Victoria Michaels Skin Removal Journey

Hi all my name is Heather and I’m fundraising for my closest friend in the world, Victoria. I cannot think of anyone I know more deserving during their time of need than her — Victoria pours her heart and soul into everyone around her. Even from an empty glass that girl will find a way to give to anyone who needs it.

As many of you know, after weight loss surgery Victoria lost almost 200 pounds through diet and tireless exercise! The surgery for skin removal was a dream come true to validate all of her hard work, with the results she was promised giving her the body she had been working so hard for. This surgery was with a board-certified surgeon who advised that, in addition to the procedure covered by insurance called a “panniculectomy”, she should add on the cosmetic (out of pocket) procedure called a “fleur de lis tummy tuck” to achieve the results she desired. The surgeon told her that “she would be totally flat, with a new belly button and public lift.”

Upon waking up from her surgery, Victoria quickly noticed that her stomach did not look like other people’s surgery results immediately post-op. (This girl did her research, knew what to expect, and trusted this surgeon)

She addressed her concerns with the surgeon and the surgeon acknowledged it, saying that a revision was likely necessary.

Then came an onslaught of complications — the surgeon removed her wound drain early (acknowledged later by the office), and then sent her home when she was complaining of excruciating pain… hours later she was in an ambulance to the hospital. She followed up with the surgeon’s office due to extreme redness and drainage seeping from her bellybutton. The surgeon’s office acknowledged that she had cellulitis (a potentially serious bacterial infection), but brushed her off and sent her home with antibiotics.

It gets worse. A week later Victoria again had to travel by ambulance to the hospital and thank god she did because our sweet, beautiful girl would not be here today without this medical intervention. Within hours of arriving at the hospital, Victoria was rushed to the OR for surgery to place a wound vac over her incision with a plan to remove it within 48 hours. Her infection was BAD, she was septic. At this time, her surgeon acknowledged that prematurely removing the JP drain, as it was still pulling out fluid at the time of removal, was the cause of the infection. The surgeon then took off to California, leaving Victoria botched, nursing two gaping holes alone at home, doing wet to dry gauze changes, with the wound vac sponge producing abnormal amounts of puss. She remained in that condition until right before New Years when the surgeon returned from her vacation.

During Victoria’s next appointment with the surgeon to have the two gaping wounds closed up, she was berated by the surgeon for being “a challenging patient” (are you kidding me?). The surgeon didn’t believe she could meet her expectations, although she seemed confident when selling the surgery that she could deliver Victoria the results of her dreams. Now, the surgeon wouldn’t even entertain a revision — she even told Victoria to “stop bringing it up.”

Eventually, at a follow up appointment, the surgeon stated she would not consider a revision until at least one year post-op. And get this — she expected Victoria to pay full price for another surgery, as “this was already a successful surgery and your concerns are purely cosmetic at this point.”

You’ve seen the videos on TikTok — we all know this surgery was a botched job and not properly done whatsoever. It blows my mind that someone could look Victoria in the eye, with the condition that she was in, and tell her “this was a successful surgery.” There is so much excess skin left, not to mention a huge scar from the painful procedure (the fleur de lis tummy tuck) that the surgeon upsold to her. Victoria only agreed to that procedure because the surgeon guaranteed it would make her totally flat in a single operation.

This whole experience has been so hard for her. She had to take a lot time off of work, and as the owner and only employee of a small business that means there is no income when she is not working. She’s left with a painful scar that wasn’t necessary, one that impedes her doing certain moves at the gym and causes problems for her every day. Victoria filed a 35 page formal grievance with the practice, insisting on a refund as well as compensation for pain and suffering, and the practice merely apologized for the experience while refusing to credit her account or compensate her. They didn’t even offer a revision!

***UPDATE*** Since sharing her journey on TikTok a few months ago, Victoria gained an incredible following and sorely needed support from millions of beautiful humans. She was expecting to have to find a way to fund another procedure as well as future breast and arm skin removal. Well … we have an update! Since sharing her story, something incredible has happened! An extremely reputable surgeon saw her story on TikTok and offered to revise her surgery for FREE. That means her surgery will be free of a surgeon’s fee, and she will be responsible for the anesthesia, facility, injection fees, and of course the costs associated with missing work and traveling out of state for a 7-10 day period. This is HUGE and Victoria is so from-the-bottom-of-her-heart grateful for this once in a lifetime gift.

