I first saw Dr. Kara in the fall of 2016 for liposuction of the flanks. Before choosing him as my Doctor, I made it a point in my consultation to ask and clarify that he does revisions if something may go awry and he confirmed he did. Sure enough, my sides (flanks) were not even after healing... not even close. I returned for my revision after the one year wait, when he told me I need to remove skin to fix it (at my own cost) and I stated that type of surgury isn't for me. As I don't see excess skin on my body, I went for a second opinion and that surgeon informed me follow up liposuction would remedy the problem. I went back to Dr. Kara's office and spoke with his surgical assistant, Melissa, and told her all of this and that I wanted to go forward with my revision and after further discussion and some added pressure, I hesitantly agreed to get additional liposuction for my stomach and thighs as well. This was presented to me in a way that made it seem with these added areas, it would be worth his time (as opposed to completing the revision for free like originally promised). This all went through Melissa who was confident in this surgery and my date was set. I took the time off from work, paid for the medication that was required, showed up at the hospital ready to go. The nurse informed me to strip down into just surgical underwear and gave me pre-surgery medication, which included a heavy pain killer that had an immediate effect. Dr. Kara then walked into the room and had me stand before him in just the paper underwear, medicated and told me I wasn't going to be happy with the results and I need to decide if I wanted to move forward while making it clear he wasn't going to do the surgery. This is the part where I HIGHLY recommend NOT using him as your doctor as he had me standing there naked and medicated, prepped for a surgery I was promised (and recieved 2nd opinions on that it was the correct surgery for me) and then told me well you may not be happy and there was "miscommunication" between him and Melissa - there was never once an apology just excuse after excuse making it clear he wasn't interested in following through with what we had discussed. I have never felt more vulnerable and taken advantage of in my life as I had gone to two consultations prior to the surgery day and at no point were any issues brought up, this was all new information I was receiving while naked and medicated. I told him his excuse of miscommunication was unacceptable and he then told me "medical mistakes happen all the time - doctors operate on the wrong hand, tools are left in patients - it happens" which only put my back up further and left me feeling incredibly uncomfortable. I was sent home from the hospital only to learn the pain killer that was given to me prior to surgery was actually supposed to be given AFTER surgery and could have had detrimental effects.
After being promised a refund upon leaving the hospital, a TWO week battle with his staff had to happen for me to receive my money back. When I finally received my own money back for a surgery that didn't take place, it was paid to me in installments - post dated cheques - over the month of April and Melissa nor Dr Kara were willing to speak to me to discuss the refund.
If you've had plastic surgery you know in order to receive a surgery date, you must pay the full amount upfront but the same courtesy was not extended back to me. Dr Kara was unapologetic for his actions and even more unapologetic was his surgical assistent Melissa. They placed the blame on one another and took no accountability for the part they played to have me end up in such a horrible situation. This is not a doctor or staff that deserves the trust of patients. Also my flanks, an $8000 dollar surgery, are still uneven and lopsided even though the promise of a revision was provided without issue at the first consultation. read more