A Great Dr. and Wonderful Human Being - Newport Beach, CA

I have had 6 surgeries dealing with recurring BC. I'm fortunate because I have a great oncoplastic surgeon but he had a PS try to fix things up a couple of years ago because there was so much done over the years, he wanted a highly skilled guy to work on the closing. Unfortunatly the PS was very arrogant, resentful that he didn't get paid what he felt he was worth through my insurance, insulted me and let me know I was a low value patient so would get nothing from him but a closing. However I feel he did more damage and cut me open from the middle of my back to the sternum and left huge unnecessary scarring. It was bilateral and I did IORT but his technique was to just pull the gaping hole together and leave a jumbled mess that never really healed. So I knew over time that the surgical site was not healing deep in my arm pit and to be fair, there was probably fat necrosis from the IORT but I was never going to go back to this guy, I felt he was a sociopath and a patient harmer. However a month ago the necrosis decided to find its way out and I had an abscess erupt about the size of a walnut. It took a few days and I called my oncosurgeon with pictures, he said let it drain and get to him asap (he is a 9 hour drive, I live on a ranch so had to get help to take care of animals while gone). He said a new wound department was opening at Hoag, Newport Beach, and the Dr. running it was highly trained, a plastic surgeon but very skilled in soft tissue repair and he said to please have faith in him, he understood what happened with the last guy and this was not going to be anything like that. So I made an apt with Dr. Jonathan Zeken in Newport and from the moment we started, it was great. I am skeptical of many people in the medial field, I don't think just because someone made it through med school that makes them a good practitioner. He recommended an LD flap to fill in the void that would occur from removing the tissue and due to my prior surgeries, I needed healthy tissue to replace what was not there anymore. I was reluctant and at first said no but he went through it step by step and his knowledge and persistence showed me that he wasn't just doing a major procedure for his benefit, he made me realize I had no other choice that would last or be satisfactory without terrible side effects. He moved heaven and earth to get me an immediate spot in the OR, this was almost an emergency and time was of the essence, and he did a great job. I ended up staying a month in NPB because the drains were not slowing as fast as we wanted but he did what was right, not what was convenient. I also had an appointment with his partner Dr. Zang who was also wonderful and considerate.

I am not a plastic surgery buff, my experience is due to breast cancer and it is fairly extensive. I try not to be too judgmental but I think a lot of PS sometimes goes overboard. My experience with Zelken and his partner Zang is that they are highly skilled plastic surgeons in the elective aesthetic sense but they are especially adept and well trained in taking someone else's botch job or unfortunate injury or complicated correction and turning it into a great outcome. As far as I'm concerned, is thehe best of the best because he is looking out for your interest, not his own. I highly recommend Z-Plastic Surgery, Newport Beach, CA as professional, highly skilled and compassionate plastic and corrective surgeons.