Beauty standards can be a lot to deal with. They often make women feel like they’re never quite enough. And while plastic surgery offers the promise of transformation—with enough money and a skilled team, you can change almost anything about your face or body—it doesn’t always bring the happiness people expect.
Unfortunately, many women have learned this the hard way. In one Reddit thread, they opened up about plastic surgeries that didn’t go as planned and shared what it was really like. Scroll down to read their stories.
#1
I had implants after a bilateral mastectomy and they failed. So I had to have another surgery to have them removed – so much fun. I don’t think I’ll have them replaced. I can’t face more medical stuff.
Image source: Toadie9622, fentonroma / envato (not the actual photo)
#2
I had a botched rhinoplasty 11 months ago. I’ve lived through a lot of pain, but no pain like losing my face. That pain cut deep to my soul in a way I can’t describe. I’ve deleted all social media apps and have decided I will just not take pictures from now on. Being a 27 recently engaged woman makes this difficult, but I don’t know how else to manage all the sadness I have from this. I just take things day by day and try to focus on the other things in my life. Some days are harder than others. They definitely don’t tell you about the odds that you won’t like your plastic surgery. I tell you what- unless you hate something about yourself, don’t change anything. It’s not worth it. It’s just too risky, despite what social media and celebrity plastic surgery says. Those posts make it look like makeup (I actually explained it to my fiancé that way… just as easy and minimal as makeup), But it’s far more intensive than that. And it absolutely does chip at your identity. My beautiful (but wide) bulbous nose is gone forever. My surgeon gave me a wide, stick straight sausage nose and every day I regret my decision. Several times in my darkest hours I have wondered about stepping away from it all… but my fiancé keeps me here. His gentle heart does not deserve that. Living with the red-hot emotion of regret has been very difficult though. And I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone. I would love to learn from others experiences about how to move forward.
Image source: Gen369Sept, DragonImages / envato (not the actual photo)
#3
I don’t know if I would classify it as “botched” but ten years ago, I got a breast augmentation that threw me into horrible depression and caused me so much emotional distress I’m pretty sure I had a psychotic break.
I was 21 and living in Los Angeles after moving there from Australia. As one does when they move to LA, I lost 10kg (22lb) over a couple of years and was pretty underweight: 5’9″ and 105lb. My boyfriend at the time didn’t think anything of my drastic weight loss, in fact, he constantly pushed me to work out more (we had a home gym and I’d spend hours in there each night blasting away on the elliptical.)
I started to hate my now-deflat chest, so he suggested I get implants. Obviously I’ll accept responsibility here: I was keen to get them, too. I’d always had full breasts, but the weight loss destroyed them. They completely disappeared. I met with a respected Beverly Hills surgeon and we decided on a C-cup. I was confident in his abilities and his expertise, as he is widely regarded as one of the best surgeons in LA.
The second I woke up from surgery, I knew something was majorly wrong. My chest was GIGANTIC. My breasts were pushing so far out to the sides I had to hold my arms away from my body because there was no room to keep them by my side. I was told it was just swelling and my breasts would get smaller over the coming days, but they didn’t. Months after surgery, I ended up getting professionally measured and my worst fears were confirmed: I measured at an E-cup. (That’s one size bigger than DD.)
I have never been so depressed and frantic. My boyfriend emotionally and physically shut off the minute he realised I was angry and upset, and refused to help ease my mind in any way. I found out later that the reason he had hired a private nurse and put me up in a hotel room during my recovery wasn’t because he was working: he was having an affair with the newest young thing that crossed his path. He completely discarded me.
Shortly after that, I moved back to Australia and the minute I scrapped enough money together (3 months later) I scheduled surgery and downsized to a large B-cup.
I will NEVER do anything like that ever again.
I’m not against plastic surgery by any means, but it’s something you really need to think about, and research THOROUGHLY. The LA surgeon I went to still maintains he gave me what I wanted, because “most women always wish they got bigger implants than they did” so in his mind he was helping me by making sure I wouldn’t need to go back for a larger size? It boggles the mind.
Image source: sweextin, gpointstudio / Envato (not the actual photo)
#4
I had implants and lift at 25…the way that the doctor did my lift incisions it caused my areola’s to stretch about 3 inches in diameter…went back to him last year (three years after initial surgery) to let him know how unhappy I was with result. He did another lift and didn’t charge me his surgeons fee (probably because he knew they looked bad). Turned out better but still looked off. I have now grown to despise my implants and am scheduling to get them removed. I don’t expect to instantly be happier once they’re out, but at the very least I’m hoping I’ll feel more like myself.
So to answer…what was it like? Extremely disappointing but I think I was expecting results that were just not obtainable on my body. I should’ve waited until I was happy in the skin that I was born in.
