Knew immediately upon seeing my breasts that they were not right

I hesitated writing this review for several reasons. Firstly, when I think about the experience and all I’ve endured, it makes me feel very sad, disappointed and stirs up feelings of anger and resentment. Secondly, I would much rather commend and support rather than review someone in a negative light. Unfortunately, too much has transpired over the course of the year and a half since I had my original surgery, for me to be able to provide any praise. This is my story. At my first consultation, I arrived at the beautiful clinic and first met with Kim, who is the nurse administrator/manager. She is a good conversationalist, makes you feel very comfortable, is a great sales person and offered many compliments. After a lengthy wait Dr. Jugenburg entered the room. He walked in, barely made eye contact and immediately sat down at the computer. He spoke to me with his back facing me for most of the visit turning himself around briefly to take some measurements. He was not personable or friendly in the least. The three of us then went into another room to see and try on different size implants. I informed them I did not want big breasts. I wanted to remain the same size but fill in the lost volume on the upper pole of my breasts. For my abdomen, I wanted the loose skin on my lower abdomen removed and queried a mini tuck? This visit was very rushed and disorganized. My questions were not fully answered as the conversation went off in different directions never finalizing any thoughts or reaching any conclusions. I left the appointment having no greater clarity then when I arrived. After trying to piece together scattered bits of information and having an overall sense of confusion, I emailed Kim. I relayed my concerns and she recommended I return for another visit where Dr Jugenburg would allocate more time and review my options. When the day came for this appointment, my husband and I arrived at the clinic and were informed that Dr Jugenburg was not in the office. As my appointment was scheduled for 4pm, I found it very inconsiderate to not have received a phone call advising us of this; especially having dealt with rush hour traffic and parking to get there. No apologies were made, and so making the best of the situation, I once again met with Kim. She went over implant options and I once again re-stated I did not want large breasts. I wanted a soft natural look. Although I was disappointed that I didn’t meet with Dr. Jugenburg to discuss my potential surgery, I rationalized the fact that he is said to be one of the top surgeons and so I went ahead and booked my surgery through Kim. (Side note – I later requested a copy of my clinical chart and noted that this particular visit was documented as if I had met with Dr. Jugenburg. This is falsified charting and is not an accurate account of what occurred as I did not meet with him.) On the morning of my surgery, I was very nervous, preoccupied and worried about having to undergo general anesthesia and the overall operation. My husband was supportive and loving and helped to soothe me. I again met with Kim who gave me my pre-op medications and before leaving the room she said Dr. Jugenburg would be in shortly to “ go over everything and answer any questions” . This did not occur. He entered the room, barely made eye contact, sat at his computer and with his back facing me again asked “what am I doing for you today?” I responded breast augmentation and tummy tuck and he said “ok, good”. That was the extent of his surgical review and question/answer period. He then put his surgical markings on me and exited the room. The anesthesiologist and OR nurse came in afterwards and THEY talked with me, asked me questions, provided reassurance and made me feel more comfortable. I was then brought into the surgical suite and prepped for surgery. Dr Jugenburg was nowhere to be seen. There was however an assisting Dr Woo (not sure of the spelling?) who was present, and to this day, I remain unsure of just how much of the surgery was performed by him and how much by Dr. Jugenburg? I was not given any verbal post op instructions and upon discharge, I asked if there was anything I needed to do such as massage, and was told “No, absolutely nothing” by the nurse. The recovery was a slow and difficult one. Due to an existing sensitivity to medication, I was not able to take the narcotic pain med's and relied solely on Advil and extra strength Tylenol. The incision on my abdomen was not a smooth linear line, but rather had multiple accordion folds of skin sewn together. This did not look right and upon my questioning, they said the folds would straighten themselves out with time and heal. This did not occur. At my first post op visit, I expected to see Dr Jugenburg so that I could ask details of my surgery and although he was in the office, I did not see him. My bandages were removed by the nurse while Kim stood by and was present in the room. Upon removal, Kim looked at my abdominal incision and stated “what is that?” as the vertical incision did not look right to her. She then said, “I will get you a prescription of Fucidin to apply to the area”. She seemed to think it was an amazing ointment and stated she applies it to everything. On her word, and without even assessing me, Dr. Jugenburg wrote the script and I was instructed to leave the area uncovered and to apply Fucidin to this fresh wound. In retrospect and having researched wound care, this was not a wise decision, as the vertical scar did not heal nicely, remains very dark and raised and has required Kenalog injections to help flatten it out. I knew immediately upon seeing my breasts that they were not right. They were different shapes and sizes and