Two Procedures, Arm Lift and Extended Tummy Tuck to Remove Excess Skin from over 100lb Weight Loss - Houston, TX

I estimated the total cost for the arm lift as I do not have the exact amount right in front of me and can't remember. But overall the arm lift and extended tummy tuck cost me around $14,200. That's because I paid cash. If you finance it add on an extra $1000. Also estimating the date of surgery, I don't remember what day, don't have papers in front of me.

Oh and BTW when I say pay cash that means you must get a cashiers check for the exact amount. If you call the office to make payment on your debit card to come directly out of your bank account that doesn't count and you will be charged the non cash price. The office staff didn't inform me of this and I made two payments from my personal checking which added on extra fees I had to pay of $200 since I did this. Thankfully the girl who answers the phone caught that and told me if I wanted the cash price I needed to bring in a cashiers check for the remaining payment. Ok, no problem, could of done that from the get-go HAD I BEEN INFORMED. No big deal at the end of the day though, whats an extra $200.

My real problem with Dr. Basu and select few of his staff is that after surgery I got the impression they don't care. Before I had the procedure any question I had or phone call I made was returned swiftly and in a friendly manner. After surgery I had a different experience.

Also I should add, a few days after surgery I noticed blistering that didn't look normal, my dad called the office (your discharge instructions tell you to call if you have this problem, so we called as instructed to do). Dad left message and no one returns our calls. I lay in bed the rest of the week and eventually my first post op appointment was about a week later. I show up to my appointment and the nurse (not even sure if she is a real nurse, I think she has one of those 2yr jr. college certifications) says I need antibiotics for the blistering. WOW REALLY!!!! I NEED ANTIBIOTICS? GO FIGURE, that's why we left a message a couple days after surgery with no return phone calls.

But the antibiotics did treat the blisters and it went away (still healing). However as a patient I expected the issue to be addressed the day we left the first message, not a week later. UNPROFESSIONAL

The first two weeks post op I was prescribed Vicodin which worked very well for pain however I am allergic to it (red in face, itchy skin) so around the second week I was prescribed something called "tramadol"? (SP?). I am not allergic to the Tramadol, but to be flat out blunt, the tramadol sucks compared to Vicodin at relieving pain, so if you end up only having a slight allergy like I did tough it out, believe me, itch discomfort is far better than the pain from an extended tummy tuck and arm lift incision.

I eventually have one tube and then the next tube taken out and at that appointment I bring up to the nurse with the 2yr degree (not sure her exact certification) that I am having pain and the Tramadol isn't effective like the Vicodin was. She tells me at this point I should be trying to take things like Tylenol over the counter for my pain!!!! WOW, have this kind of surgery and two weeks out you take Tylenol over the counter for the pain and let me know how it works for you because that is unrealistic in my eyes. I was in pain and getting irritated.

It got worse over the weekend and once the pain was so bad I couldn't fall asleep, since I couldn't sleep I was up moving around more (I shouldn't of been, I should of stayed in bed, but this is hard to do all day if you cannot sleep) and moving around just made the pain worse. I call Dr. Basu office on Monday, leave a message, no return call. Call Dr. Basu's office on Tuesday and was told they could take a message but I demanded to speak with a nurse or Dr. himself, after waiting on hold a rude amount of time I was able to speak to a woman who tells me there is nothing she can do for me but she will talk with Dr. Basu who was in surgery and I would receive a return phone call (I feel bad I was a little rude and frustrated with whomever I spoke with, but at this point I was fed up and in pain). The entire day goes by with no return phone call. Next day (Wednesday) goes by no return phone call, today is Thursday and I call the office because I have already waited two day for my call to be returned. I am told there is nothing Dr. Basu can do for me and it is not normal for patients to have pain three weeks after surgery. She gave me a phone number to someone they refer people to with extreme pain. I called the person who I was referred to and left a message, still no call back from this pain management specialist they are referring me to. But why the heck should I be referred to someone else. I thought Dr. Basu was who I paid over $14,000 to, inset he supposed to treat me?

Tomorrow is Friday and I have a follow up appointment where I am told I will actually get to see Dr. Basu, I sure hope I do because at this point I am wondering if this HUGE FAILURE is just from his staff or if it roots back to Dr. Basu himself. I will post a follow up.

Oh and one more thing, once you have your surgery, you will not have the actual Dr. look at your incisions or results until a month out. I don't care for this practice, I think the Dr. should look at them at least once at one of your first post operative appointments. I don't care if it costs more money, charge me whatever, at the end of the day I choose Dr. Basu because of the recommendations on this site. Cost was no issue, I paid cash, I finance nothing.

I am extremely irritated with the office and his practice at this point. I need a good $30,000 - $40,000 more worth of cosmetic surgery in order to correct my body, breasts from my weight loss which I will pay cash for. My plan was to have Dr. Basu do everything, but now I am researching other Dr.'s and I am asking a lot more questions about how they handle patients post-op because at Dr. Basu's office I was blown off.

I hope you have a different and more positive experience with his office post-op if you should select him for your procedure. I am sad to report how disappointed I am with him and the staff because I was initially EXTREMELY IMPRESSED with Dr. Basu, his staff, his before and after photos and how much he genuinely seemed to care. I really am shocked how blown off I have been treated post-op, from the initially blistering we reported to the burning pain I have where my incisions are hurting the most. I am extremely upset.

I have appointments with other top plastic surgeons in the Houston area for future procedures and a breast augmentation, but most of all, for them to double check the work of Dr. Basu, because after this poor experience with his staff I am now questioning the quality of his work.

I cannot give a true honest report until my swelling goes down because I am three weeks out, but I will be glad to share my results once I feel I can make a more fair decision and have the opinion of other plastic surgeons on his work. Overall I am relieved to know I am going to have another Dr. check my body for the areas I have burning feeling by my incisions and also to have them check me for infection as I feel there may be a possibility of that and it may cause for more antibiotics.

I am so overall disappointed I am ready to just have the rest of my post-op care transferred to another plastic surgeon. But I know I am upset right now and in a lot of pain and Dr. Basu deserves the chance to make it right tomorrow at my appointment. So I am waiting to see if he takes any action or just blows me off like the rest of the staff that has answered my calls.


I will post before and after photos once I have less swelling and can share a more fair representation of my results. I am not impressed with how it looks at the moment but it will take time to see true results.