Top 10 Cosmetic Surgery Lawsuits

Taking Botox to court is something akin to suing Santa Claus. Almost everybody likes Botox as much as Santa, so how would you get a jury to vote against either one? Only time will tell….about Botox, that is.

Three months before Christmas, Santa is certainly on safe ground.

So nobody is suing Santa. Yet, anyhow. But in January, all bets are off!

Given the number of lawyers looking for something to do, the Momma-put-a-lump-of-coal-in-my-Xmas-stocking class action lawsuit is just around the corner.


(Pamela Moore photo)

Patrick Hudson, M.D., a plastic surgeon in New Mexico, located some insider statistics that show which plastic surgery procedures are most likely to lead to the court house.

Here are the top ten litigated procedures, along with the percentages of actions the procedure draws. More.

1. Nose surgery……………………..22 %
2. Breast reduction………………….17 %
3. Eyelid surgery……………………16%
4. Breast enlargement……………….13%
5. Face lift…………………………… 9%
6. Various………………………… 7%
7. Breast reconstruction…………..… 6%
8. Tummy tuck……………………… 5%
9. Liposuction……………………….. 3%
10. Facial resurfacing………………. …2%

Nose surgery heads the list because it’s the most difficult plastic surgery procedure to learn and perform. More.

Breast reduction involves removing a lot of tissue; however, eyelid surgery is a surprise because it is supposed to be one of the easier procedures to perform. Breast enlargement made its way onto the list because it’s very popular, with 329,000 patients undergoing the procedure in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics exist. A tummy tuck involves a long incision across the abdomen so insurance companies should be thankful the percentage is relatively low. Ditto breast reconstruction.

Hint: If, for some reason, you aren’t satisfied with the outcome of your plastic surgery, two eminent Beverly Hills cosmetic plastic surgeons, Drs. Robert Kotler and Stuart Linder, tell the top five constructive things to do if your procedure does not go well.

Read their blog, Top 5 Remedies for Unsatisfying Plastic Surgery.

Plastic Surgery for Pooches

Yearly, some appearance-challenged canine is named top dog in the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California. (Read more.)

Gus, a Chinese Crested, won for 2008 even though he has had a rough row to hoe in life. He has lost one leg to disease, one eye in a cat fight, a handful of teeth due to chewing on countless bones, and a furry coat due to heredity; after all, he is a hairless Chinese crested dog. Gus was simply born to be as ugly as a mud fence.

Nonetheless, his owners think Gus, pictured below, is precious.


Gus relaxing at home
(iStock photo)

2007’s winner was even more revolting. Also a Chinese Crested, Elwood, pictured below, won that year, perhaps because he is even more crested and has even less hair than Gus. You have to admit that when it comes to looks, Elwood is also just a real dog.


Elwood, 2007’s Top Ugly Dog
(Canada News Photo)

A Plastic Surgeon for Dogs

Anyhow, there’s somebody we would like Gus and Elwood to meet -- Brazilian doctor Vet Elgado Brito, a big proponent of pet plastic surgery.

To the Brazilian way of thinking, if you make people beautiful, hey, why not make their “animal companions” beautiful, too? Works for me! (As long as the creature is house broken; there’s no way that beauty alone makes up for, well, you’ve got the picture by now.)

Botox and Breast Augmentations

Dr. Brito has used Botox to straighten inverted doggy eyelashes so that Fido’s eyeball is not irritated. Among other cosmetic surgery, the South America doc has even performed canine breast augmentation by tightening mammillae of female dogs before beauty contests so that the dogs could take part in the type of contests in which good looks -- and not vile features -- are judged. (Read more about Dr. Brito.)


The owners of this Sharpei wanted Botox
to remove the dog’s wrinkles
but could not afford 1,500 vials of Botox.
(iStock.xchng photo)

But if you look closely enough, others are making unsightly animals more attractive, too.

Rhinoplasty and Eyelid lifts

The Animal Medical Center of Southern California requires a medical reason for cosmetic treatments on animals; nonetheless, the work often results in an eyelift, facelift, rhinoplasty or abdominoplasty, a procedure we Homo Sapiens fondly call a “tummy tuck.” However, liposuction is out, partly because dogs don’t mind being fat.

If your “animal companion” is a Pug, Bulldog or a Boston terrier, breeds in which breathing problems are common, the mutt may be eligible for rhinoplasty. Sharpeis and Chows often have a congenital defect that make their eyelids roll inwards, causing the eye winkers to rub the eye, perhaps resulting in scratches. The solution? A canine style eyelid lift.

