Awake Breast Augmentation Surgery – part 2

Just last week, I did a consultation on a young lady who had an “awake breast augmentation” done in Maitland, Florida, less than 8 months ago. She was already in my office, getting a consultation on how to fix her poorly done surgery, so she could look normal again.
She had a lot of comments about her unhappy experience. She didn’t want anyone else to go through what she had to go through.
First of all, regarding getting to pick the implant size during surgery – she said she asked for a different size and shape during surgery, and her surgeon “pooh poohed” her suggestions. She didn’t get what she wanted. So much for that supposed advantage of awake surgery.
Secondly, the surgeon had trouble getting the implant behind the muscle, due to the lack of muscle relaxation during awake surgery. As a result, they made the pocket larger towards the armpit, so the implant would fit… and now it has migrated even further downwards and outwards toward her armpit.
Since her “cosmetic surgeon” (who actually has no surgical training at all, but is allowed to do this in his office due to a loophole in Florida Law) chose a small, high profile implant that was way too narrow for the patient’s frame, she has a large gap in between the breasts, which she doesn’t care for.
She went back to her original surgeon, who:
a) made her feel bad for bringing up these legitimate problems,
b) wouldn’t even acknowledge the suboptimal surgical result, and
c) didn’t offer to fix it.
So now she’s here at my office, hoping it can all be made better. Fortunately, her situation is repairable. Some of the problems I see are not.
I asked the young lady whether she would have “awake” surgery ever again. She said emphatically, “No way! I want to be asleep next time!”
It’s really frustrating for me to see this sort of situation; most of these problems could have been avoided with a properly trained plastic surgeon using standard, accepted techniques.
Florida patients need to be protected from inadequately trained practitioners.
Bottom line: Quality may cost a little more initially, but it’s usually worth it in the long run. Only have plastic surgery performed by real plastic surgeons. Ask your political representative to change the law: if the doctor doesn’t have privileges to perform the surgery in a hospital, why should he/she be able to do it in the office?