How did I find happiness again? I am still on a journey to find happiness but for one I need to forgive myself for going through this surgery and stop being angry because it’s over with and I can’t take it back.
Image source: mochi456, Peakstock / envato (not the actual photo)
#5
My right boob was way bigger than the other and I got to a surgery where they reduced the size of the big one and reshaped both of them. I was so happy because I had always been so insecure about my breasts and now they would be made so beautiful.
In the first check up the doctor noticed that the wound on the right boob wasn’t healing. The tissue in the wound started to die and the doctor had to cut the dead tissue away. The recovery was a hard time because at first it seemed that nothing would work and the tissue just kept dying. Eventually they found a way to get the wound to heal.
Now my other breast is weird shaped and a lot smaller than the left one but I don’t regret the surgery. My husband loves my boobies and I’m okay with them as well. Not everyone can be beautiful.
Image source: pupuperhe, Aleksandra_Iarosh / Envato (not the actual photo)
#6
I had a failed mastopexy 9 years ago. I’m still self conscious but not as much as I was before. I’m angry that I spent $9K to not have my issue resolved and the lowest quite I’ve gotten to have it fixed as been $12K. It didn’t stop me from getting married and having my son though so there’s that. My husband is 100% supportive of having it fixed when we can afford the price tag. But I haven’t found happiness about it yet.
Image source: rebirthofrad, zoranzeremski / Envato (not the actual photo)
#7
I had a botched rhinoplasty 2.5 years ago, and a less than helpful revision about a year after that. I have not found happiness. Typed out a longer, detailed thing and then deleted it bc it was not coming to any conclusion.
I see and Feel it everyday and am not near being at peace with it. It sucks because you have plastic surgery, usually, because there’s a part of you that you greatly dislike and want to improve, maybe are obsessed over, and then it turns out botched and you know you paid Thousands of dollars for yourself to look worse than you did before, and have breathing complications and pain, and you were already overaware of it before and that just amplifies because you can’t Stop being aware of it because you feel it constantly.
Image source: tenderandfire, GaudiLab / Envato (not the actual photo)
#8
Well I was about 30, going through a divorce and my confidence and self esteem were shot. I worked out consistently and I couldn’t do anything about my saggy baby belly (2 kids close together/genetics) so I decided I would get a partial tummy tuck. Then I got convinced by the surgeon to have a bit of lypo. Biggest mistake of my life. I wish I knew/understood then that I was perfect the way I was. The way I wish other women would see themselves.
Image source: myobeez, svitlanah / Envato (not the actual photo)
#9
I write about health and breast implants have caused autoimmune disease and other health issues in women I have interviewed. Very heartbreaking, especially the ones coerced into it by a male partner who then left after they became ill.
Image source: daringlydear, halfpoint
#10
I had fillers in my cheeks. Made me look fat faced. Hated them. Total waste of money.
Image source: anon, YuriArcursPeopleimages / Envato (not the actual photo)
#11
Mine was temporary but you know how Botox paralyses muscles? Well it turns out my risorius muscle, which is crucial to smiling, sits a little closer to the target muscle, the masseter, than usual. So I lost my smile on one side for several months. My new surgeon practically scrapes bone when she’s injecting but I haven’t had any complications with her yet.
Image source: Mellenoire, kckate16 / Envato (not the actual photo)
#12
Mine is a little different but I feel it applies. I had cosmetic dentistry and they really, really messed up my smile. Like right in front. It totally ruined my self esteem. I refused to leave my house unless it was totally necessary for about 2 years. I’d love to say I worked through it and persevered regardless, but I honestly didn’t start to feel good about myself until I saved up the $12,000 to get it all redone properly.
Image source: anon, YuriArcursPeopleimages / Envato the actual photo)
#13
I had elective surgery over 10 years ago. I was a different person before and after I woke up from anesthesia. I was now living in a nightmare. The pain was excruciating. It took me a LONG time to be able to function properly. The results were horrible, I have parts of my body/skin that are still numb. It’s been a long time but I still have PTSD about it, it’s hard even writing this, or looking in the mirror and seeing the scars etc. I had to have hysterectomy surgery a few years back for a giant fibroid tumor, I was so scared, really really scared . But everything went ok. I mean it’s definitely gotten better over the years, but I’ve never been the same.
Image source: myobeez, ckstockphoto / Envato (not the actual photo)
#14
Not myself but my mom. My mom had her nose done and breast implants about 10 years ago.
My mom started experiencing a lot
of health issues over the years. None actually had anything to do with her nose or implant so we never thought either went wrong.
