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My Experience Was One I Would Come to Regret
I underwent transaxillary breast augmentation with Rian Maercks 2 years ago in late 2016. I chose Dr Maercks because he touted the “subfascial technique” as being superior to all other approaches. I also chose to pay almost 3 times the going rate at over $11,000 for this technique because I believed I would get what I paid for. Since it was first breast augmentation I wanted to make sure I got the best results. I believed I would after doing much research and ultimately decided to go with Dr Maercks even though he was a young and relatively new plastic surgeon in the industry. I was thoroughly convinced he was going to deliver perfection. I couldn’t have been any further from the truth and only in hindsight would I come to know this after spending thousands of dollars and dealing with much grief.
I do not wish to drag out this review so I will try to be as brief as possible while covering the main points and facts.
The first red flag was that Dr Maercks was not board certified. I was warned against going with a doctor who was not board certified but he painted a really excellent picture of himself and his education and internships so I overlooked it. The second red flag was my surgery which was done in his office and not in a hospital. I was too naive at the time to understand that this was dangerous and if anything had gone wrong I could have been in serious trouble. I did elect to have this done as an outpatient but knowing what I know now I would not choose to do it again. Secondly, my surgery was supposed to take no more than 2 hours. It took over 4. My girlfriend who was waiting for me didn’t understand why it was taking so long and kept checking to make sure everything was alright.
When I finally came to after surgery I was extremely cold and in serious pain. I started crying. I was delirious and just wanted to get warm and so I asked my girlfriend to take me home immediately. I had paid approximately $500 extra for this numbing agent that was supposed to make coming out of surgery less painful but because of the degree of pain I was in I don’t know how well this stuff really worked or even if I was administered it at all. After my experience with Dr Maercks and everything I went through I was skeptical of all of the details to which I had signed up for.
As I began to heal I noticed that my new breasts were not as appealing and natural looking as I had hoped for. They were sitting pretty high and when I would put on any type of bra that would lift them you would be able to see a very distinct implant line. In a nutshell, that makes them look fake. Fake was not the look I was going for or had paid upwards of $11,000 for. The “subfascial technique” (look it up if you’re not sure what it is) places the implant on top of the muscle and below the fascia, creating what Dr Maercks like to call a “bra inside the breast “ I didn’t understand with this technique why my implants would look like this so I consulted with Dr Maercks to express my concerns and let him know that I was not satisfied with my results. I had a meeting with him and I was unfortunately not met with any understanding but rather arrogance and condescension. Dr Maercks say there was nothing wrong with my breasts and dismissed me rather promptly from his office only to avoid any more of my phone calls or emails.
I was so unhappy with the appearance of my new breast’s that I decided I would do research for another augmentation. Luckily I found a great surgeon in my hometown and did not have to endure another bad and costly experience. It was only 8 months later that I had my 2nd breast augmentation in order to fix Dr Maercks work, or lack thereof I should say. My new surgeon informed me of something rather suspicious after surgery and that was upon removing my implants he found they were not subfascially places as I had paid Dr Maercks to do but were in fact places above the muscle AND the fascia, instead of in between the 2.
I was dumbfounded. I had a feeling all along that something was wrong with my breasts and this explained it. My hearts were also numb and cold. This awkward placement on top of the muscle and the fascia explained why they felt this way as this was keeping my breasts from receiving proper blood flow. Within a week of having my new implants which I chose to have sub muscularly, 80 percent of the feeling I had lost had immediately returned. I cannot tell you how relieved I was. Dr Maercks was not only not receptive in the least to how I felt but he also made me feel that it was all in my head and that I was making how I felt up. Learning what I did after my 2nd surgery made everything clear to me and made me realize what a mistake it had been to hire him in the first place. Furthermore, this explained why my surgery with Dr Maercks took so long. I believe there were complications and Dr Maercks could not place my implants in the subfascial location because of its technical difficulty and so just surrendered to placing them on top of the fascia in a not so ideal place in the breast which caused me discomfort as well as aesthetic dissatisfaction.