Lip Augmentation

And there is the heart-warming case of Feznick, a 75-pound gray kangaroo who lives at a farm for Hollywood animal actors. Feznick was bitten on the face by his neighbor, a wolf and fellow actor when he, Feznick, poked his snout into the next cage. That left the ‘Roo with a snarling lip and totally unsuitable for his close-ups. So, back in 2006, a vet named Dr. Wolff (really!) repaired Feznick’s lip with a little cosmetic surgery described much like the human procedure, “except with a lot more hair.” (Read more.)


This Kangaroo isn’t Feznick (we could not afford
his picture!) but another Kangaroo who is available
for movies and commercials. (His day job is being an
attraction at a petting zoo.)

Tattoo with a Breast Implant: It’s ba-a-a-a-a-ck!

We hate to say we told you so but, hey, did we not tell you so?

According to alert reader (and author) Dr. DiSaia writing in his most excellent blog Truth in Cosmetic Surgery., the man-with-the-breast-implant-tattoo-on-his-leg has suffered a medical setback.

For newer alert readers who have just signed onto our own most excellent blog, a January column here told about the top eight most far out uses ever for breast implants.

Number 7 told of a tattoo aficionado (that means he digs them a lot!) who inked a busty woman on his lower leg.

Here’s our blog post from January 9, 2008:


Above, Lane’s right leg. He is editor of
a body art and tattoo magazine in Edmonton, Alberta.

Thinking that a 2-D tat was too tame, Canadian Lane Jensen
asked a tattoo artist and wannabe surgeon to open his leg and surgically
implant tiny breast implants in the anatomically correct position of a
buxom woman tattoo. (Note: Do not try this at home. While these people were
totally untrained professionals working in a dangerous environment, they were lucky!
Lane still has his leg which is a miracle in itself!) And, hey, this is no time for quips about him being a breast-or-leg man!

(We don’t make these things up! Even if we did who could dream up a chesty leg?)

According to TMZ.com and the good Dr. DiSaia, the tiny implant burst, probably causing a nasty infection. That’s my guess judging from the angry red slash on the far left side of his leg.

Nonetheless, we wish him good health and remind him of the classic observation in Buddhism: “If you lose, don’t lose the lesson!”

I suppose the lesson here would be something along the lines of letting the pros do the surgery? “Pro,” in this case, meaning somebody who actually graduated from medical school.

The good news? He’s got his leg! So far, anyhow.

If you’re up for a story on what else can go wrong in plastic surgery, read more. (AFTER lunch, that is; the article is not what you would call appetite enhancing.)

Top Ten Famous Quotes about Plastic Surgery

1. “Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills.”
Dolly Parton

2. “A woman went to a plastic surgeon and asked him to make her like Bo Derek. He gave her a lobotomy.”
Joan Rivers

3. “I was going to have cosmetic surgery until I noticed that the doctor's office was full of portraits by Picasso.”
Rita Rudner

4. “She got her good looks from her father. He’s a plastic surgeon.”
Groucho Marx

5. “I definitely believe in plastic surgery. I don't want to be an old hag. There's no fun in that.”
Scarlett Johansson

6. “It wasn't a fortune. It cost me the price of one-and-a-half Hermes handbags.”
Anne Robinson
British TV personality, “Queen of Mean” on her cosmetic surgery.

7. “A press agent created the legend that I was in an air crash during the war, and my face had to be put back together by plastic surgery. Well, if it is a 'bionic face,' why didn't they do a better job?”
Jack Palance

8. “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.”
Dorothy Parker

9. “Pretty is something you're born with. But beautiful, that's an equal opportunity adjective.”
Author Unknown

10. “I wish I had a twin, so I could know what I'd look like without plastic surgery.”
Joan Rivers

New Mirror Shows Your Future Look (Probably!)

The mirror has probably driven more people to the offices of plastic surgeons than anything else except reunions and weddings.

But if you hate looking in the mirror now, just wait a few years.

Soon, you can see what your reflection looks like a quarter or half century into the future. So, maybe you can use the mirror to get an idea when to schedule some cosmetic plastic surgery. After all, you never know how far in advance your favorite plastic surgeon is going to be booked!

It works like this: cameras are mounted all through your home. They see you when you’re naughty and nice and while you are:

• puffing away on cigarettes


• pigging out on twinkles, cookies and colas


• having beer and chips for dinner


• living on the couch

(Remember, we make up nothing around here! Read the report for yourself.)