After a while my mom started researching and found out that basically your body can reject implants and cause horrible symptoms and different kinds of infections and sickness. She went to a different doctor and they informed her that one of the implants had leaked and was leaking into her muscle.
Turns out the implants were RECALLED. But I guess there’s a loop hole where the manufacturer doesn’t have to inform patient or doctors. My mom raised hell with them because she had 0 money and obviously needed them removed ASAP.
They offered to pay for the removal of the leaking one *or a whole new set*. Not the removal of both. After a lot of back and forth the dr was able to get them to cover the removal of both, citing all of my moms health issues and threatening to hire a lawyer for her himself.
From that situation we learned that medical devices are “grand fathered in” by the FDA. So newer versions only have to be as good as the grand fathered in devices. Not better, 0 responsibility to fix major issues unless forced to by the FDA.
Implants aren’t 100% safe obviously, but these companies that make them and sell them don’t care if they’re safe. They are only required to do the bare minimum for the patients they’re selling these to. And like my mom’s case, they’ll try to get away with doing less than the bare minimum.
Thankfully my mom is doing much better, she didn’t need a lift and is happy with her smaller chest. Her nose wasn’t botched and is actually very well done.
Image source: 2715murder, DC_Studio / Envato (not the actual photo)
#15
Not me, but my mother in law. She got lip fillers. The first time, her face was horribly bruised for weeks and it didn’t even make a difference. She went back and got a second lip fillers three months later and it was terrible looking. They had filled the area around her lips and not just the lips, so her philtrum was huge and unnatural looking. She also had bruising again. She stopped getting lip fillers and gets Botox in the wrinkles around her lips and eyes, and every time she’s bruised for weeks. This has been going on every six months for the past four years.
Image source: anon, StudioPeace / Envato (not the actual photo)
#16
Bad Xeomin in the upper cheek area left a crease by the eyes, took 3 months to get it right!
Image source: TrickySession, Image-Source / Envato (not the actual photo)
#17
I’ve had 4 double eyelid surgeries. I there was a time when i would bawl my eyes out looking at my face. Now my eyes are still kinda messed up but learned to live with it.
Image source: lurkingonly101, WBMUL / Envato (not the actual photo)
#18
A board certified plastic surgeon is legally unable answer any question like this due to HIPAA privacy laws. If a patient read about their “botched” story on a website-like Reddit or Facebook-and even remotely thought it was about them, they can sue for privacy reasons. It has happened in the U.S. As a result of a Facebook post. Doctor was fined 25,000.00 with no mention of name of patient. Otherwise we have many stories we would love to share! Edit: not a plastic surgeon, but work for one!
Image source: hlj333, carrascosaoscar / Envato (not the actual photo)
#19
Not plastic surgeon, but I worked as a casual bra store consultant about 3 years ago. A young woman walked in and excitedly exclaimed that she needed new bras because she’d had a breast augmentation 3 months prior, and they were ‘just healing’. First red flag – should’ve completely healed by maximum of 6 weeks.
Anyway, I take her into the change room so I can get her fitted, and ask her to remove her shirt. I had to mask my horror. No wonder nothing fit her; one breast was literally 2 inches above the other, so the nipple hung out the top of the bra cup, whereas the other breast fit perfectly. On top of that, she had capsular contraction and I could see the scarring and redness all around the base of her breasts, hence it ‘not healing’.
Comes out via chatting that she’d had them done in Thailand. She was still super happy about it, and I didn’t want to burst her bubble so I just politely mentioned she should go see a doctor SOON, then fitted her into a sports bra, and she went on her merry way. I appreciate there have been some uneventful Thai boob jobs, but that was pretty nope for me.
Image source: tiny_pea, wayhomestudioo / Envato (not the actual photo)
#20
I watched an episode of The Real Housewives of Miami once and Oh my sweet Jesus. There’s this one lady’s mom on there…poor woman looked like she ran into a sliding glass door.
Image source: pineappleee, Bravo
#21
Not a plastic surgeon but was so sorry to see the nose job on an old friend from high school. In my opinion, she didn’t need it. She didn’t have a big nose, but did have the classic Jewish shape to the nose. I saw her a few years later and her nose was unusually thin, strangely narrow and a pinched look at the end. I was sad for her.
Image source: SistinaLuv, prostooleh / Envato (not the actual photo)
#22
A team of surgeons worked for years to restore her face after a “nose job and botox”. At the malpractice suit, the judge stopped the proceedings and said, “Young lady, what do you want, because that’s what I’m awarding you.” She replied that she wanted enough money that no one would ever have to look at her again: that she would buy an island and have everything delivered. She got it – $10M. Insurance paid promptly. Bought an island. And a Ferrari.
Image source: seeteethree, FoToArtist_1 / Envato (not the actual photo)
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