A New Zealand woman was left grossly disfigured and without a nipple or belly button as a result of plastic surgery. In a single operation, as reported by the Sunday Star Times, the patient underwent breast reduction and abdominoplasty, as well as liposuction. At 108Kg (238 pounds), the woman was considered morbidly obese at the time of the operation.

"'I didn't really know what liposuction was - I just thought that I was going to have a nice flat stomach afterwards as a result of a tummy tuck,' she told a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal last week."

The patient claims the doctor never fully explained the risks of tissue dying or that her weight meant there was an increased risk of complications. The well-known surgeon who performed the operation faces charges of professional misconduct.

"'(The doctor) told me that I was the perfect candidate because I had slim legs and no bottom, and I was going to look great when it was over.'

A plastic surgeon expert witness told the tribunal the woman was left with a grossly disfigured right breast, unsightly scarring, gross distortion of the pubic area and "unimpressive" results from the liposuction."

After the short four hour surgery, the woman went home believing everything had gone as planned. She had no idea that one of the procedures had cut off blood flow to her right nipple, causing the tissue to die. Her umbilical stump, behind the belly button, was also dying. Her abdominoplasty also resulted in an infection and the skin on her upper arms hung loose where it was once stretched over the removed fat.

"Two weeks after the surgery," the Times explains, "she was back under the knife to have her belly button and right nipple removed, losing still more of her breast in the process.

But the abdominoplasty had still not healed properly and two months after the initial surgery the woman woke up to find the infected wound in her side had ruptured and the bed was soaked in a bloody liquid.

The doctor faces charges of professional misconduct for failing to gain informed consent, failing to co-ordinate the surgery adequately, performing the breast reduction without reasonable care and skill, not keeping adequate records and for performing procedures for which he had inadequate expertise and training."