One word, "disfigured," against thousands of careful procedures
This account was submitted by a healthcare provider and de-identified before publication. Details that could identify a patient or practice have been removed, and it is shared with the provider’s consent.
A post on RealSelf claimed I had "disfigured" a patient and used dramatic before and after language about a procedure that, as described, was not the procedure that was actually performed.
On a platform built specifically for prospective patients to compare surgeons before a major decision, one vivid accusation can outweigh a hundred quiet successes. The claim remains the first and loudest thing a nervous patient reads about me.
I noticed consultation requests dip in the weeks after, particularly for the reconstructive cases that had been growing. I have done thousands of successful procedures, and none of them can answer a single false sentence that I am not allowed to rebut.
I put together a full documentation packet and took it to an attorney, whose advice was sobering: even initiating a public rebuttal or a legal response risked disclosing the real treatment details, which would trade one problem for a much larger one.