Reviews you can trust, from real people like you.
How it works
- Our highly-trained Review Moderation team evaluates all reviews before they're published to ensure they're written by people like you and not a member of a doctor's office.
- This multi-step process takes up to 24 hours from review submission to publication.
- Doctors can't pay to have reviews removed or hidden.
- Reviews are only removed at the reviewer's request or if they violate our Terms of Service.
If you have questions or believe we should re-evaluate a published review, let us know.
Sort by:
*Treatment results may vary
In 2006 I had a mastectomy
In 2006 I had a mastectomy. Nothing was left but a scar across my chest....I also had 5 weeks of radiation. I was told that because I had radiation treatment, I was not a candidate for reconstruction with expanders and an implant. There was no longer a good blood supply to support an implant.
I went to at least 5 reconstruction doctors and they gave me the same opinion...that if I wanted reconstruction I would have to opt for a tram flap or something equally invasive to remove fat and skin and form a new breast. I was very hesitant to have invasive surgery, so I just shelved my hope of
finding a way to look "normal" again. I wore a prosthetic breast and hated bending over because I
had no cleavage on one side. I paid particular attention to any innovative options to successfully reconstruct my breast. In 2011, with the help of Suzanne Somers as Dr. Aronowitz' mouthpiece,
he touted his use of stem cell fat transfer to reconstruct her breast that was radiated after having a lumpectomy around 8 years before. She claimed that she "had no breast"...that the radiation had slowly shrunk her breast to nothing. She was against implants, which perhaps was because she had
radiation and knew the chance that there would be no good blood supply to support the implant.
She claimed that Dr. Aronowitz' stem cell fat transfer "regrew her breast"....that she could feel little
snaps and pops within her breast and knew that fat was growing back. Ofcourse this caught my attention and I believed that perhaps this was what I was waiting for. I consulted with the doctor and
he said that he could inject my chest area where I once had a breast...but said that he would not be able to harvest enough fat to fill the void. I asked how he was able to do this with Ms. Somers, and he
said that he would need about 6 soda cans full of fat and I didn't have that much fat to donate. The last I remembered, Ms. Somers looked fit in her swimsuit pics and I could not imagine she had 6 soda cans of fat to donate, typically from the stomach and thighs. Perhaps a red flag? At this point I was trying to find an answer to my dilemma and the dr. suggested that he put enough fat in my chest to at least give the illusion of cleavage while wearing my prosthetic. I had faith in him and decided to go ahead and try that procedure so I could at least wear my normal lower cut tops. We set a surgery date and time.
My surgery was scheduled for 12:00 noon. I arrived at 10:00 am. I was put in an examining room by myself and the dr. rushed in and said that he was thinking about my case and felt it would be a better outcome if he took a patch of skin from my back, and pulled it under my arm and transplanted it to my chest so he would be able to give me more volume. The skin would not be detached....just twisted and pulled and sewn into an incision he would make on my chest. I was in a gown....with no one to talk to and he was telling me this was a great idea. I told him I trusted him to do the right thing. I also requested that since I would be under anesthesia perhaps he could inject some stem cell fat into my face to plump up my cheeks and in my indented scars on my hips that resulted from hip replacement surgery 2 years before. He said "sure" and charged me $5,000 extra. I sat in the room for 4 hours...waiting past my 12:00 pm surgery time. No one checked on me, brought me water, gave me a sedative to calm my anxiety....or brought my husband in to keep me company.
Sometime after 2:30pm I was taken in for the surgery...The next thing I heard was "wake up....wake up... you need to wake up and get dressed....we are closed"...My surgery was not on time...and I know that it was finished late. The doctor did not give me the courtesy to let me have a recovery period and wanted to get me out of the office so everyone could go home. I was woken up prematurely, I could not stand up to put my clothes on, so the nurses put them on for me...shoved my shoes on and stuck me in a wheelchair. I started to get the chills and began shaking from the effects of the anesthesia wearing off. In past surgeries, I was always given an injection to stabilize me and Zofran to keep me from throwing up. I had to ask for that because I was shaking uncontrollably. The doctor got my husband and told him I was ready to go home...but I was not. I said I can't go home yet...I'm not feeling normal. I could not be in the car for the 1 1/2 hour ride home sitting up. I asked to let me stay at least a half hour more to recover...but they all were in a hurry to lock up. The doctor suggested I stay in the nearby hotel that accommodates patients after surgery where they have nurses on staff. I had no choice and was picked up by their driver. I had to spend $1,000 for one night because I was not
given recovery time in Dr. Aronowitz' office. This surgery was a complete disaster. I believe that the dr. used me as a guinea pig because I am sure he never did this surgery before. The skin he transferred to my chest was in the shape of a circle. It was only 3-4 " wide. The skin was stretched so much from my back that the skin separated where he twisted it under my arm and formed a hole the size of a nickel that would not heal. The stem cell fat he injected into that pad of transplanted skin
became necrotic. It died and formed hard lumps under my skin. I had zero cleavage. The stem cell fat he injected into my face and hip scars dissipated within a couple of weeks. There was no improvement and he did not refund me any money for this failed surgery. My new "breast" was
the size of a fried egg and had hard lumps underneath that were visible on the surface. I waited 6 years to find a way to improve my chest...and Dr. Aronowitz made it worse. The scar on my back was not sewn flat. There was a pouch at the end of the scar. The dr. never had any empathy or remorse...he had the nerve to tell me to come back and he would put in an implant. The whole reason I sought his help was because all my doctors told me that having radiation kills the blood supply and makes it virtually impossible to stretch the skin and put in an implant. I was not in a good place to
fight back or sue the doctor because I was dealing with taking care of my mother who was dying from Alzheimer's. I put all my energy into taking care of her and could not afford to feel angry or depressed.
