Liposuction Deaths in Arizona

A massage therapist performed a liposuction procedure in which a woman died.
A homeopathic physician who was denied a medical doctor's license by the state board did another procedure in which a patient died.
Others who performed cosmetic surgery did not have formal medical training, including a bookkeeper and a former restaurant owner.
(from the Arizona Republic)

These incidents occurred in the office of an Arizona-based internist/emergency physician who fancied himself a cosmetic surgeon . In this tragic piece of news, three people have died from complications of liposuction surgery at his clinic since December.

This sad case is an important reminder to everyone interested in plastic surgery to realize two facts:

1. Plastic surgery is serious. Make sure your plastic surgeon takes his or her job as seriously as it should be taken. While I make this blog for mainly entertainment purposes, I do take my job and caring for my patients very seriously. If your surgeon doesn't appear to have safety in mind, run away.
2. There are unfortunately a number of people masquerading as reputable plastic surgeons when in fact they are not plastic surgeons at all. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has very stringent guidelines to which its members are held, so as to maintain a 'culture of safety.' This includes performing surgeries in an accredited setting.

For news articles on the Arizona liposuction deaths, click here and here and here
To visit the internist/ER doc/cosmetic surgeon's website, click here. (looks pretty legit, right?)
To visit the American Society of Plastic Surgeon's page on safety for outpatient surgery, click here.

As always, do your homework and research your surgeon. For any procedure, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Thanks for reading.
Michigan-based Plastic Surgeon
Anthony Youn, M.D.: