A WOMAN who is suing a surgeon after she underwent an operation to have the size of her breasts reduced told the High Court in Dublin yesterday that she had thought plastic surgery was "magic."
However, Ms Veronica Dunleavy added, "nobody ever tells you about the scars." She said one saw the Hollywood and TV films but she had never thought about scars. She said that after the operation she was horrified and felt "mutilated."
Ms Dunleavy (53), a mother of five children ranging in ages from 16 to 26, of Newbridge, Co Kildare, is suing Surgeon Seamus O Riain following an operation in 1984.
Mr Justice Moriarty was told by counsel for Mr O Riain, who is contesting the claim, there would be evidence that he had given a detailed warning and laid out in detail the risks for Ms Dunleavy.
The judge heard that Ms Dunleavy married in 1967. In September 1983, she had a baby who died shortly after birth.
After the birth of the last baby, she said she became concerned at the size of her breasts. They were very large. She had had the problem during her pregnancies. It was difficult to move very quickly. She was uncomfortable.
A professor recommended that she see Mr O Riain. She went to Mr O Riain and said she wanted a breast reduction procedure. She said she would like to go to a private hospital and they discussed the fee. She thought she would be 10 days in hospital.
There was no further discussion as to what was involved in the operation. The meeting lasted about five minutes. She thought a further consultation would take place but it did not.
St Vincent's Private Hospital _ phoned her to go in on March 9th, 1984. She had a severe cold and they said they would get in contact Mr O Riain. His secretary phoned and told her to go into the hospital anyhow.
She had thought there was just going to be one scar after the operation. She had presumed Mr O Riain would make her breasts whatever size was right for her body. There was no discussion about the risks.
She was discharged home from the hospital because of her cold. She went in again later and had the operation on March 24th, 1984, a Saturday. She remembered taking a tablet on the Saturday morning. She knew nothing about the operation. The nurses told her she had been given some pints of blood.
Ms Dunleavy said that after the operation she was horrified. She felt mutilated and it was dreadful. She was on painkillers all the time. She was in hospital for 20 days and felt better before she was discharged. Everybody took great care that she would not worry about anything.
She had an infection of the left breast and was on an antibiotic for it. They had to put dressings on it all the time. The pain on the left side gradually subsided. It was necessary for her to go back to the hospital every day for the dressings to be changed. That continued into May.
At home, she had examined her right breast. Mr O Riain had said not to be worried and that it would right.
She went to Spain for a holiday on May 27th. The medical staff had shown her how to put on the dressings. Until she went to Spain, she had not seen her left breast. When she saw it, her reaction was dreadful" and she was distressed. She again saw Mr O Riain on July 10th and he said it would all settle down and not to worry about it. She had expressed concern about the appearance of her right and left breasts.
In October, she saw Mr O Riain and she said the whole thing Looked horrific. He said he could put in something and get her breasts to look a different size. She thought plastic surgery was somehow magic and that "they could do anything." He told her to leave reconstruction for a year. She never went back to him and went to see other people.
In the interim, the scars paled but the shape did not change. Her nipples were placed too high and her left breast was smaller than her right breast.
Had she known such amounts of material were going to be removed or the amount of scaring, she would not have gone ahead with the operation.
Mr Jack Fitzgerald SC, for the defence, put it to her that an operation to increase the size of her breasts was still open to her.
Ms Dunleavy said it would not improve things greatly. She decided she would not have anything put into her body.
Counsel said there would be evidence from Mr O Riain that he gave a detailed warning and laid out in detail the risks for her. Ms Dunleavy said he did not do it for her. Perhaps he was confusing her with somebody else. Mr Fitzgerald said the evidence would be that in every case, Mr O Riain laid out the risks and warnings.
Ms Dunleavy denied that Mr O Riain had warned her of the failure rate in all operations such as this one and that a second operation might be necessary and that some tissue might die.
She said she had had a five-minute meeting with Mr O Riain, not a 20-30 minute meeting. The first time she was in hospital, he had said "it was like taking a slice out of a round cheese." Asked if she had known there was going to be a scar running from her breasts to the side of her body would she have carried on (with the operation), she said she would not.
The hearing continues today.