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3 surgeries in 2 years & explanted after pinhole puncture - still deformed

ORIGINAL POST

Dr Salama Deformed my Chest.

$10,000
Permanently disfigured.
It really pains me to write a negative review but I feel I have to, especially after my experience. I'd had my breast implants for 20+ years when I went to see Moises Salama. I wanted them replaced solely because they're not lifetime devices. In 22 years, I did not have a single issue with my breast implants. NOT ONE, but it was time. I was about 48 and I figured that I might as well change them now while I could recover very quickly plus I wanted some lipo so I thought why not do this at once. I'd interviewed four other very reputable PS's in South Florida before going to Salama. When I walked into Salama's office, I was a little taken back as it felt a little seedy but it was a reputable building on hospital grounds so I went with it. I heard prices being given over the phone and women walking in the waiting room with drains hanging out, in bathrobes, etc. Mind you,, this office was on a second floor and you walk through a lobby and hallway to get to the office. Not very private for sure for everyone- new and freshly operated. I met Salama and he recognized me as we apparently worked out at the same gym so there was an instant connection. We chatted about what I wanted and he made me feel very comfortable. Also, out of the now 5 PS's, he was the ONLY doctor willing to do lipo on me so my decision was made. Price was not a deciding factor for me as this is my body and surgery can be life-or-death in the wrong hands. I gave my deposit, scheduled my date and off I went. Fast forward to surgery day. Salama's old surgery facility was awful. Now he's in a new beautiful office but this old, seedy and I should have walked away THAT minute. Nope... lipo. Gotta stay. We discussed at length in the office appointments that I wanted the EXACT same size implants, which were very small. He talked me into Silicone as I'd had saline. I must have repeated not to go bigger, easily 15-20x- no joke. Morning of... I continued to repeat I do not want even a cc bigger. He agreed and that he had done the saline to silicone conversion and we were good to go. Great. Got changed in the seedy bathroom (should have left then!) and off I went. My husband waited for me through surgery. As I was waking up I heard all this movement and chaos. I'd had a temporary crown in my mouth that I'd clearly documented on all my paperwork and told the anesthesiologist. I had to have them temporary in while a bone graft in healed. They all knew this. I could never get the real story but ultimately I believed they knocked it out when removing the intubation tube. They were trying to figure out who was telling my husband and then my husband knew I was going to be so upset. My husband already called my dentist to schedule my appointment the next day (he was going to come in on a Saturday to fix this mess) before I even came out of recovery. Let's fast forward again... Issue #1 Salama put in implants that were bigger than discussed. His reply was- get this- that they didn't have the right size so he went a bit bigger. [RS bleep]. Seriously?! Issue #2 Salama somehow deformed the pocket and I had this weird muscle indent that looked AWFUL and deformed. He said he must have sewn more of the "pocket" there and he could easily fix that.Issue #3 A few weeks later, that same implant had broken through the pocket and was sitting on my ribcage. Obviously there was no other choice but to redo this. He graciously offered to only charge me the BS facility fee and anesthesia charge. What was I thinking... I paid it and chalked it up to this could happen anywhere. Fast forward again... We went back to saline implants. I had surgery. Same deformity in the pocket. Fast forward 11 months... One implant ruptured and deflated. Tongue turned blackRash all over my bodyI went to Salama and he said it was deflated, obviously not knowing why but I had had it. I wasn't going for the 3x a charm scenario with Salama. I went to Dr. Barnavon in Hollywood. A highly regarded breast cancer reconstruction PS that came very highly recommended. After surgery where I opted to simply explant after all this drama, he informed me they found a pin hole puncture hole in the implant that had deflated and it was punctured when Salama was sewing me up. It was a tiny needle puncture so it took a longer time to deflate and likely happened slowly as I did things that compressed the implant, like hugging, yoga, etc. My primary doctor and dermatologist did test after test and we couldn't figure out why my tongue turned black or the rash all over but we all surmised later that it was clearly from the implant deflation and the bacteria seeping into my body. If you look up Breast Implant Illness and get in the Facebook group for it, the symptoms were perfectly clear. I had one breast surgery in 22 years and bc of Salama, I ended up having 3 more in the next 2 years and am still deformed from the first one. Such a shame my chest is forever scarred after going to what felt like a plastic surgery mill. I will not post pictures but I'm happy to respond to anyone that has questions.

LM729's provider

Moises Salama, MD

Moises Salama, MD

Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

4.7 | 2558 Reviews
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Replies (2)

Im so sorry to hear that, so what are your options now?I was considering another breast reduction because I done it twice and they always put me a bigger size I dont understand why they cant comply with the size
He put me through so many unnecessary surgeries just to fix his work after I repeatedly told him what I wanted and he kept doing the complete opposite. The amount of money I have spent is ridiculous. And for what ? To have botched surgeries.