Negative plastic surgery experiences ?
(deactivated member)
on 2/16/10 12:21 pm
on 2/16/10 12:21 pm
Hello,I am the type of person that will actually learn more if I have the good bad and the very ugly in front of me. I would like to hear about your negative PS stories. If you would like to stay private you could PM me and I promise to never share your information with anyone.
I believe learning from negative experiences is just as important as positive ones. I am not looking to have a rumble here and if anyone were to come across a reply (if I get any) with your beloved surgeons name on it. I would respectfully ask you to not come in and defend your surgeon. We all can't have the same experiences.
Thank you
I believe learning from negative experiences is just as important as positive ones. I am not looking to have a rumble here and if anyone were to come across a reply (if I get any) with your beloved surgeons name on it. I would respectfully ask you to not come in and defend your surgeon. We all can't have the same experiences.
Thank you
I actually had a great experience with my surgeon and coming home from Mexico. But coming home I had a problem with my drain. I was being searched by TSA and they pulled on my drain as I was telling them not to. A few have asked me if I regret flying to Mexico but really I am trying not to focus on the negative. Another lady here on PS had her drain fall out after hanging on drawer handle so who knows. Two days later my drain fell out draining at 45ml. I developed a seroma a few days later.
At 4 weeks on 1/25 I had 375 CC's aspirated and thought I'd feel more relief but still felt VERY uncomfortable. They sent it off to pathology but as I had no signs of infection they didn't ru**** That was a Monday and by Thursday I had flu like symptoms. I called my Dr. the next day and he sent me an RX for Keflex but I worsened over the weekend and developed some cellulitis and on Feb 1 I went to the Dr. and was admitted to the hospital. I had surgery the next day to clean and debraid the wound and was on IV antibiotics - vancomycin and zosyn. Eventually they rulled out other infections and took me off Zosyn and left me on the vanc. They had to pack my wound and put me on a wound vac 2 days after surgery. On February 8th I came home but am homebound with Vic the Vac - my handy wound vac and IV antibiotics. We hope the antibiotics end on the 22nd.
My infection was localized to my abdomen thankfully and was enteroccus (sp?). It could have happened due to my drain problems or me touching a door knob or one of my daughters touching me or me not washing my hands well (although I do). Etc etc. Bacteria is literally everywhere and there is really no way for me to track it since it showed up so long after post op. Plus I do have young children and I let my 7 year old take off bandages (she washed her hands) but you just never know. She wanted SO bad to help me and I felt it was fine at the time. I do know I was fine when I left Mexico and when I first came home. Also my brother in law who is a nurse practitioner saw no signs of infection until a few days after I was aspirated which was over 3 weeks past surgery. When he took out my stitches he raved about the incision line and how well they were done. Technically even the aspiration could have caused the infection but I was miserably uncomfortable so I pushed for it.
I don't blame my surgeon. Everyone who is a regular here knows who he is. He is amazing and gave me amazing care preop and post op. I feel totally at peace in knowing that bad things just happened. I am sure other beloved wonderful doctors have had this happen to their patients. All aspects of preop and post op care can't be controlled. I wasn't butchered. It was just just crummy that I developed an infection after I returned home. My incisions looked perfect - I was healing well and my boobs still look great. The reality is I have a friend who got staph after pulling a thorn from his leg, my sister got staph after scrapping her foot at the beach and then getting in a hot tub and a friend's daughter got staph from an American hospital 2 days after her csection.You can get infections in and out of the country, in and out of hospitals.
Like i said before I think my case was just crummy luck. Very few people have these kind of complications but they do happen. It sucks. At first a part of me regretted doing my tummy tuck but then I could also have developed an infection due to a wound in the skin infections I continually got. So I've chosen not to wonder what if and live in regrets. That's a miserable way to live.
And for all those who are anti Mexico, I've always been very respectful of your posts even when I disagreed. So please do NOT be rude, condescending or non compassionate to me. Even if you feel that way please keep it to yourself. I don't need it or deserve it and I'll just block you. And I would hate to do the later because many times many of you do have wonderful input but I refuse to hear the negativity this time. This could have happened in the states and I didn't post about it here in this forum at first primarily because of many of the anti Mexico posts. For those that do care and wanted to know about my recovery I apologize.
BTW I did have my PCP on board and the local hospital, infectious disease doctor and a new ps to my area area are taking care of me now. The PS originally told my PCP that he had seen a lot of hack jobs in Mexico (he used to practice in So Cal). But later said my incisions and work actually looked good.
My insurance is paying for most of it but I do have a large deductible. But that would have been an issue if I had had the surgery in the states. The homehealth is the issue because of my policy but again that would have been an issue even if I had had the procedures done in the states and developed an infection. Also I am doing infusion balls as opposed to regular IV bags. The insurance would have paid for the bags but that would have upped my homehealth which I wasn't approved for so we paid $800 for the infusion balls out of pocket so my husband and sister could learn how to set them up and how to flush my pic line as opposed to the potential thousands extra on homehealth.
It could have been worse. I could have gone to a hack and not done my research (in states or Mexico) had a blood clot or had the infection in my blood stream. I could have died and I didn't. I am here and in a few months this will be a bad memory.
Complications are a reality and I knew that. I just didn't realize how intensive they could be but they do happen.
At 4 weeks on 1/25 I had 375 CC's aspirated and thought I'd feel more relief but still felt VERY uncomfortable. They sent it off to pathology but as I had no signs of infection they didn't ru**** That was a Monday and by Thursday I had flu like symptoms. I called my Dr. the next day and he sent me an RX for Keflex but I worsened over the weekend and developed some cellulitis and on Feb 1 I went to the Dr. and was admitted to the hospital. I had surgery the next day to clean and debraid the wound and was on IV antibiotics - vancomycin and zosyn. Eventually they rulled out other infections and took me off Zosyn and left me on the vanc. They had to pack my wound and put me on a wound vac 2 days after surgery. On February 8th I came home but am homebound with Vic the Vac - my handy wound vac and IV antibiotics. We hope the antibiotics end on the 22nd.
My infection was localized to my abdomen thankfully and was enteroccus (sp?). It could have happened due to my drain problems or me touching a door knob or one of my daughters touching me or me not washing my hands well (although I do). Etc etc. Bacteria is literally everywhere and there is really no way for me to track it since it showed up so long after post op. Plus I do have young children and I let my 7 year old take off bandages (she washed her hands) but you just never know. She wanted SO bad to help me and I felt it was fine at the time. I do know I was fine when I left Mexico and when I first came home. Also my brother in law who is a nurse practitioner saw no signs of infection until a few days after I was aspirated which was over 3 weeks past surgery. When he took out my stitches he raved about the incision line and how well they were done. Technically even the aspiration could have caused the infection but I was miserably uncomfortable so I pushed for it.
I don't blame my surgeon. Everyone who is a regular here knows who he is. He is amazing and gave me amazing care preop and post op. I feel totally at peace in knowing that bad things just happened. I am sure other beloved wonderful doctors have had this happen to their patients. All aspects of preop and post op care can't be controlled. I wasn't butchered. It was just just crummy that I developed an infection after I returned home. My incisions looked perfect - I was healing well and my boobs still look great. The reality is I have a friend who got staph after pulling a thorn from his leg, my sister got staph after scrapping her foot at the beach and then getting in a hot tub and a friend's daughter got staph from an American hospital 2 days after her csection.You can get infections in and out of the country, in and out of hospitals.
Like i said before I think my case was just crummy luck. Very few people have these kind of complications but they do happen. It sucks. At first a part of me regretted doing my tummy tuck but then I could also have developed an infection due to a wound in the skin infections I continually got. So I've chosen not to wonder what if and live in regrets. That's a miserable way to live.
And for all those who are anti Mexico, I've always been very respectful of your posts even when I disagreed. So please do NOT be rude, condescending or non compassionate to me. Even if you feel that way please keep it to yourself. I don't need it or deserve it and I'll just block you. And I would hate to do the later because many times many of you do have wonderful input but I refuse to hear the negativity this time. This could have happened in the states and I didn't post about it here in this forum at first primarily because of many of the anti Mexico posts. For those that do care and wanted to know about my recovery I apologize.