It has taken me some time to process my experience and to get around to writing this review but It was something I felt was important and that I had to do for myself as well as anyone else out there that I might potentially keep from going through this same experience with him. If I could go back I would but I can’t and so all I can do is share what I’ve learned. I am extremely happy with the results of the 2nd augmentation. I am attaching photos from both my 1st and 2nd augmentation so you can see the difference.
Thank you for reading and I hope I helped you make an informed decision and one you will not regret.
Sincerely,
Penelope Grant
I do not wish to drag out this review so I will try to be as brief as possible while covering the main points and facts.
The first red flag was that Dr Maercks was not board certified. I was warned against going with a doctor who was not board certified but he painted a really excellent picture of himself and his education and internships so I overlooked it. The second red flag was my surgery which was done in his office and not in a hospital. I was too naive at the time to understand that this was dangerous and if anything had gone wrong I could have been in serious trouble. I did elect to have this done as an outpatient but knowing what I know now I would not choose to do it again. Secondly, my surgery was supposed to take no more than 2 hours. It took over 4. My girlfriend who was waiting for me didn’t understand why it was taking so long and kept checking to make sure everything was alright.
When I finally came to after surgery I was extremely cold and in serious pain. I started crying. I was delirious and just wanted to get warm and so I asked my girlfriend to take me home immediately. I had paid approximately $500 extra for this numbing agent that was supposed to make coming out of surgery less painful but because of the degree of pain I was in I don’t know how well this stuff really worked or even if I was administered it at all. After my experience with Dr Maercks and everything I went through I was skeptical of all of the details to which I had signed up for.
As I began to heal I noticed that my new breasts were not as appealing and natural looking as I had hoped for. They were sitting pretty high and when I would put on any type of bra that would lift them you would be able to see a very distinct implant line. In a nutshell, that makes them look fake. Fake was not the look I was going for or had paid upwards of $11,000 for. The “subfascial technique” (look it up if you’re not sure what it is) places the implant on top of the muscle and below the fascia, creating what Dr Maercks like to call a “bra inside the breast “ I didn’t understand with this technique why my implants would look like this so I consulted with Dr Maercks to express my concerns and let him know that I was not satisfied with my results. I had a meeting with him and I was unfortunately not met with any understanding but rather arrogance and condescension. Dr Maercks say there was nothing wrong with my breasts and dismissed me rather promptly from his office only to avoid any more of my phone calls or emails.
I was so unhappy with the appearance of my new breast’s that I decided I would do research for another augmentation. Luckily I found a great surgeon in my hometown and did not have to endure another bad and costly experience. It was only 8 months later that I had my 2nd breast augmentation in order to fix Dr Maercks work, or lack thereof I should say. My new surgeon informed me of something rather suspicious after surgery and that was upon removing my implants he found they were not subfascially places as I had paid Dr Maercks to do but were in fact places above the muscle AND the fascia, instead of in between the 2.
I was dumbfounded. I had a feeling all along that something was wrong with my breasts and this explained it. My hearts were also numb and cold. This awkward placement on top of the muscle and the fascia explained why they felt this way as this was keeping my breasts from receiving proper blood flow. Within a week of having my new implants which I chose to have sub muscularly, 80 percent of the feeling I had lost had immediately returned. I cannot tell you how relieved I was. Dr Maercks was not only not receptive in the least to how I felt but he also made me feel that it was all in my head and that I was making how I felt up. Learning what I did after my 2nd surgery made everything clear to me and made me realize what a mistake it had been to hire him in the first place. Furthermore, this explained why my surgery with Dr Maercks took so long. I believe there were complications and Dr Maercks could not place my implants in the subfascial location because of its technical difficulty and so just surrendered to placing them on top of the fascia in a not so ideal place in the breast which caused me discomfort as well as aesthetic dissatisfaction.
It has taken me some time to process my experience and to get around to writing this review but It was something I felt was important and that I had to do for myself as well as anyone else out there that I might potentially keep from going through this same experience with him. If I could go back I would but I can’t and so all I can do is share what I’ve learned. I am extremely happy with the results of the 2nd augmentation. I am attaching photos from both my 1st and 2nd augmentation so you can see the difference.
Thank you for reading and I hope I helped you make an informed decision and one you will not regret.
Sincerely,
Penelope Grant
Provider Review