Victoria has seen the surgeon for a consult and was approved as a candidate! The surgeon will be performing what is called a “corset trunkplasty” procedure. He was also kind enough to mention that he’d be able to help her with breast surgery in the future, but right now the priority is revising her botched surgery and taking care of her stomach.

Victoria felt super comfortable with the surgeon, and said she feels like she is in a dream.

The surgeon is located 4.5 hours away out of state, so Victoria will incur several costs associated with this surgery beyond the remaining surgery fees (anesthesia, facility, injection fees) such as: taking off that entire 7-10 day period from work as well as any additional time needed to properly heal, renting an Air BNB for 7-10 days, travel costs, food, etc. As a self-employed business owner, that means during her surgery and downtime she will have no income.

Many of her TikTok followers suggested starting a GoFundMe, so here we are! Any funds raised will go towards the remaining surgery fees, the expenses associated with the surgery including time missed from work, and the costs of her future breast/arm surgeries.

Thank you all for being so warm, supportive, and interested in helping her during this dark period of her life. This has been a nightmare for her. Every day she suffers from the results of the surgery in so many ways - what she has to see in the mirror, the money lost from not working during the infection, losing clients who didn’t want to wait for her to recover, and the actual physical pain and suffering she lives with as a result of the botched surgery. It amazes me that this girl still shows up for herself and everyone in her life 110%. Her determination is a force to be reckoned with. Your support means the world to her and will help her to receive this beautiful gift from the new surgeon without additional financial stressors. As you can imagine, she is psychologically scarred from her last experience, so going into this with one less thing to worry about is huge. Anything helps

***UPDATE***

Victoria has moved forward with this highly reputable surgeon — who she absolutely loves — and decided to proceed with the corrective surgery! The original surgery cannot be simply tweaked, it has to be completely redone and then some. The final decision for her procedure is going to a “fluer de lis abdominoplasty”, a “monsplasty”, a new belly button, and liposuction where necessary. The new surgeon explained that due to the current condition of her body, she should not go into the procedure with high expectations. However, improvements ARE possible and he hopes to exceed her expectations. She appreciates his realistic and honest approach to her next procedure.

The surgeon also let her know that the initial vertical scar done by the first surgeon was supposed to be carried up into her chest because of how much extra skin she has. It clearly wasn’t, and that’s why she has bulging skin at the top of the incision scar. This is EXTREMELY uncomfortable and at times painful for her. Additionally, the bottom incision was placed too low and now she may always have some sort of “skin shelf” there. Can you imagine going into a surgery expecting validation for all of your hard work and coming out of it potentially permanently disfigured? And the person who caused it telling you it was a “successful procedure”?

Victoria should be getting a surgery date any time now. All donations are so appreciated and will help offset the huge financial burden of the correction surgery fees, missing work (both for this surgery and to help with the massive lost income from the first surgery), and traveling away from home for 7-10 days. Again, she is self-employed so if she isn’t working she isn’t getting paid. You all are so incredible and I am so grateful she found a supportive community of people who truly care and can empathize with her situation. Anything at all helps, thank you so much.

***UPDATE***

Victoria’s surgery is scheduled for 12/6 — that’s just 4 weeks away! She is so nervous and excited all in the same breath. She is so scarred physically and psychologically from her last surgery that this is just bringing up so many emotions for her. Victoria adores and wholeheartedly trusts her new surgeon, there are no issues there — she is so excited to work with him and thinks they can do great things together! Her fears are what I imagine anyone else would have, and then some. Every once in awhile she will tell me, “I hope I don’t die on the table.” As her best friend it just breaks my heart to see her continuous suffering all because of the original surgeon’s carelessness.

On top of those fears, she is getting extremely stressed about the financial burden of stepping away from work for so long. As a small business owner and provider for a family of four, this time away from work means she will have no income and will be pressured to return to work as quickly as possible. Your support is literally world-changing and will enable her to go into this surgery with one less stress on her mind. Thank you so much for being such huge supporters of my best girl Anything helps, truly.