were very firm and hard. I gave it some time, but intuitively I knew something was not right. I informed the nurses and Dr. Jugenburg that I experienced pain and a tight pulling sensation to which he prescribed Gabapentin for “nerve pain”. I did not take this medication as I knew it was not nerve pain but rather the formation of capsular contractures. At the three month mark, my breasts were still high, had not come down, remained hard and did not have the natural look or slope that breasts should have. He finally agreed that he needed to release the capsule as it was causing constriction and at this, I was scheduled for my first bi-lateral revision. He was also to revise the belly button as it had formed a raised hard scar and looked like a vertical slit instead of the natural round shape it should have. He was also supposed to correct an abdominal fold from my abdomen which did not flatten out on it’s own as I had been told. On the day of surgery, he again made no attempts to talk with me or put me at ease and related to me as if I weren’t even human. He also changed the surgical plan and despite my questioning the matter, he only operated on the right breast and did not correct the left. He also did not revise the belly button or the abdominal folds as discussed pre-operatively. The bi-lateral revision turned into a single right breast revision which left me looking even more lopsided and deformed. Also, once again I had to endure the post op pain with no pain management other than Tylenol. At my follow up appointment, I again questioned why he did not operate on my left breast as it too was still contracted and his response was “ It will become a game of cat chasing mouse”. So at this, I gave my body more time to heal as he said they would eventually even out. After months of waiting, the right breast bottomed out, the left breast remained contracted and hard and I required a third surgery to once again correct the deformity. The unsuccessful surgeries, healing without pain management, having to take time off work, and living with the deformity while waiting for results was very difficult. I mentioned this when I was informed I needed a third surgery and he coldly responded "they're hard on everyone". No empathy, compassion, or understanding provided. During this time I had regular follow ups to monitor the healing and was compliant with every visit. Several times the wait times were ridiculously long and on one particular visit my husband and I waited over three hours. My appointment was for 10 am and we didn’t get in to see him until after 1pm. Fortunately my husband and I brought reading material to keep us occupied while we waited. While we were waiting in one of the rooms, Kim entered to inform us that Dr Jugenburg wouldn’t be much longer. She said she appreciated how “nice” and “understanding” we were in comparison to another patient ( I knew who she was talking about as I had sat with this woman in the reception area prior to being moved to the private room). Kim told us this patient was difficult as she was requesting lunch be brought to her as she too had been kept waiting for over three hours. I did not think this comment was appropriate as patient confidentiality should always be upheld. If she was speaking of this patient in this manner, I wondered how freely my information was being shared? As the time for my third surgery was drawing near, I became more anxious and concerned as I did not feel my issues were understood. Also, I could not keep taking time off work for unnecessary surgeries. I booked an appointment to discuss my concerns so that a surgical plan could be devised as all revision surgeries should be carefully planned and discussed. Also I wanted to gain a better understanding into what exactly he would be doing to correct the deformity. I prepared a list of questions and for the first time since meeting him he did not rush the visit and behaved in a cordial manner. I appreciated the effort however my questions were answered in an elementary fashion. He solely repeated “Im going to go in and release the capsule but not release it too much”. My other questions were also answered in a superficial non educational manner. In reading the operative report, I later learned he had performed a capsulotomy, capsulectomy and capsulorraphy on both breasts. This is the information I was seeking from him pre-operatively so that I could have prepared myself by knowing. The night before my surgery, I felt uneasy about the whole thing. Psychologically the entire experience had begun taking a toll on me. Having to look at the deformity for months with continued hope for resolution only to be disappointed twice was making me depressed. I also did not feel confident in his abilities as he had not demonstrated skill in the two previous failed surgeries. I telephoned Kim and relayed my concerns to her. She said I could cancel the surgery until I was in a better frame of mind and left off saying “third one’s a charm”. This response did nothing in the way of restoring my faith. I had already made arrangements for time off work and cancelling the surgery was not going to correct the deformity he had created. It would be merely postponing the inevitable. How frustrating! On the morning of my surgery, I was brought down to the surgical waiting area and waited for Dr. Jugenburg there. In the seating area, I looked up and met his gaze. With a flick of his wrist he summoned me over to him and walked me over to a gurney in the corridor. He did not say hello or Good morning and seemed irritated and short tempered at having to review the plan before surgery. On his tablet he went over the surgical plan while standing in the busy corridor as people walked on by. He then brought me in to the surgical