I did feel I was duped by the dr. and his celebrity spokesperson. After doing some research I discovered that Ms. Somers was not honest about "having no breast"....She had a lumpectomy, which
was treated with radiation...but she still had quite a bit of breast tissue with a void from the lumpectomy. There is no way she could have used up 6 soda cans full of fat unless she was doing it over a period of time. Perhaps she had her fat harvested for future surgeries since she did have a stem cell fat transfer "facelift"....After 1 1/2 years I received a phone call from Dr. Aronowitz as he was
upbeat and pretending as if he didn't know how he performed such a sub standard surgery.
He asked me when I was coming back to finish with an implant!! I reminded him what he did to me...and told him I was extremely disappointed with what I consider butchery. He was contrite, admitted that I was somewhat of an experiment....and asked if I was "mad" at him! I told him that I was disappointed, depressed and challenged him on what Ms. Somers said about her surgery in magazine interviews and on website articles. He admitted she did have a breast...just smaller than the other one, with a void he filled in. I told him she was not a pioneer concerning women's health issues and she was dishonest by saying that "her breast grew back"....He told me "I can't control what she says"....He offered no compensation or refund for the failed fat transfers and for the nightmare surgery he performed on me which was more like a botched experiment. My window of time to litigate had expired, so he had nothing to lose by admitting he screwed up. In 2014 I did an enormous amount of research to find a micro-surgeon to do my tram -flap surgery....I was down to my only option for reconstruction. My doctor has super hero status ...He operated for 10 hours to remove the damage that Dr. Aronowitz created and made a perfect breast from my tummy fat. He asked me to gain 10 pounds before the surgery so he would have a generous donor site. He is the kindest and most skilled surgeon I have ever encountered....Dr. Mark Kobayashi at UCI in Orange, CA. Now I know why he has patients travelling from other countries to see him. He is my personal hero. I feel foolish that I fell for the Aronowitz/Somers sales pitch. I hope others can learn from what happened to me.
finding a way to look "normal" again. I wore a prosthetic breast and hated bending over because I
had no cleavage on one side. I paid particular attention to any innovative options to successfully reconstruct my breast. In 2011, with the help of Suzanne Somers as Dr. Aronowitz' mouthpiece,
he touted his use of stem cell fat transfer to reconstruct her breast that was radiated after having a lumpectomy around 8 years before. She claimed that she "had no breast"...that the radiation had slowly shrunk her breast to nothing. She was against implants, which perhaps was because she had
radiation and knew the chance that there would be no good blood supply to support the implant.
She claimed that Dr. Aronowitz' stem cell fat transfer "regrew her breast"....that she could feel little
snaps and pops within her breast and knew that fat was growing back. Ofcourse this caught my attention and I believed that perhaps this was what I was waiting for. I consulted with the doctor and
he said that he could inject my chest area where I once had a breast...but said that he would not be able to harvest enough fat to fill the void. I asked how he was able to do this with Ms. Somers, and he
said that he would need about 6 soda cans full of fat and I didn't have that much fat to donate. The last I remembered, Ms. Somers looked fit in her swimsuit pics and I could not imagine she had 6 soda cans of fat to donate, typically from the stomach and thighs. Perhaps a red flag? At this point I was trying to find an answer to my dilemma and the dr. suggested that he put enough fat in my chest to at least give the illusion of cleavage while wearing my prosthetic. I had faith in him and decided to go ahead and try that procedure so I could at least wear my normal lower cut tops. We set a surgery date and time.
My surgery was scheduled for 12:00 noon. I arrived at 10:00 am. I was put in an examining room by myself and the dr. rushed in and said that he was thinking about my case and felt it would be a better outcome if he took a patch of skin from my back, and pulled it under my arm and transplanted it to my chest so he would be able to give me more volume. The skin would not be detached....just twisted and pulled and sewn into an incision he would make on my chest. I was in a gown....with no one to talk to and he was telling me this was a great idea. I told him I trusted him to do the right thing. I also requested that since I would be under anesthesia perhaps he could inject some stem cell fat into my face to plump up my cheeks and in my indented scars on my hips that resulted from hip replacement surgery 2 years before. He said "sure" and charged me $5,000 extra. I sat in the room for 4 hours...waiting past my 12:00 pm surgery time. No one checked on me, brought me water, gave me a sedative to calm my anxiety....or brought my husband in to keep me company.
