Botched Breast Surgery - Mom Gets Breast Implants Instead of Breast Reduction

When a patient visits a doctor to have a previously agreed upon plastic surgery procedure, it is assumed that the doctor is prepared and knows exactly what to perform when it comes to the surgery and providing the desired results. Unfortunately, one Florida mom learned the hard way that not every visit to the doctor ends as planned when she decided to have breast reduction surgery.

Breast Reduction Results Reversed

Tiffany Mills is a 29-year-old mother of three from Tampa who got a shock after what she thought was going to be surgery last November to reduce the size of her breasts. Instead, she was given breast implants along with receiving a tummy tuck and liposuction surgery. She also said the clinic where these procedures were performed tried to pass off the treatments as “free” surgery.

When speaking with a news outlet, Mills said, “I woke up in the absolute worst pain of my life.” Mills claims the breast implants tore her skin open and left her with open wounds and blood clots in her legs and lungs. In addition, she alleges that the tummy tuck caused her to experience severe pain because she did not have any “extra skin to pull. They’d pulled my skin too tight, meaning I had a lot of scar tissue and wasn’t able to stand up straight. My belly button looked like a coin slot because I’d been pulled as tight as possible.”

Mills had made the decision to have breast reduction surgery last year because of the pain she was experiencing in the neck, back, and shoulders due to the size of her breasts. She remarked that her 32F cup bra size meant she was in constant pain. Because of her petite size of 5’3”, her doctor recommended she have breast reduction surgery.

When she confronted the clinic about the issue, Mills claims they did not immediately admit to the mistake and only admitted to a mix-up in patient paperwork after repeated phone calls on her part.

“They didn’t tell me that they’d mixed my details up with another patient until the next day. They also said, ‘Don’t be upset about it, look at it like you got free surgery.’”

Florida Mom Instantly Realized Her Breast Reduction Was Wrong

Once she decided on a clinic (which has not been named due to ongoing legal reasons), Mills paid over eight thousand dollars in advance for the breast reduction surgery. However, after waking up from the procedure, Mills (who also works as a nurse), realized that something was not right.

“I woke up feeling very groggy and I remember being pulled up by arms by the medical assistant. They told me they needed the bed and I needed to get up. I didn’t really recognize I had all these incisions in my stomach until about seven hours later, when I woke up in a hotel [booked for post-surgery recovery]. They didn’t even keep me for observation, they got me out of there as fast as they could.”

It wasn’t until she woke up in the hotel that she noticed a binder across her stomach. After removing the binder, she saw an incision that went from one side of the hip to the other side of the hip along with bruises on her sides.

“On my right nipple, the nipple had [also] become detached from the areola. It was like this huge black hole…I knew they’d put implants in too, because they were sitting on my collar bone.”

She told a news outlet that she called the clinic to find out what happened, but the receptionist would hang up on her. She finally spoke to someone the next day which is when the clinic admitted to a mix-up taking place with her surgery.

“I was so confused how there was a mix-up. They told me the whole team made a mistake. They weren’t maintaining surgical logs; they weren’t checking their patients. They had no idea what they were performing or who on. They did this without my consent. I had no idea this was going on.”

Things Get Worse During the Recovery Period after “Breast Reduction” Surgery

Two weeks after the surgery mix-up, Mills was admitted to the hospital because the wounds located beneath her breasts became infected. In addition, blood clots were found in her legs and lungs. “I nearly died because the incisions were ripping open, [and] those open wounds led to an infection and blood clots. I was alternating between two intravenous antibiotics because the infection was so severe, they worried I was going to go septic.”

After four days in the hospital, Mills spent the next two months on antibiotics in order to clear up the infections. She is also struggling to get her life back in order while navigating the physical, financial, and psychological issues she has faced after the surgery.

She has spent thousands of dollars on corrective surgery, but she is now afraid of surgery because of her experience. “I managed to dispute the surgery charge with my bank and get the money back. The clinic is trying to fight it and claiming that this is what I asked for.” Mills added, “I’m still recovering. I just had my second surgery to correct part of the problem they caused. I wasn’t able to work during this time. It’s been a big financial hit.”

The clinic where Mills had her surgery mix-up has not responded to requests for any comments on the surgery snafu.

- MA