Aftercare and Attitude - Las Vegas, NV

Well, leave it to a Diva (me...lol) and a top Plastic Surgeon to create a bit of dramatic repartee! After a few rounds of strained banter, we came full circle and have mended fences. I must say that I feel very relieved to be back in good communication with Dr. Smith. I went to see him today and he took great care of the problem inside my lower lip. He looked at my neck and reassured me that it will totally heal up soon. We spoke about my ears and he rendered the perfect solution. I will see him again in a few weeks and I am now feeling safe, calm and happy. I wish to add that it takes "two to Tango" and that I do take responsibility for my part of the dance. My apologies for that, Dr. Smith.

Just showing the things I need to repair along with a pic of me last week in Cher makeup

I had a mini facelift, necklift and fat transfer to the face. My first day after surgery was extremely difficult because the wrap on my head choked me and made it hard to breathe and swallow. My husband called Dr. lane at 4am because we had to cut the wrap near my throat so I could breathe. When Dr. lane later saw a picture of the way I was wrapped, he told his assistant that she did it wrong.

Then the next day, I went back to his office to have the wrap removed. He did not see me. It was another assistant. I showed her a large swelled mass on my neck. She said it was "normal swelling" and told me to ice it. While at home for the week before I was to go back for my second follow-up, I researched the net and found out that the swelling was a hematoma. These need to be handled as soon as possible.

So, I go back after one week and another assistant looks at me and says, "you look good." I pointed to my neck and replied, "except for the hematoma." She then went to get the Doctor, who was upset that this had been missed. He said it should have been drained a week ago. He drained it three times, which got the swelling down but to this date, over five weeks later, there is still a major pulling along with a few raised areas on my neck.

I also have two earlobes that he fashioned to look completely different along with fat deposits that have caused problems with my lips. But I trusted that Dr. Lane would simply fix it all and I was pleased with the overall result.

Upon my last follow-up a ten days ago, Dr. Lane tried to remedy the hardness in my neck from the hematoma along with the fat problems in my lip by injecting kenalog. I then was to wait a month before my next follow-up. I was a little disappointed at the wait because I am a busy performer who is also the world''s top Cher impersonator. My face is my living, and I need to be able to properly use my lips to sing and speak like Cher.

Well, on my first day back in makeup, I decided to send Dr. Lane a picture of my new face so he could see his artwork. I sent this on a private message on Facebook. This led to some light banter wherein I asked about my lips again because the lumps were causing a slight lisp and hindering my performance. I asked in a light manner with a "lol." To this simple question, I received a barrage of critical hostility such as "I love how you only focus on the minor negative things." Being a trained spiritual counselor, I tried to abate his anger by validating him and letting him know I loved the overall result but was simply trying to handle a hindrance to my job. It did not help. He then admonished me for using Facebook to complain to him and blocked me from ever communicating to him again on there.

This type of behavior was not compassionate to my concerns as a performer and was not professional. Although I can understand his not wanting me to communicate business outside of his office, he could have simply asked me to do so in a polite manner.

I could not continue to perform with the lip problem, and thus decided to go elsewhere to get it handled. I also decided to find another plastic surgeon to fix my ears and neck after that. I still love Dr. Lane's overall result, but the aftercare and attitude were not acceptable.