Awful Waste of Money on a "Mini Tummy Tuck!" - San Antonio, TX

The staff was unprofessional, extremely rude, and unfriendly in my particular case. I actually had the young front desk clerk, who was new to the office, tell me I didn't need to have the procedure done when she looked at my before pictures and was about to take my after pictures. She also said "what were you thinking!?" I was very taken aback and embarrassed. I was extremely bloated and swollen during my after photos, which was also embarrassing, since I looked better in my before photos. There was very poor communication between doctor and billing/managing as well. I went in for a consult to have a full tummy tuck, as I had a large scar from a previous surgery when I was a 6 year old child to remove a large tumor (large horizontal scar from pubic bone to above my belly button) and stretch marks from pregnancy. I am a very small built woman and weigh 100 pounds. I work out and have always stayed fit and follow a very healthy diet regime as well. My tummy area was my only concern.Dr. Ortegon seemed to be a very understanding and reassuring doctor. He insisted I only needed a mini tummy tuck with a scar revision. I went back to his office TWICE before surgery voicing my concern that I believed that I needed a full tummy tuck to get rid of all the stretch marks and loose skin. I just did not see how the procedure he was recommending would be sufficient to get me the result I was looking for.I had been researching for 4 years, and had been to four other surgeons before seeing Ortegon. He insisted that it would be perfectly fine, a mini would get the result I was wanting. I felt that I "knew" he was wrong, and told him I just did not believe "It was going to be enough." I trusted him because he seemed so very confident that he was correct. I went ahead with the surgery, waiting patiently for my body to heal.I went in about two months later, knowing that I had at least another 6 months or so to see any real result. I asked if there was a pharmaceutical grade scar treatment I could buy, and he said to just use mederma! I KNEW this to be incorrect and was getting concerned. I called and told them I needed to come AGAIN at 6 mos. post op because my revised scar, as well as my new scar under my belly button, was widening. He THEN, after telling me to use mederma the last time I was there, gave me this silicone tape/strip to keep the scars from getting worse, which cost me $98! I was so furious, due to the fact that I had asked him about scar reduction and widening issues at two months post op and the whole widening issue could have been prevented if I would have been given the silicone strips at THAT time! The whole situation was Absolutely negligent and ridiculous.The whole time I was in this office/doctors care I felt completely blown off, as though I did not belong there because I was a smaller thinner woman. Then I went back a year after my surgery, after many various visits described above. I even wrote a letter expressing my dissatisfaction with the procedure (I now have skin tags, which I never had before at the ends of my horizontal scar. I also have loose skin on the sides of my hips that I can actually pull out, one side further than the other! The procedure was not even done uniformly!My stomach skin sags also, and I STILL weigh 100 pounds, there has been no weight loss or gain to alter my body in any way as it pertains to this procedure.) He basically told me he understood my "concerns" but that I was being unrealistic, but I was welcome to come back and talk to him about it again. So I did. He said he would fix the skin tags for free, in office, do lipo on the abdomen (Um, hello, I was supposed to have had a tummy tuck, I weigh 100 pounds, what in the world would there be to lipo out?!? Isn't that what the removal of the skin was supposed to do? Tighten things up?)He also insulted me completely by telling me I needed to "tone up". He then infuriated me even more by saying he would apply the cost of what I had already paid to a full tummy tuck and redo it. It was going to be another $4500! I could not even believe the audacity of the whole situation. It was ridiculous and totally disturbing. I feel worse about my stomach then I did before, it was a total ammiture surgery.I visited another doctor, one who I SHOULD have used in the first place (whom I had a consult with before my consult with Ortegon) who agreed and said he had no idea what Ortegon was thinking or what he had even done in the procedure, since my skin was obviously still very loose. So now, I will have to, one day, get the whole thing done again by a QUALIFIED surgeon for another whopping $6-7,000.I am disgusted by this whole experience and doctor's attitude. He had the false sense of caring and obligement by saying , "It's my job to make you happy, so this is what we can do...." but then passed me off to the "payment gal" who says to me "ok, so what are we doing?" Typically in this sort of misjudgement by a plastic surgeon, or anyone doing someone a service in which they are getting paid, your satisfaction is priority. Not in this case or with ortegon.Do not go to him, it's been two years and my stomach is a nasty wreck. He only tightened half my muscles, just above my belly button. So it is obvious that it is "tacked down" right above the belly button but not above the belly button. So the top fascia (muscles) hang over the stitched down part. I asked him if he would review my before and after pictures before our meting, he never pulled them up and showed me, which I found interesting, as well as disturbing. If he felt that I was truly unrealistic, then why did he not pull them up and show me how wrong I was? It's ridiculous!!At the time of my surgery I was 31 years old. I am a young woman and now have to live with this everyday. Do not be deceived. I researched and consulted for over three years, and I still got duped by this surgeon and his sweet confident nature. Do not do it! Go to someone else!