2021
Sending healing thoughts your way. If your story helps even one person consider the risks, it is worth telling.
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September 16, 2021
omg. I'm so sorry to hear you've gone through all of this. I can't imagine the trauma and the cost. I hope things heal soon. Had a breast augmentation which has had complications and I want a removal and was thinking about fat transfer--but Your post has helped me know that I should NOT get this done. sending healing vibes to you.
October 26, 2021
Sending you peace and strength. Thank you for sharing as I have done. If there is one person who will hear and be warned it will bring some good into the world out do your hardship and pain. Be well.
November 3, 2021
I also had a nightmare experience going to Dr Bednar. Please contact me.
January 17, 2022
@tina2f any updates on your experience? Is there now a lawsuit?
May 11, 2022
Hi dukie5, what is your story?
November 14, 2021
Can you please tell your story?
January 2, 2022
I have an attorney so I cannot on social media. I can tell you it’s insane and VERY concerning. My experience was horrific.
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 (5)

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).
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 (5)

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...