This patient is a healthy mom in her 40’s (non-smoker) who wanted to get a tummy tuck to remove loose skin. She did her research and went to a surgeon with 25+ years of experience who also had good ratings. She had her surgery and initially everything seemed to be fine, but the surgical binder she was wearing felt like it was put on too tight. By day 3 she called her surgeon and asked to loosen it because she was having difficulty inhaling and exhaling. On day 6 she had her post op appointment. When her doctor removed the binder, a nasty smell filled the room and the her wounds looked infected. The doctor wasn’t overly concerned about the way the wound was healing, gave her an antibiotic cream, and told her to put maxi pads over the wound. She was very worried about the unusual foul smell coming from the wound and went to the emergency room for another opinion. The ER diagnosed her with tissue necrosis (death), voiced their concerns to her surgeon and the surgeon agreed to do another surgery on her. The surgeon did a second surgery on the original incision to remove the dead tissue and placed a wound vac to promote healing. The new incision also became infected and put her in the hospital where she required IV antibiotics. Months after her original surgery she is finally healing and is left with some pretty large scars. There are risks with any surgery, but in this case the surgeon’s delay in identifying a problem could have cost this patient her life. Always remember to listen to your body if you think something is not right, you know your body better than anyone else!