A South Florida mother turned to plastic surgery to get a better body but said she got disfigured instead.
Hagar, who didn’t want to publish her last name, said she loves being a mother to her two young children but she didn’t love the toll breast feeding took on her body.
"I didn’t feel sexy," said Hagar. "So I decided after the second kid that I would go ahead and fix it."
She decided to get a breast augmentation.
However when she went under the knife for breast implants, she didn’t what like she saw when she woke up from surgery.
"The stitches were wrong, the implants were wrong, the shape of the implants were wrong," explained Hagar. "I was traumatized by that, I didn’t want to do it again, I didn’t want to open my body again."
Hagar went to Dr. Adam Rubinstein, a plastic surgeon in Aventura, to have them fixed.
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"It’s sort of like fitting a ten pound bag in a five pound space," said Dr. Rubinstein of the way her implants looked.
Dr. Rubinstein removed Hagar’s implants and replaced them with ones that better fit her body. He fixed her scars along with the jagged points that were sticking out from her breasts.
Patients who’ve had botched procedures visit Dr. Rubinstein’s office every week looking for help. The doctor said there’s one thing that’s similar in most of the botched surgeries – they’re usually performed by doctors who are not board certified. In Florida any doctor can perform plastic surgery but not every doctor is trained and certified in this area.
"I’ve seen patients that have been to a gynecologist, for a liposuction and that’s not the worst of it," said Dr. Rubinstein.
Hagar told NBC 6 News she didn’t know her original doctor was not certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. He was a family practitioner not a board certified plastic surgeon.
"I trusted him because I thought he knew better because he’s a doctor," said Hagar.
She said she now knows better and feels better after reconstruction surgery.
Dr. Rubinstein is starting a new program to help patients who don’t have health insurance or the money to correct botched procedures.
"I can’t do a lot, but I can help on patient at a time," he said.
He’s also working on developing a database to help patients research surgeons before deciding whether to get surgery.