Next, the high-tech gizmos process all that information through special computers, add what your parents look like and plaster a picture of what you are very likely to look like on your mirror, given known aging patterns and your current habits.

Say, you haven’t quite dropped the cigarette habit. You get up one day and say “Mirror, mirror on the wall,…” or whatever and presto! There, before your unbelieving eyes is you, 30 years later, gray and haggard from smoking and coughing.



On the other hand, those cameras also see you eating well, getting proper sleep, lacing up your running shoes and carrying your gym bag out the door four or five times a week.

In that case, when you go to the mirror, the future image popping up next to your current self is slim and trim, has rosy cheeks and just a little gray hair. Older, but probably kinda distinguished and very, very healthy.

Stop and think. What will your reflection show in 2032? If you have unhealthy habits or choose the wrong plastic surgeon, it could be something like the picture below! Yes, be afraid! Very afraid!



Do you suppose we will still say YIKES! then?

Nip Tuck Nation? No, PhotoShop Nation!

Elf Ears = Better Hearing?

Hungarian plastic surgeon, Dr. Lajos Nagy, (now allegedly working in NYC) says on his website he surgically creates elf-like ears for people like these two supposed patients, below.

Plastic Surgery Before Birth?

Next, we read in the plastic surgery news that the latest trend in rejuvenation surgery is prenatal plastic surgery.

Surgeons are now allegedly repairing body parts before birth as evidenced by this sonogram of an unfortunate fetus with a long, unattractive nose in the picture, below.

But miracle of miracles, look at the nice nose job in the after picture. And performed while the patient is still in the womb!



What these two items really have in common is not plastic surgery but PhotoShop. All the above before and after plastic surgery pictures are “100 percent PhotoShopped,” according to Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon Jason Diamond, M.D., F.A.C.S., a Dr. 90210 plastic surgery star in Beverly Hills.

The amazing thing is how many blogs first fell for Dr. Nagy’s hoax. Swallowing it hook, line and sinker were Plasticized; skepticalcommunity.com; boingboing.net; trendhunter.net; speeple.com; geekologie.com and metafilter.com, among others.

But eagle-eyed blog Meisters seeing right through the stunts -- in addition to your humble scribe at CosmeticSurgery.com blog -- include blogskinny.com and health.propeller.com.

Say, I’ve got a nice bridge in Brooklyn for sale and it’s real cheap, too! Any takers?

Plastic Surgery Movie

Plastic Surgery Movie

It looks boffo (Hollywood-speak for “a two-hanky tearjerker”). Provided you can find it and don’t mind English subtitles over a Korean sound track, the flick 200 Pounds of Beauty is about a Korean 20-year-old blessed with an unbelievable voice. But she’s also an Asian incarnation of Mama Cass, tipping the scales at 200 pounds. This, on a four-foot-nine frame in a nation where the average weight for females is 95 pounds!

Plastic Surgery Hot Spot

The heroine, Kim Ah-Jung, is the secret vocalist for a famous (READ: reed thin) Korean singer who lip syncs to Kim’s marvelous singing. The plot thickens again when Kim meets a famous plastic surgeon, a totally natural development because Korea has become a plastic surgery hot spot in Asia.
Eventually, Kim gets sick of her weight. She stays in seclusion for a year to lose it, emerging as Jenny, a recent émigré from California to becomes an overnight singing sensation AND -- here’s the two hanky part -- capturing the heart of her secret love. Jenny/Kim is the sole act in a huge, national concert. But old enemies reveal her actual past and show pictures of her former corpulent self at the concert.

Breaks Down

Instead of singing, Jenny breaks down, admits to the millions in attendance (though satellite hookups) she is really is a “fake” and “all plastic.” Much to her surprise, the audience chants en masse “That’s okay, Jen, go on with the show!”
While the movie won a handful of awards, it’s a tad misleading about plastic surgery.
Sure, surgeons can remove some excess fat through liposuction, but the procedure is not for weight loss. There is just no easy way around the weight loss thing; it has to be done the hard way, by eating less and working out more. Check this out to get a better appreciation of what liposuction can -- and can not do.

NBC’s Biggest Loser

If movies were real life and Jenny did lose 100 or more pounds, she would have required an altogether different plastic surgery procedure, body shaping or body contouring to get rid of excess skin.
Of course, if moves were like real life, nobody would go. But here’s a little slice of real life, about NBC’s Biggest Loser who had body shaping after breaking the show’s records.
What’s your favorite film or T.V. program about plastic surgery?

Next time: Dental appointments reminders phone home!