Patient Testimonials
"Just a note to thank you all for everything when my husband and I were out in New Orleans for my surgery on July 1st. I also wanted to share with you my front page article in our local newspaper. 10 days after my revision surgery, I completed the American Cancer Society's 62.5 mile bike-a-thon. For almost six hours that day it was me, the bike and the girdle. What a ride! My recuperation has always been so minimal... enabling me to get right back into the swing of things. There is no place better to go than The Center for Restorative Breast Surgery. I am proof. Thank you all..." - KM
"Hey girls. Just wanted to share this with you. I went in for my 6 month cancer check up yesterday at Cedar Sinai Cancer Center in Beverly Hills. My oncologist is one of the busiest, most respected doctors in California. He has had thousands of patients over the past 20+ years, and unfortunately many of them with breast cancer. I took off my top for my check up and he was in awe of the job Dr. S had done. He said "That is the best reconstruction I have ever seen in my career." Then he asked me why I left my nipples on. At this point I almost jumped off the table and hugged him. I then told him that Dr. S had reconstructed those too. That is how real they look, I even fooled him. Then, I showed him my belly. Again, he took a step back and was amazed at how "beautiful" my incision was (hey, I will take that as a compliment). He said the belly looked amazing and that the breasts felt and looked better than anything he had ever felt or seen. He said the sag was perfect, they felt like breasts, that they were beautiful, etc. Basically they looked better than any TRAM he had ever seen or felt. It is amazing to me that a cutting-edge hospital such as Cedar Sinai knows nothing about the DIEP flap. He agreed that it was worth the traveling to get the results that I got and was amazed at how gifted Dr. S is. He agreed that at 35 I deserved nothing but the best and that is what I got with Dr. S. My self esteem was already fully restored a month ago, now I just feel beautiful again. And, I am 11 years out and NO CANCER. WOOOHOOO!!!! I am a cancer survivor and a BC previvor and I look damn good if I don't say so myself!!!"
"You're not the only one getting this kind of reaction from your docs. When I went to my oncologist a few months ago (BEFORE revisions and nipples), she couldn't believe her eyes and asked for Dr. S's card. She does genetic counseling and wants to refer her patients for whom she recommends pbm's to him. I happen to carry a stack of his cards in my purse and gave half the pile to her. When I went to my dermatologist for post-surgical steroid shots in my incisions, he hesitated when he got to my nipples and said, "I'm sorry but this is going to really hurt." Even though he was fully aware that my breasts are completely fake, he was fooled at that moment into thinking that they were real. I told him that if they did hurt, I would jump for joy. I also saw my breast surgeon recently about a suspicious lump I found in my armpit. She arranged for me to have an ultrasound right away. As I was walking down to the imaging department, she got her radiologist friends on the phone and told them to be sure to check out my reconstruction (also BEFORE revisions and nipples). After my ultrasound, they came in to tell me that my lump was nothing to worry about and to ask about my reconstruction. I didn't hesitate to lift up my shirt to show them. They were floored. They told me that I have the breasts of a sixteen year old and that this type of reconstruction, which they had never heard of before, makes perfect common sense and exactly what they would want if they were in my shoes. Even though my breast surgeon, who is also known as the best in my state, delighted in showing me off to her friends, she has been quite reticent and unwilling to express her enthusiasm in front of me. She simply says, "We doctors are always learning from you patients." There is no doubt that she is impressed, but at the same time worried that if word got out she would lose a lot of business. It is a terrible shame that the quality of our care in this country often boils down to money. BTW, I'm in NOLA right now for tattoos and minor revisions. I was dx'd with bc at the age of 35, a year ago. I was telling someone here at the hospital about my experience and she said, "What a shame! You're so young! In your twenties with bc!" Before I knew it, my arms were wrapped around her and I was giving her a gigantic hug. Five months ago, I had no boobs and no hair. Now my oncologist calls me "the beauty queen" and perfect strangers think I'm ten years younger than I really am. I told Dr. S that it's because of him that the po is going to be a lot easier for me to do. Whether they realize it or not, Drs. S and D are in the business of saving lives."
"It's amazing how much more real my breasts look now that I have tattoos. Don, the tattoo artist, said that a lot of women who had no qualms about showing their reconstructed breasts to others all of a sudden become so much more modest when they get the tattoos. At the moment, mine look very bright, almost iridescent. But everyone has assured me that they will fade and look very natural before long. Another unique fact about Drs. S and D's practice is that they employ an authentic tattoo artist (whose wife is an RN), rather than a medical professional. Before he came to the practice, they were dissatisfied with the customary "stamped-on" look of medical tattoos. Don uses a palette of different colors and replicates the various anatomical features of the nipple. He starts with the darker colors on the nipple and gradually blends them with lighter colors on the perimeter of the aureola. Because I had my flap surgery just 5 1/2 months ago, it didn't hurt at all. But I did feel a remote buzzing sensation. Don said that those who wait a long time (a year or more) will experience a lot more pain. He does not use a local anesthetic for two reasons. One, the skin won't hold the color as well. Two, it doesn't dull the pain anyway because the tattooing occurs on the skin and not subcutaneously. Yes I'm happy with my tattoos and the revisions that Dr. Sullivan did yesterday. Because I didn't have skin-sparing, the natural contour of the breast is harder to achieve. Before yesterday, my breasts were a bit flat and wide (only perceptible to me). Dr. Sullivan did more suction on the sides of my breast (under my arms) to narrow them a bit, and he deposited more fat to the front of my breasts to make them project more. Also, before yesterday, my left nipple was ?" lower than the right. Without skin-sparing, positioning the nipple is harder to do. He fixed that, too. NOLA stands for New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Scott Sullivan is in a practice with Dr. Frank Dellacroce called The Center for Restoration at a hospital called Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans. These doctors perform perforator flap breast reconstruction, transferring skin and fat (but sparing the muscle) from either the abdomen (DIEP flap) or the buttocks (GAP flap). They have an international reputation because of the high success rate (better than 99%) and speed (about 5 hours for the bilateral DIEP and about 8 hours for the bilateral GAP + 2 hours for bilateral mastectomy, which is performed by a breast surgeon) at which they perform these procedures. Also, they are the only one's in the world who are doing simultaneous bilateral GAP reconstruction. Other perforator flap surgeons will do the bilateral GAP reconstruction in two surgeries at least one week apart. For more information on these doctors and these procedures, go to breastcenter.com. Once you contact their office (by phone or email), they will take your insurance information and arrange for you to have a phone consultation with one of the surgeons."
"If I could have my vote for "Person of the Year," it would definitely be you! To say I feel like a new woman doesn't begin to express the difference you and your staff and associates have made. After 11 years of uncomfortable prostheses and an adult lifetime of an oversized, droopy bustline, I now have a proportionate figure I can be proud of and feel comfortable in. My husband and I just returned from our rest and recuperation time in Mexico. What a joy to be able to look and feel good in a normal bathing suit. What fun to be able to shop for pretty underwear! Best of all, what a relief to feel balanced in my body; the strain I had been experiencing daily in my back and neck is completely gone! I can tell that you are a doctor for all the right reasons and that you really care about the welfare of your patients in every aspect of the traumatic after-effects of breast cancer. Right from the start, with the very first phone call, you made me feel like a special person, instead of just another body in a hospital gown. You have a wonderful staff, too, and I hope you will pass on my thanks to each of them." - JR
"I'd like to thank all of you for everything. Your kindness and compassion, your patience and understanding. You truly have a wonderful gift from God. Your skills surpass my imagination. Thank you for doing what you do. If there is ever anything I can do to make other women aware of what options they have please give me a call." - JAL