suite, drew his markings, lay me down on the table, walked over to the side and began looking at his tablet. He did not offer any small talk to lessen my apprehensions and was very cold and withdrawn. On a different note, the admitting nurse instructed my husband to wait in a designated area and said that Dr. Jugenburg would meet with him following the surgery to let him know how everything went. My husband waited for hours and Dr. Jugenburg did not show. Even the recovery room nurses questioned his whereabouts as they too had not seen him. Once again I was given no post op instructions and was discharged with only a date for my follow up appointment. My husband took the day off work and accompanied me to my follow up appointment. I was called into the room by the nurse and was informed I would not be seeing the Dr. She took a quick glance at my bandages and said all looked well and I could leave. I questioned what the purpose of the visit was and she informed me it was to check and see that the bandages were dry and intact. Had the intent of this visit been communicated to me prior to the visit, I could have made the informed decision to forego this appointment instead of having my husband take the day off work and once again deal with downtown traffic and parking. I also could have telephoned and advised the office if my dressing became saturated or if there was any cause for concern regarding my dressing. The following visit when I finally did get to see the Dr, he flat out lied to me and my husband and said he came to speak with me following the surgery. As stated above, this did not occur. Neither I nor my husband nor the nurses saw him that day following the surgery. He said he had to make some changes to the surgical plan while in the operating room as the left breast required more work than originally thought. (this was the breast he previously ignored at the first revision surgery). I appreciated this post-op feedback but not his dishonesty. My belly button required a revision surgery as it developed a hard raised scar and looked like a vertical slit instead of a round belly button. The folds along my abdomen required another two revisions as he corrected one issue only to create another. ( He flattened out the fold with the first revision but did not excise the extra skin leaving excess skin and bulging) For this, I had to have another local revision to remove the excess. On the day of my 3rd revision, my appointment was scheduled for 6pm. I received a phone call at 4:30pm informing me that Dr. Jugenburg was ahead of schedule. They asked if I could come in earlier. My husband and I arrived at 5:30pm only to be kept waiting for over 2 hours. I did not enter the surgical area until almost 8pm. By this point I had grown accustomed to the manner in which things ran. My husband on the other hand was not impressed. The end result of all this in no way warrants the cost that was paid. My breasts remain hard, lumpy, unnatural, are much bigger than I wanted, and look like two round balls on my chest. The rippling can be seen and felt all along the periphery in a circular motion. There is also a dark permanent indentation in the left breast from flex distortion. The right areola is puckered with an inferior lower pucker in the breast fold. Both breasts are also flat like pancakes and do not have the natural slope on the lower poles that breasts naturally have. Prior to my writing this review, I emailed Dr Jugenburg to let him know how disappointed and disheartened the whole experience has made me feel. He did not respond. My husband and daughter both felt this was unprofessional and very bad practice on his part. My husband followed up three weeks later, telephoned the office and spoke to Kim. That same day I received a generic, predictable response. Had my husband not followed up, I don’t believe a reply would have come by Dr Jugenburg's own volition. There are many other incidences which transpired over the course of my journey. Most of them involving inefficient communication. In the end I am saddened that what should have been a happy, joyous experience turned out to be the source of much heartache, sadness and pain. I have come to terms with the results and have accepted this outcome. As I mentioned to Dr. Jugenburg, in my case, the before was much more welcomed than the after. At this deflation of his ego, he suggested I get a second opinion. I did. I saw two board certified plastic surgeons who both independently stated (without knowing who had done my surgery) that my results were not the best they had ever seen. They also said I had been through "a lot" and that my results were not typical of breast augmentation. They said my results were more typical of breast reconstructive surgery. For my last and final follow up appointment, the office called me three times to reschedule. I emailed my appointment confirmation and asked if my appointment could be changed to a different date as I was not available on the day they had booked. I received no response. I then telephoned the office a month later to make an appointment and was told by the receptionist that she had to check with Dr. Jugenburg as she did not have his schedule on hand. She said she would call me back that day with an appointment. To date, I have not received a returned call. In summation, I now live with unfavorable results and from beginning to end the entire process has been nothing short of unprofessional.

My review was written as an honest reflection of events that transpired over the course of a year and a half. It is truly unfortunate that after having paid top dollar, my results are subpar. I encourage women who have had similar experiences to share their stories in order to paint a more balanced accurate picture.