Sometime after 2:30pm I was taken in for the surgery...The next thing I heard was "wake up....wake up... you need to wake up and get dressed....we are closed"...My surgery was not on time...and I know that it was finished late. The doctor did not give me the courtesy to let me have a recovery period and wanted to get me out of the office so everyone could go home. I was woken up prematurely, I could not stand up to put my clothes on, so the nurses put them on for me...shoved my shoes on and stuck me in a wheelchair. I started to get the chills and began shaking from the effects of the anesthesia wearing off. In past surgeries, I was always given an injection to stabilize me and Zofran to keep me from throwing up. I had to ask for that because I was shaking uncontrollably. The doctor got my husband and told him I was ready to go home...but I was not. I said I can't go home yet...I'm not feeling normal. I could not be in the car for the 1 1/2 hour ride home sitting up. I asked to let me stay at least a half hour more to recover...but they all were in a hurry to lock up. The doctor suggested I stay in the nearby hotel that accommodates patients after surgery where they have nurses on staff. I had no choice and was picked up by their driver. I had to spend $1,000 for one night because I was not
given recovery time in Dr. Aronowitz' office. This surgery was a complete disaster. I believe that the dr. used me as a guinea pig because I am sure he never did this surgery before. The skin he transferred to my chest was in the shape of a circle. It was only 3-4 " wide. The skin was stretched so much from my back that the skin separated where he twisted it under my arm and formed a hole the size of a nickel that would not heal. The stem cell fat he injected into that pad of transplanted skin
became necrotic. It died and formed hard lumps under my skin. I had zero cleavage. The stem cell fat he injected into my face and hip scars dissipated within a couple of weeks. There was no improvement and he did not refund me any money for this failed surgery. My new "breast" was
the size of a fried egg and had hard lumps underneath that were visible on the surface. I waited 6 years to find a way to improve my chest...and Dr. Aronowitz made it worse. The scar on my back was not sewn flat. There was a pouch at the end of the scar. The dr. never had any empathy or remorse...he had the nerve to tell me to come back and he would put in an implant. The whole reason I sought his help was because all my doctors told me that having radiation kills the blood supply and makes it virtually impossible to stretch the skin and put in an implant. I was not in a good place to
fight back or sue the doctor because I was dealing with taking care of my mother who was dying from Alzheimer's. I put all my energy into taking care of her and could not afford to feel angry or depressed.
I did feel I was duped by the dr. and his celebrity spokesperson. After doing some research I discovered that Ms. Somers was not honest about "having no breast"....She had a lumpectomy, which
was treated with radiation...but she still had quite a bit of breast tissue with a void from the lumpectomy. There is no way she could have used up 6 soda cans full of fat unless she was doing it over a period of time. Perhaps she had her fat harvested for future surgeries since she did have a stem cell fat transfer "facelift"....After 1 1/2 years I received a phone call from Dr. Aronowitz as he was
upbeat and pretending as if he didn't know how he performed such a sub standard surgery.
He asked me when I was coming back to finish with an implant!! I reminded him what he did to me...and told him I was extremely disappointed with what I consider butchery. He was contrite, admitted that I was somewhat of an experiment....and asked if I was "mad" at him! I told him that I was disappointed, depressed and challenged him on what Ms. Somers said about her surgery in magazine interviews and on website articles. He admitted she did have a breast...just smaller than the other one, with a void he filled in. I told him she was not a pioneer concerning women's health issues and she was dishonest by saying that "her breast grew back"....He told me "I can't control what she says"....He offered no compensation or refund for the failed fat transfers and for the nightmare surgery he performed on me which was more like a botched experiment. My window of time to litigate had expired, so he had nothing to lose by admitting he screwed up. In 2014 I did an enormous amount of research to find a micro-surgeon to do my tram -flap surgery....I was down to my only option for reconstruction. My doctor has super hero status ...He operated for 10 hours to remove the damage that Dr. Aronowitz created and made a perfect breast from my tummy fat. He asked me to gain 10 pounds before the surgery so he would have a generous donor site. He is the kindest and most skilled surgeon I have ever encountered....Dr. Mark Kobayashi at UCI in Orange, CA. Now I know why he has patients travelling from other countries to see him. He is my personal hero. I feel foolish that I fell for the Aronowitz/Somers sales pitch. I hope others can learn from what happened to me.
Provider Review
I never felt that the doctor was particularly kind or caring. He was very matter of fact and when he was faced with the fact that he botched my surgery he seemed very annoyed with me. He never comforted me or gave me any alternative ideas to fix what he failed at. After a period of 18 months, he did call me and seemed more contrite. I believe that it was because the statute of limitation had run out regarding my right to litigation. I'm sure he was curious as to what became of my situation. I told him I saw a truly professional doctor who performed revision and reconstruction of my breast. I am still left with a puffy scar on my back and some scars under my arm with an indentation that is a result of his incompetent skill. I learned my lesson about using a doctor who uses a celebrity to "advertise" a particular type of surgery.