Botched Procedure: When Corrective Surgery Doesn’t Correct
April 5th, 2011. By LucyC
What would you do if you couldn’t fully close your eyes? Personally, I can’t imagine how awful that would be. And what if this condition was a result of surgery—surgery that was meant to correct an existing problem?
These days, the news is full of ‘bad plastic surgery’ stories, complete with some pretty horrifying images. In the case of New Jersey resident, Marilyn Leisz, the outcome is particularly tragic, and resulted in her suing her plastic surgeon for medical malpractice.
The back story is that six years ago Leisz had a condition known as ptosis which weakens the eyelids, eventually causing them to droop. Having tried for years to correct the condition, she eventually decided to go the cosmetic surgery route and in 2000 had her first eyelift. All went well. In 2005 she had a second eyelift. But shortly after this surgery Leisz began to grow concerned because she noticed the development of small bumps along the creases of her eyelids. She became concerned about her vision.
So Leisz consulted with a new plastic surgeon (Dr. Paul Parker), who recommended trying a scar removal product before embarking on more surgery. She tried the product and it didn’t work. Then, in consultation with her new surgeon, she underwent a procedure called blepharoplasty in which the excess tissue and fat is removed from around the eye. That’s when things started to go horribly wrong.
According to a story on MSNBC.com, Leisz said was led to believe the procedure was minor and that there shouldn’t be any problems. If anything—it should give her a more youthful appearance.
We all know where this is going. Following the surgery, Leisz found she couldn’t close her eyes completely. This resulted in her eyes burning, and her tear ducts not functioning as they were supposed to. Her surgeon allegedly told her this was part of the healing process. But when that healing process turned out to be never-ending, she sought the opinion of another plastic surgeon. He must have confirmed her worst fears—telling her she should never have undergone the blepharoplasty which this doctor testified to in court. Reportedly, Leisz has undergone a total of 30 surgeries, which have enabled her to partially close her eyes.
She did sue the surgeon who performed the blepharoplasty, and was recently awarded $115,000. In fact they found that the surgeon had deviated from the accepted standard of care in this instance.
While she said she is glad she had her day in court, the fact is Leisz’s ordeal is far from over. She has to use a special gel and vaporizer to keep her eyes moist, and she has to sleep with a mask at night to prevent her from scratching her corneas.
Leisz told TODAY’s Ann Curry “To take a shower, I have to put gel into my eyes so the water and the soap doesn’t get into my eyes. Then by the time the shower is done, the gel’s washed out.” Worse, she lives with the fear of infection, glaucoma, corneal ulcers and blindness which could result from her medication.
In the MSNBC story, Leisz said her life has been thrown into shambles. “I feel like my whole life has been stolen from me,” she told NBC News. “Your eyesight affects everything that you do.”
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