Breast implants, tummy tuck and lipo - surgery in February of 2019

I still can't stand up straight since my surgery almost 3.5 years ago. My muscle repair is way too tight and what was done was unnecessary. I tried stretching, massages and physical therapy but nothing helped. I only had a small separation around my belly button that resulted from years of binging and purging from bulimia. Yet this Dr felt the need to suture my whole abdominal wall and use mesh. I don't even have children yet and he knew that. He asked about pregnancies before surgery. I thought muscle repair just addressed actual muscle separation not healthy muscle wall. That wasn't part of the surgical plan. I never gave permission to use mesh. It doesn't make sense. I've watched surgeries of women with hernias and much bigger diastasis and the Dr's only use sutures. There's also a small area that burns and prickles. It is completely rigid like wood or cement. I lost all mobility in the area around my belly button and just below. I was in severe pain for the first 2.5 years after surgery but slowly the pain subsided.


I have been effectively crippled by this surgery and this horrible Dr. I went from a happy, healthy and very active person to only being able to stand for short periods of time bc of how tight it is from my incision line to just above my belly button. There is so much tension and rigidity. It pulls down and I can't fully contract my abs anymore. If I try, it creates a ledge or ridge just above my belly button. It's as if my belly button is pulling up and is supposed to be higher. If I sit my ab muscles seize up and it's hard to stand afterward. I can't even sleep properly bc my stomach cinches in the middle so I can't fully stretch out. I have to modify lifting weights bc of the rigidity and its hard to have proper form. I can only go for short walks bc of the pulling and trying to stand straight exhausts me. It feels like I'm doing a permanent abdominal crunch. It's as if my torso is too short for my body now. Everything is very compressed in the middle. It's daily misery.


I asked this Dr for help at ten weeks post op. I told him it was still too tight, I couldn't stand straight and it feels like I'm falling forward. He just told me it was too soon and that it takes a while for the skin to relax. I told him it's not my skin, it's inside. He was just dismissive. I feel he didn't take me seriously bc I was very emotional and cried at my appointments. I was in a lot of pain and was unhappy with my results. The only thing that was fine with my surgery was lowering my breast fold. I never even knew about the mesh until I had an irritation inside and around my belly button. He just said the mesh would have dissolved by now. I never asked what mesh bc he was very snappish when I asked questions. I sometimes wonder if I was confused for another patient bc I can't understand why he did the unnecessary muscle repair and used mesh.


I then proceeded to ask for help for the next 1.5 years. I asked at least half a dozen times and all I was told to do was stretch, do yoga and there's no restrictions. As far as I know, one isn't supposed to be able to stretch out their muscle repair. In my case, the unnecessary muscle repair. This has caused such muscle dysfunction in my lower body. I am stuck in such an unnatural position that it's affected my hips, hamstrings, knees, ankles, and feet. I must have the only Dr that consistently dismisses a patients concerns. You'd think he would have had some compassion after I brought up the same issue repeatedly.


It seems by many Dr's responses on here, that after six weeks, he should have investigated what my issues might be. I'm updating my review now bc I was just told by another Dr that my muscle repair cannot be undone. That if attempted it could possibly cause incisional hernias. I was devastated by that response. I talked to another woman who has had similar pulling around her belly button and she said removing the permanent sutures helped a bit. I'm not even sure if I have that. I feel I know nothing about my surgery at all. I was never told I could possibly never stand properly again and be in a permanent crunched position. This has destroyed my mental and physical health.


So my choices are crippled and unable to move much or possible incisional hernias. This isn't a life. I've lost all joy bc of this. I've lost everything bc of this surgery and incompetent Dr. How arrogant and stubborn do you have to be to not help your patient when they are suffering and need help. Dr's aren't infallible yet he felt he was right and I was wrong. He judged me for being an emotional woman and decided nothing was wrong. I've learned that if he would have investigated the issue and corrected it before six months, it could have easily been revised. Now what? I went in healthy and came out broken. This is the biggest regret of my life. He did things I didn't ask for and didn't do things I did.


I also have a hard ridge of tissue from my incision line to my belly button. My belly button seems too low as well. I thought it would still be in the same position as before. There's a vertical scar above my incision line but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the pulling. My belly button feels like it's tethered down in an unnatural position for my body. I had a high riding belly button before but it wouldn't make sense to move it. It pulls down so much now. If I get even close to standing how I did before surgery, there is so much pressure on my lower back it feels like it will snap. It also pulls on my hips and hamstrings. I'm positive either my skin being pulled down too aggressively or my muscle repair being too tight is why it felt like someone tried to rip my hamstrings out when I woke up from surgery. I have permanent injuries from that now as well.


I'm still trying to have hope and praying that there is a competent Dr out there that knows how to fix my issues and will help me get my life back. I haven't even lived half my life yet and I cannot accept being stuck like this forever, no thanks to this Dr who ruined my body inside and out.


All I ever wanted was help. I hope it's something that hasn't been thought of and it's a simple fix. But if it is and this Dr chose to do nothing and left me to suffer, that is just evil and heartless.

I had surgery in February of 2019. I would describe this experience as a traumatic nightmare. This doctor doesn't listen and I had surgery thinking I would be getting certain things done but the doctor later denies. He did this with another patient whose review I never saw until after the fact. Her tummy tuck experience is very similar to mine. It shows he doesn't learn from previous mistakes. He accepts you for surgery, takes your money and then later says he doesn't do that. He was not up front with what to expect in terms of results and not thorough beforehand. I thought he was a good choice based on credentials but no amount of education can make up for having poor aesthetics. There is nothing pretty about what he did. He cannot do anything aesthetic and now I have to suffer the consequences of his disregard. My concerns were constantly dismissed and not taken seriously. He gets his fee, you can't question anything and if so, go somewhere else.

I was never told I needed a breast lift, but even with highly cohesive, anatomical implants you can tell one was needed. I was told they were best, but I now believe he just doesn't have the skill to correct tuberous breasts. They are subfascial which I now believe is just a gimmick as is the fat grafting he did. It is an extremely poor result.

For my tummy tuck, one thing I made sure to ask was about flank liposuction seeing as how that was the main thing women were upset about that their doctor didn't do. I asked more than once and even the morning of surgery. All I get is him telling me after the fact that he doesn't do this due to the possibility of necrosis. I ask why he didn't tell me beforehand. He said I can't say that because "we don't have a tape recorder." So, I suffer the consequences due to his lack of forthrightness. I am now stuck looking dumpy and misshapen because he doesn't know how to shape a female body.

All he had to say during my first appointment was that there is no liposuction with a tummy tuck. Which means your flanks will look worse and more pushed out afterward. Not even the top of the abdomen was lipoed which is usually automatically done. The vast majority of proper doctors do liposuction with a tummy tuck to give a pretty and aesthetic result. I look like a barrel and the skin/fat he never removed folds over the front. I would love to know how truthful he is with other patients and whether he tells them he doesn't do any liposuction. I paid for a reshaping and am left looking dumpy. If the doctor had been more honest, it would have saved me two years of distress and trauma.

On top of that, I had issues with my belly button a couple weeks after surgery and something internal months later. He was constantly dismissive. I still can't stand up straight but he didn't even examine me once to determine the issue. I was told to stretch it out, even though I said it was internal, not my skin. Then after stretching, as per his advice, something tore inside through my belly button area. I tell him and get nothing despite following the doctor's orders. Even at my last appointment, you could see the belly button area is bulging. The stress of this has taken a toll on my overall health.

With the thigh liposuction, he did say he doesn't do the top of the thigh, fine, I accept that and he did say you could end up with bumps like cellulite. But, I never knew it was acceptable to over liposuction the saddlebag area so much that my legs are now misshapen. There is also puckering, more so on the left than the right side. He denies anything wrong with it. He wouldn't let me bend my leg, yet when I do that you can see how bad it is. The area looks scooped out with ripples. You can feel how bad the divots are, but he just brushes everything off and never examined me. An upper thigh is not supposed to narrow at the top. It looks so awful. I am devastated. We as patients aren't just one flat surface, we bend and move. The results need to reflect that. Everything should blend, flow and have cohesion, not look dumpy with no symmetry. He has no aesthetic eye at all. I am not only disappointed but horrified at how I am left. He should be ashamed.

Although this couldn't be known, I woke up from surgery feeling as if someone had tried to rip my hamstrings out. It was the worst pain I have ever felt. My surgery pain was a tickle compared to this. I was crying and the nurse tried to help. She insisted on medication for pain and put a pillow under my bum. Nothing helped. I am still suffering from whatever happened in surgery two years later. I only mention this because the doctor never said anything. I thought the nurse would say something to him and he would look into it. When I finally asked him, hoping for reassurance or help, I just get talked over and told that what I experienced isn't possible. I did my duty and told the nurse. That is on them, not me.

This experience has left me so traumatised. I felt I was being shamed when he said this was all in my head and asking questions, talked down to for questioning my results, and completely unheard at all. As if his disregard for my concerns is my fault. I was referred to another doctor and at least I was validated. He saw the issues I had and didn't tell me I was seeing things. He told me Dr. Shortt should have been more forthcoming with expectations. He suggested two surgeries possibly, but I should have been told. I went into surgery under false pretenses and not enough information. All that needed to be said was that he doesn't do liposuction which helps with body shaping and contouring. The aesthetic added with liposuction is night and day. Do not bother if the doctor doesn't add liposuction because your result will never be as good otherwise. I wanted a pretty and shapely result, not dumpy and misshapen.

This experience has made me overly emotional. I put everything into this and now I am left with nothing and a ruined body. It is very cruel and disgusting. Just because I said I may as well have burned my money and my results have zero aesthetics does not warrant how my concerns were treated. Especially after surgery when emotions are high and one is easily hurt and upset. I expected great and came out with horror show. I apologised and hoped for things to be corrected. I may as well have been talking to a wall. This doctor doesn't listen. At least before I wasn't in constant physical and emotional discomfort. My hair even fell out due to the stress of it all. This ruined my life. Absolutely disgraceful.

Last updated April 12, 2021