Dr. Gregory Lakin, MD

PLEASE READ before choosing Dr. Lakin for your surgery! You DON’T want to END UP LIKE ME! I apologize in advance for the length of the review, but trust when I say you’ll want to read this entirely. This review is 100% truth related to my experience. I also waited 15 months post surgery to write this so that it was also 100% fair. Also important to note that I have been a licensed nurse since 2006 so I have total respect as to how a negative review has the potential to harm a physician's/surgeon's reputation. Which is why I would never post anything damning that I would not be able to back-up. I am a mother of 3 (almost all grown) children and have suffered with diastatis recti since the 1st pregnancy. I contemplated having abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) for many years but fear and finances always got in the way. As I continued to get older the diasatis recti started causing other medical issues such as lower back/hip pain/strain etc. As I had no improvement after years of trying PT, medical massage, chiropractor, etc..I decided it was time for surgery to repair those muscles. I started searching online and eventually found Dr. Gregory E. Lakin. I was sure I did my homework. I verified his credentials/education, years of practice, online reviews on several sites, etc..He seemed to check off all the right boxes. I scheduled my “virtual consult” and also decided to spoil myself a tad and get breast implants at the same time as the abdominoplasty. I’m not sure where I went wrong. My experience with Dr. Lakin has made me question everything I thought I knew about checking off the “right boxes”. I saw countless reviews praising his bedside manner and I can tell you that is NOT at ALL the exp i had. Finally arriving (had to fly in from out of town) for my first in person/pre-op appt I was greeted with what seemed to be friendly staff. They took photos, and I met Dr. Lakin in person. At that time I reiterated to him the importance of correcting the diastatis recti and he seemed confused as if we never discussed that during the initial video consult. That was literally the MAIN REASON for the surgery in the first place. We briefly discussed the implants and then he exited. The following morning I arrived for surgery and that is a day I wish I could get back because I would have NEVER let him operate on me. My mother, who also flew in from out of town to care for me post-op, remained in the facility the entire time. She was the only one in the surgical waiting room that entire day, which would lead one to fairly assume that I was the only one scheduled for surgery that day. I have had other surgeries/procedures in the past and never had any complications from the surgery/anesthesia. Unfortunately, I had nothing but COMPLICATIONS from this surgery. It was very hard to come out of anesthesia and when I did I was severely ill(they couldn’t even discharge me), I had this horrible taste in my mouth. Can you imagine vomiting the rest of the day and night after major abdominal surgery. I had this unbearable pain in both of my arms (pain still remains in both arms since the surgery)which they couldn't explain. The pain in my arms was almost worse than the pain in my abdomen. Dr. Lakin NEVER came back to check on me! And when it was “closing time” they booted me out the door. His staff reassured my mom that Dr. Lakin would be calling her personally no later than 10pm to check on me. He NEVER CALLED, no one did, no one cared!!! He even said I didn't need to stay in town and I was free to fly home anytime I wanted. Being a nurse I just knew that didn’t seem right so I stuck around for the next week. They also don’t care who removes your surgical drains and sutures. My husband and 15yr old daughter had to remove mine. I will try to sum the rest of this nightmare up. I was seen 2 more times in office before flying home. Dr. Lakin only showed his face 1 time for less than 1 min, touched my stomach with his 1st 2 fingers 3 times and said “it’s fine, just massaged it” and that was the last time I EVER saw him, heard from him or spoke to him at all. I continued to have major swelling in the abdomen. He wouldn't even come to the phone and the nurse said that his wife thinks I should go to urgent care. Who in the world is his wife, I never met her or spoke to her. She was not a part of my medical care at any point. The swelling ended up being an abdominal hematoma. I ended up with the following complications(all of which I was told were fine by him/staff): -Abdominal hematoma -Infected abdominal/breast incisions(notified them of oozing/bleeding. They said it was fine/normal) -Cellulitis in the breast suture(informed by nurse to dig it out with tweezers at home) -Painful large blood blister on left breast that they couldn't explain -Severe pain in both arms, pain still present -Permanent bulge in abdomen with a strange area that sinks in -1 visit to ER, CT scan, lab work, several visits to wound care, radiology to drain the hematoma & the general surgeon who was trying to clean Lakin’s mess. Approx 14 visits for complications -Stomach was pulled so tight I was unable to stand up straight for almost 2 months -Husband had to miss several days of work and almost lost his job -I look like I’m pregnant. I’m not convinced that he repaired the diastasis recti -Hardened areas of painful scar tissue -Still completely numb in abdomen I notified him, informed him, called him, emailed him so many times and he couldn’t care less. If it wasn’t for my years of nursing and knowledge of knowing better, who knows how bad my complications may have gotten. He has clearly trained his entire staff to give the same response to every question/concern and it goes like this. “Don’t worry about it, it’s totally fine and completely normal” Well clearly nothing about what happened to me was completely fine and totally normal. He disappeared as my surgeon/caregiver, a person that swore to do no harm just gone. No accountability, no concern, no apology, NO NOTHING! The fact that he didn’t even care about what was happening to me as a direct result of his care as my surgeon is the absolute biggest thing that still makes me so upset. Well clearly nothing about what happened to me was completely fine and totally normal. I wish I could take it all back, it has forever changed me. I have been dealing with a great deal of depression and anxiety over this. I spent thousands of dollars to be worse off than before, to now have a body that I am embarrassed about, I feel disfigured and have cried over this more times than I can count. Hope this helps you in journey