BTW I did have my PCP on board and the local hospital, infectious disease doctor and a new ps to my area area are taking care of me now. The PS originally told my PCP that he had seen a lot of hack jobs in Mexico (he used to practice in So Cal). But later said my incisions and work actually looked good.
My insurance is paying for most of it but I do have a large deductible. But that would have been an issue if I had had the surgery in the states. The homehealth is the issue because of my policy but again that would have been an issue even if I had had the procedures done in the states and developed an infection. Also I am doing infusion balls as opposed to regular IV bags. The insurance would have paid for the bags but that would have upped my homehealth which I wasn't approved for so we paid $800 for the infusion balls out of pocket so my husband and sister could learn how to set them up and how to flush my pic line as opposed to the potential thousands extra on homehealth.
It could have been worse. I could have gone to a hack and not done my research (in states or Mexico) had a blood clot or had the infection in my blood stream. I could have died and I didn't. I am here and in a few months this will be a bad memory.
Complications are a reality and I knew that. I just didn't realize how intensive they could be but they do happen.
Extended Tummy Tuck & Breast Lift W/Dr. Sauceda 12/30/2009
Leah,
A very well written post.
I appreciate your attitude so much. You're an amazingly strong woman.
Thank you for being so brave.
I just wanted to HIJACK this post and tell you that!
Hugs!
A very well written post.
I appreciate your attitude so much. You're an amazingly strong woman.
Thank you for being so brave.
I just wanted to HIJACK this post and tell you that!
Hugs!
12/09 and 6/11, 9 skin removal procedures with Dr. Sauceda in Monterrey Mexico
Revised to the Sleeve after losing 271 lbs with the LapBand.
Leah,
As you said, you were fine when you left. It all happened in sequence weeks later. I think my surgeon is a God, but the list of potential complications for the surgeries is long and ranges from the simple to the rare and scary as hell, and we go into any surgery knowing the risks and secretly thinking, "but that won't happen to me." Doesn't matter if they are the most reknowned surgeon is the world. Everyone's body is different and every cir****tance is different. Sounds to me like with some of the unique things you encountered any one of them, or a number of them taken together, could have caused the things you are dealing with (with a great outlook, I might add). You may remember that I had trouble getting rid of my damned drains. The last one was in for a month and I developed an infection from it. Serious antibiotics and pulling it, Tylenol to keep my fever down below 103 til the Clindamycin kicked it's butt. Complications can happen to anyone, anywhere, any surgery. My neighbor went in for a hysterectomy, surgery went fine, and on the morning of her scheduled discharge, she died from a blood clot. Nothing her surgeon did wrong, nothing she did wrong. Just happened.
I admire that you know "complications are a reality" and you are dealing with yours in a positive way. It will help your healing process, and I know you will be just fine!
Terri
As you said, you were fine when you left. It all happened in sequence weeks later. I think my surgeon is a God, but the list of potential complications for the surgeries is long and ranges from the simple to the rare and scary as hell, and we go into any surgery knowing the risks and secretly thinking, "but that won't happen to me." Doesn't matter if they are the most reknowned surgeon is the world. Everyone's body is different and every cir****tance is different. Sounds to me like with some of the unique things you encountered any one of them, or a number of them taken together, could have caused the things you are dealing with (with a great outlook, I might add). You may remember that I had trouble getting rid of my damned drains. The last one was in for a month and I developed an infection from it. Serious antibiotics and pulling it, Tylenol to keep my fever down below 103 til the Clindamycin kicked it's butt. Complications can happen to anyone, anywhere, any surgery. My neighbor went in for a hysterectomy, surgery went fine, and on the morning of her scheduled discharge, she died from a blood clot. Nothing her surgeon did wrong, nothing she did wrong. Just happened.
I admire that you know "complications are a reality" and you are dealing with yours in a positive way. It will help your healing process, and I know you will be just fine!
Terri
LBL/BL 12/11/09; BL Revision, Quad Bleph 07/16/10. Larry H. Lickstein, M.D., F.A.C.S.
