28 Yrs Old, 2 Csections, Large Diastasis Recti - Long Beach, CA

I had a floating TT a few weeks ago. Before the big day I had visited about 8 different surgeons all of which agreed I needed a TT. I had a lot of excess skin around my BB and a ventricle hernia.

After several meetings I decided to go with Dr. Marcel Daniels. He made me feel comfortable and agreed he can meet all my expectations to the point where I'd feel confident in anything I'd wear.

Surgery date came and all seemed well. I was up and about with such ease! My husband and I were surprised. I was told it was a real tough surgery to recover from, and day 1 I was almost upright.

Well, it wasn't until I took off my binder that my confidence shot out the door. My Diastasis recti had completely been repaired BUT, my aesthetic part of the surgery looked horrible! I didn't know if to cry or just be angry.

I visited twice so far and on the first visit he said "to give it time" since it was just a day that had gone by. On my second visit (2 weeks later) it looked even worse. My swelling had gone down and now more wrinkled skin was apparent. On that second visit I addressed my disapproval of the outcome. I asked why he gave me a floated TT as that was a bad choice since it was not going to give me optimal results of which a full TT would have. He never admitted his fault (I went to him being the expert) and again suggested "I give it time" and that maybe in the future he could give me "laser treatments". Not sure how this laser treatment will fix anything. Now my BB is at stake since he floated it.

It really does look bad, I look like I have a clitoris where my belly button should be :(

So now it's just a waiting game. I see him again in a month at which I will again stress my disappointment. I do not want to pay more money since I already paid him enough to do something he did not. I paid for a BMW and he gave me a Corolla. Hopefully he sees and agrees with my disappointment and does a revision that I can be totally happy with.

Today hits my 1 month PO. Nothing has changed at all other than the swelling has gone down. I seem to be able to see more wrinkled skin now. It really looks like a clitoris instead of a belly button. I called the office today to let them know I wanted to sit and talk to the dr. The front desk attendant was so comforting and helpful. She literally said "we want nothing more than for you to be happy with your outcome. The dr and staff here all want to see you happy and I'm sure Dr. Daniels will do everything in his power to correct anything you are unhappy with".

I felt much better knowing they understood I was unhappy and will give me the time to discuss my outcome. Hopefully it wasn't her just being nice and the Dr agrees. I'll be updating after my visit with him in 2 weeks.

Updates. I went to see my surgeon and I could literally see in his face that he was unhappy with my results. Just as I am of course. BUT instead of assisting me after paying him that much money he said this... He said I kept my expectations too high because my skin laxity was so bad I'd never look flat. Also he said he never suggested a FULL TT because he'd never be able to close the umbilical hernia completely. Therefore my only option was a Floating TT. Which of course I was never told. All the other surgeons I saw said if be having a full TT. Why I went with this dr? Well at the moment he seemed the more honest and confident.

I'm really upset. I aain expressed that I did not pay 7500 to look bad. Though my ventrical hernia was fixed, from the belly button up now I get very bloated and you can see it pop out.

He said he would do a laser test on me to see if it would fix my skin. Make it look tighter. At this point I've decided to wait. If at 6 months I'm not happy, I will be asking for my money back. I'm sure there is a process but he clearly saw it wasn't a good job.

I went to my 6 week follow up just to be much more disappointed. I showed my PS my stomach and AGAIN expressed how I was unsatisfied of my results considering I paid a lot of money to look better and be happy with my results. Results that he promised me and didn't get. His answer to me was that I had kept "unrealistic expectations" and that I wasn't a candidate for a full tummy tuck (which was what I believed I was having till I found out I didn't after surgery) because of my umbilical hernia. According to him if he did a full TT he wouldn't be able to close my hernia. Also! Blamed my results on my "horrible skin laxity".

He went ahead and tried Fraxel on a part of my belly. He said it "might" help my skin tighten up some.

He said he would tighten up about a centimeter more if I wanted to. Even though this would do nothing for the loose skin above and all around my belly button! I also started to notice this bulge from my belly button up. It almost looks like my Rectus above my belly button wasn't tightened enough.

In other words, there's nothing he can do. I said I would wait till next month. I'm really upset, he literally played me. I trusted my money and body in his hands and he didn't even meet his own expectations. I look nothing like any of the pictures he showed me.

I'm very upset. I think during our next appointment I won't be as nice as I've been. Though it's a long stretch, I will be asking for my money back.