Traumatic - the way he handled this problem was absolutely unacceptable to me
Traumatic
I had a breast implant exchange and mastopexy in 2017 with Dr. Delia. I went into the consult with the expressed desire to go smaller and to lift the breasts as my old saline implants had dropped considerably. Long story short, I had my surgery and ended up with the exact same sized implants (although these were silicone.) He had expressed that a smaller implant "just wouldn't work for my frame" as I'm six feet tall with a wider ribcage. This part, while disappointing, was acceptable.
What was unacceptable was the horrific wound dehiscence and necrosis I experienced about 7 days post op in my recovery. Slowly the vertical incision began to open on each breast. You could literally see the internal sutures just coming apart. Dr. Delia repeatedly reassured me this was no big deal and a common occurrence in lifts/implants. I ended up with an inch and a half gaping wound on my left breast that healed into an unsightly scar after over 3 months of intensive wound care that I performed. When I attended my follow up appointment, he had mentioned the possibility of a scar revision but informed me I'd be charged over $2000 for it.
For years I convinced myself that he was right and nothing could have been done to prevent this. I now know this is absolutely false. For background, I was 29, non smoker and in perfect health with no vascular issues. Clearly there was something wrong with the sutures along the vertical incision line.
Had he offered to fix the issue without the charge, I would have been happy to leave a positive review. I thought the placement of nipples was excellent as was the lift I received. He's obviously a very skilled surgeon, however the way he handled this problem was absolutely unacceptable to me.It took me many years to come to terms with what happened to me. This incident lead to me not showing my breasts to my husband because I was so disfigured.
Luckily, I recently sought out a revision lift and removal of implants with another surgeon. The results were phenomenal and he was able to remove all of the old scar tissue to give me beautiful and natural looking breasts for the first time in years. I am not one to leave negative reviews for businesses, but this was a truly traumatic and disfiguring event that I felt warranted one.
Update
Unfortunately, this conversation did nothing to offset the financial and emotional burden I endured. I spent almost $15,000 to correct this deformity after years of indecisiveness. That being said, I hope that this conversation has a positive impact on future patients, as Dr. Delia assured me he would approach the issue differently going forward. I mentioned that potentially offering a partial refund of the surgical cost in the amount equal to the scar revision cost would be sufficient and would make the review no longer warranted.
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Found a new surgeon that is amazing so far!