It's not how fast you go, but that you're moving in the right direction!
The thing you have to do is research, research research your surgeon. Find the best one you can who has a LOT of experience with the procedure you need done. You have to do your best to "limit" what you can. As you've seen from Leah's post, complications can and do happen later that have nothing to do with your surgeon. My cousin had a regular TT to take care of some loose skin from 2 pregnancies. She ended up getting an infection and had to have another surgery to clean it out. She ended up having to have 4 surgeries to clean it out. She also ended up with a wound vac. It took her almost a year to fully recover from her TT. It's now 2 years later and she's looking at getting some MORE plastic surgery. So even though she went through some serious complications that took a long time to heal from...it hasn't deterred her from having more. She feels it's worth it and knows that complications are just a chance everyone takes. She's just hoping she sails through her next one!
I am one month out from my LBL and BL and have been lucky to have no complications. Keeping my fingers crossed that my next round goes just as smooth!
I am one month out from my LBL and BL and have been lucky to have no complications. Keeping my fingers crossed that my next round goes just as smooth!
I can relate to Leah's experience. My story isn't quite as bad as hers, but it is just one more story that things can go wrong no matter who is doing the surgery.
My gastric bypass surgeon did my anchor TT (along with a hernia repair) and the initial surgery went fine, but a few hours later I started to bleed on the inside and they had to re-open me (12 hours after the initial surgery) and repair the bleeder. That too went well, but where the vertical incision meets the horizontal incision my skin started to die. Probably just too much trama.
Two weeks later I developed a seroma (fluid under the skin) and that was aspirated and the dead skin still looked like it was going to scab up. And not 2 days later my incision opened. I ended up in the emergency room where they cut off the dead skin and packed a hole about 3" long and 1" deep. My dear husband had to change the packing twice a day for the next five days (as of today). Today my surgeon looked at the wound and decided we would go straight to the wound VAC. I will be getting "fitted" with that tomorrow. We are both very happy with this decision. My husband won't have to pack this ugly wound,, and I look forward to healing faster.
I am on a antibiotic, but so far there does not appear to be any infection anywhere but right at the open wound.
I realize that complications can happen, but that does NOT mean that I am happy about this.. I a actually rather un-happy and have done quite a bit of crying. I keep looking at the positive side of this whole thing. My stomach is flat, I'm alive and I have a very caring supportive network at home and work.
I will get through this and right now I don't think I will ever consider the other plastics I wanted (arms and boobs). I'm just going to let the arms flap in the wind and wear a good uplifting bra.
Good luck on your journey. And be well-prepared for the good,, or the bad.
Fran
My gastric bypass surgeon did my anchor TT (along with a hernia repair) and the initial surgery went fine, but a few hours later I started to bleed on the inside and they had to re-open me (12 hours after the initial surgery) and repair the bleeder. That too went well, but where the vertical incision meets the horizontal incision my skin started to die. Probably just too much trama.
Two weeks later I developed a seroma (fluid under the skin) and that was aspirated and the dead skin still looked like it was going to scab up. And not 2 days later my incision opened. I ended up in the emergency room where they cut off the dead skin and packed a hole about 3" long and 1" deep. My dear husband had to change the packing twice a day for the next five days (as of today). Today my surgeon looked at the wound and decided we would go straight to the wound VAC. I will be getting "fitted" with that tomorrow. We are both very happy with this decision. My husband won't have to pack this ugly wound,, and I look forward to healing faster.
I am on a antibiotic, but so far there does not appear to be any infection anywhere but right at the open wound.
I realize that complications can happen, but that does NOT mean that I am happy about this.. I a actually rather un-happy and have done quite a bit of crying. I keep looking at the positive side of this whole thing. My stomach is flat, I'm alive and I have a very caring supportive network at home and work.
I will get through this and right now I don't think I will ever consider the other plastics I wanted (arms and boobs). I'm just going to let the arms flap in the wind and wear a good uplifting bra.
Good luck on your journey. And be well-prepared for the good,, or the bad.
Fran
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