Amazingly, the most common reaction to the fraudulent and dangerous activity that led to 6 women in New Jersey having diluted bathtub caulk injected into their buttocks for augmentation is some form of "those women must be dumb... that could never happen to me".
What's fascinating to me about this is that women seeking plastic surgery here in Orlando are duped daily, and with just as much on the line we just don't hear about it... Why?
The critical factors usually have to do with one or more of the following:
- They never find out they were treated irresponsibly or by someone without proper credentials (that is, they are lucky to not be injured)
- They suffer not a true injury, but a poor outcome due to the provider's lack of legitimate training- which makes it much more difficult to complain to authorities.
- They are injured, but the injury is minor enough that a trip to the ER is not necessary, and so is not reported to authorities.
- They are injured, but intimidated into submission by the "provider" in question.
The last one is very common here in Orlando. There is an eye doctor in town who completed a fellowship in plastic surgery of the eye and markets himself aggressively as a liposuction expert. I see many of his patients after they have been injured (psychologically, physically, or both) by him, and I must say I am struck by how often these (usually very intelligent) women are absolutely surprised to learn that he is NOT a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon.
I have asked why they assumed he was, and their response is always that he represented himself to them as a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon.
If not legally fraud, no reasonable person could argue that this is not ethically and morally fraud. Misrepresenting your medical education and training ought to be against the law....
Unfortunately, until patients complain to the Florida Board of Medicine, his behavior will not be curbed.
Just as shocking (to me) however, is how often these intelligent, injured women are absolutely uninterested in filing a complaint. Why?
Most often they say it's because they are embarrassed that they made the poor decision in the first place.
They don't want the world to know they were duped by an eye doctor into letting him do surgery outside his scope of training on them. Others have said that at a prior visit at which they expressed concern to him, they were berated and threatened with consequences if they complained.
The point of all of this is that there is a lesson here for anyone and everyone considering plastic surgery of any kind. And that is that any of us could fall victim to an unscrupulous doctor with a clever marketing plan.
You have simply GOT to do your homework before you let someone do surgery on you (and YES, liposuction of any kind IS surgery).
The best places to learn about your surgeon's education and credentials are:
- The American Board of Plastic Surgery Website:
- https://www.abplsurg.org/ModDefault.aspx?section=PubFind
- Allows you to immediately find out if your doctor is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
- The Florida Department of Health Website
- http://ww2.doh.state.fl.us/IRM00profiling/searchform.ASP
- This site allows you to learn all about where your doctor was educated, where he did his training, what specialty his training was in, what kind of medical practice he is licensed for in Florida, and even all about his criminal history and history of complaints and lawsuits.
Here is what a quick search taught me about the Orlando eye doctor who claims to be a body contouring expert and who's patients I see so frequently:
* His residency training was in OPHTHALMOLOGY, and was followed by a fellowship in OCULOPLASTIC and RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY (plastic surgery of the eye)
* He is Board Certified BY THE AMERICAN BOARD OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
Bottom line- do your homework. Find a well-qualified plastic surgeon for you plastic surgery... Even if you don't come to me, there are many real plastic surgeons in Central Florida, any of whom could give you a pleasant, safe experience.
Remember- the goal is to look good when all is said and done, but also to have been safe, and to have a pleasant experience you can look back on positively.
