Horrible follow-up

I am terribly saddened to read your review and I could not be more apologetic for my part in any miscommunication that occurred between us during your care. You posted your review of me under the Breast Reconstruction topic heading and this makes up a significant portion of my practice. Trying to recreate God-given breasts (especially after disfiguring mastectomy surgery, scarring, chemotherapy, radiation, etc.) is one of the most challenging procedures that any plastic surgeon deals with. I am far from perfect and no surgeon should ever promise a certain result, but what I can promise you is that I get up every day (even on weekends and in the middle of the night when on call) aiming to do my best for every patient that I interact with that day.

One of the hardest components of that interaction is sometimes making the difficult decision NOT to operate, despite when a patient tells you that is what they want. Exercising restraint is part of our judgement as surgeons and that can only come from experience. When emotions are high, that is not an appropriate time or motivation to subject a patient to the potential
risks of surgery if I'm not 100% sure that I can make a difference. That's not to say that with a couple of weeks of time, some peace and some perspective that my opinion might change. Part of that waiting time might involve some additional testing or consideration of other options. I'm very glad that you found a surgeon who was in that position at the right time and place to help you, I truly am.

Positive and negative reviews are posted daily on this site and others. It's critically important to remember that reviewing your doctor is far different than reviewing a product you purchased online, or a bad experience you had at a local restaurant. You are posting personally hurtful thoughts for the entire world (including family, friends, and colleagues) to see. As physicians, we are held to different standards and we are not able to appropriately reply on this forum our reasons why we made specific medical decisions.

Breast reconstruction surgery is fraught with imperfections, some of which we can fix and some we --or at least, I-- cannot. However, I try my best to offer every patient battling breast disease a sense of hope and encouragement. I feel like I'm on their team fighting it together. We don't always win, and that's a fact. But, still, I give everything I can to make the best decisions at each step that I can. If you or someone you know has breast disease, please get them to at least meet with a trusted plastic surgeon in their community for a consultation.