By LUKE ANDREWS U.S. SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER
A woman claims she lost her nipples and had an implant nearly fall out of her breast after suffering from botched plastic surgery, according to a recent lawsuit.
Machelle Latimer, 46, went for a breast lift and enlargement in August 2023 to fix her ‘sagging’ chest and achieve the athletic look she dreamed of.
The four-hour surgery with Dr Christopher Salgado in Miami, Florida, practicing at The Secret Plastic Surgery clinic, went well and finished without any complications.
But the next day, Latimer said in the complaint that she woke up and her nipples and areolas, the pigmented area of skin surrounding the nipples, had turned black. Body parts can turn black after surgery due to a loss of blood, which can be caused by blood vessel damage or excessive pressure if tissue is pulled too tight.
This is normally a ‘red flag’ for surgeons as it suggests that the tissue has died and the blood supply has been cut off or restricted. It also puts patients at risk of an infection, or life-threatening sepsis.
But it was another five months before Latimer went to the hospital, according to the lawsuit she recently filed against the doctor and his clinic, saying she that the surgeon and clinic kept assuring her she was ‘progressing nicely’.
Latimer saw Dr Salgado three times after her nipples turned black, according to the lawsuit, who prescribed her creams to repair ‘superficial skin damage’.
Latimer also exchanged numerous texts with the clinic, regularly submitting pictures of her deteriorating nipples and areolas for Dr Salgado to review, the lawsuit says, but was told that there was nothing to be concerned about.
The above texts, included in Latimer’s lawsuit, were sent by Latimer to the clinic after she said her nipples had fallen off
Ahead of the publication of this story, DailyMail.com contacted Dr Salgado and The Secret Plastic Surgery for comment but did not receive a response.
Latimer first contacted the clinic in July 2023 on the advice of a friend, and was initially approved for the surgeries by Dr Orlando Llorente.
However, after a blood test showed she had a low red blood cell count, raising the risk of infections or complications such as cardiac arrest, the procedure was canceled.
Latimer had also had a breast lift about a decade earlier, which can make a second surgery more risky because there may be scar tissue from the first procedure that is disrupting the blood supply to the chest.
Latimer thought she would not be able to get the surgery, but about two weeks later, the clinic contacted her again and said Dr Salgado had agreed to do her operation.
She went for the procedure on August 22, with her lawyers saying in filings that no breast exam or inspection of scar tissue was carried out before the surgery.
According to the complaint, the day after the surgery, she returned to the clinic to have photos taken, which showed her nipples were already black and full of blood. She alleges she was not offered any treatments at this time.
Dr Salgado saw her again about a month after the surgery, telling her, according to the lawsuit, that she was recovering well, despite the color of her nipples.
Machelle Latimer, 46, pictured above at home in Miami, Florida. She is seeking a trial by jury
He applied collagen to the nipples and areolas, the lawsuit claimed, a treatment that can be used to repair damaged skin, and told her to return in two weeks.
Her breasts continued to deteriorate, however, with Latimer texting in more photos to the clinic in October that still showed black skin over her nipples and areolas, indicating that the nipples and areolas had died on the left breast and partially died on the right breast.
Her left breast was also swollen, which could be a sign of infection, the complaint sets out.
It took nine days for Dr Salgado to respond to her texts, via the clinic. When he did, he prescribed her collagenase cream, according to the lawsuit, which is typically used to clean and remove dead tissue.
Latimer texted pictures of her breasts to the clinic again in early November, showing an inflamed area around her nipples and areolas, which were completely black. On her right breast, the nipple was coming away, revealing puss underneath.
She wrote: ‘[My breasts] feel tender on both sides. I noticed a profound indent on the right side.’
The clinic did respond, and set up her meeting with Dr Salgado on November 7.
During this appointment, the doctor wrote in his notes, according to the lawsuit, that Latimer stated ‘great satisfaction’.
He also wrote that both her nipples and areolas were ‘compromised’ and the implants ‘may not be salvageable’, and that he told her to go to the hospital.
Despite this, Dr Salgado and the clinic are claimed to have said that Latimer was still ‘progressing nicely’.
The insurance sales assistant is pictured above with her dog. She said the loss of her nipples has left her struggling with intimacy
Latimer did not go to the hospital, but sent repeated text messages to her contact number at the clinic, according to the lawsuit, and received responses assuring her that her breasts were still ‘progressing nicely’.
Her lawyers said she did not seek treatment from the hospital because she was continuously assured by Dr Salgado and his clinic that she was healing well.
On November 17, she wrote: ‘Hi any response from Dr Salgado yet?’
Three days later, she texted again: ‘Hi, any response from Dr Salgado on my progress from the photos I sent you on Thursday?’
Three hours later, the assistant replied: ‘He says it’s really progressing nicely.’
At her next appointment with Dr Salgado on January 5, 2024, the doctor found, according to the lawsuit, that she had completely lost her left nipple and partially lost the right nipple.
He prescribed Dakin’s solution, a bleach solution that is used on dead tissue to stop bacterial growth.
On January 14, Latimer contacted the clinic to inform them that her left nipple had fallen off, that the left implant was exposed from her breast, and that her right nipple had also fallen off, causing a large indent in her right breast.
She went to the hospital on January 17, also experiencing breast pain, foul smelling drainage from her breasts and swelling in the area, the lawsuit sets out.
An image included in the complaint and allegedly taken the day after the surgery shows that Latimer’s nipples have turned jet black
She was admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics and two surgeries to remove her left and right implants and affected tissue. Doctors at the hospital noted a major infection, abscess and extensive tissue damage to the skin and breasts, according to the lawsuit.
Due to the ordeal, Latimer said she now struggles with intimacy and said she had a regular pain in her left arm.
Dr Tiffany Troso-Sandoval, a breast cancer oncologist in New York who reviewed the case for this website, said: ‘The patient is lucky to be alive actually, and very lucky that this did not progress to full-blown sepsis.
‘It needed to have been addressed much earlier than it was because the tissue was dying, and when she finally got to the ER there was a massive infection in both of her breasts.’
Revealing her case for the first time with DailyMail.com, she told this website: ‘I’m grateful [to have] a voice to fight for accountability for what happened to me.
‘I’ve filed this lawsuit because I want to ensure that what I’ve gone through does not happen to anyone else ever again, and I’m hopeful that this will encourage others to have the courage to advocate for themselves and their health.’