Dr. Sam Lam Plastic Surgeon Texas Overpriced Poor Results Arrogant Pushy Useless Rip-off Solipsistic Scam Fake Before and Afters Unscrupulous Bait and Switch Weird Poor English Plano and Dallas Texas

Dr. Sam Lam was featured in a very expensive health and beauty magazine in a spread featuring purportedly "best plastic surgeons in America."  The copy that accompanied the feature created the impression of a well-known, extremely professional, very highly regarded facial plastic surgeon.

I had recently relocated and had previously received Botox treatment from a wonderful, professional plastic surgeon in another state; her practice was exceptional, yet affordable.  She was very kind, understanding and consistently excellent.  In addition to owning and running a very upscale spa and clinic, she also worked at a nearby hospital and was well-known regionally as an exceptional plastic surgeon who worked with patients who had been in catastrophic accidents as well as infants born with disfiguring birth defects.  I located her, initially, through a friend who had been in a terrible motorcycle accident.  She literally saved his face and one can barely tell that his face, following the accident, was an unrecognizable mangled mess of blood, flesh and bone.

Again, I saw her for regular Botox injections, nothing even approaching the magnitude of work that my friend required following his accident, but I trusted her implicitly and I was hoping to find an equally skilled and ethical doctor after relocating to the Dallas area.

I did not know anyone at all when I first moved to Texas.  I moved her in order to accept a job offer.  I purchased the beauty magazine to read during a flight west to visit relatives for the holidays.  I was impressed with the feature spread (which I later deduced was nothing more than a high-priced self-promotional advertisement that he had paid $$$ in order to be included in the magazine and the faux-stellar rating stated in the special issue of the periodical.)

In retrospect, and very strongly swayed by the magazine feature, I made an appointment to visit Dr. Lam for a consultation, which, unlike most plastic surgeons, cost $150 just to meet the doctor.  Cleverly, the money would be applied to the price of any work done the day of the consult.  Back home, $150 would have covered a full Botox treatment that wouldn't require a return visit until nearly three months had passed.  Well, everything is bigger in Texas, including doctor's egos and the prices they charge.

I hugely regret not taking the $150 consultation fee as the red flag - the first of many - that it quite truly was.  I wish I had never even met this "doctor."  I was treated to a shocking self-congratulatory song and dance that included a lengthy before and after slide show, which included, purportedly, at any rate, images of the Dr.'s own mother!  Red flag #2.  Who uses their mother to coerce potential patients???  I was also the only patient present during the duration of my visit, which lasted nearly two hours - red flag #3.  Why, if he truly was "world-famous" was his waiting room empty? I nearly fainted when I was told that a simple Botox treatment would cost almost five hundred dollars.  Again, just his consultatoin fee would have covered my entire treatment with my previous doctor.  Already $150 in the hole, I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.  I was really baffled by the extraordinarily high cost of treatment and I had been inundated for forty-five minutes with Dr. Lam's ridiculous, bragging and outrageous claims, namely that he could make me look 25 years younger.  I am 52 years old and, like many women of color, did look younger than my actual age.  

From the get-go, Dr. Lam was pushing me to have a face-lift or at least a liquid face lift with a wide variety of fillers.  A friend in California had recently had a "liquid face lift" and was thrilled with her results.  I admit, I was curious, but I was not prepared for the price of the service.  I couldn't afford more than $2,000 and he told me that we could "get a start" towards a full treatment.  Before I knew it, I was in a treatment room; I did get the Botox injections, but also multiple filler injections - some of which were placed in very odd places - large blobs of filler just below both corners of my mouth and also under one of my eyes - not both.  It looked decidedly peculiar.  He said that he couldn't do the "other side" of my face unless I paid for another syringe of filler.  I felt like I had no choice, unless I wanted to walk around indefinitely with a wildly asymmetrical-looking face. 

I left his office minus nearly three thousand dollars for results that were mediocre at best.  I am honestly not sure what he used as filler.  He SAID it was Juvederm, but aside from the weird near-lip lumps, the rest of whatever it was dissipated within a week and it was impossible to tell that I'd had anything done at all.  The Botox injections were, blessedly, legit, but I was stuck with two weird, inexplicable lumps on my face, and without any evidence at all of the multiple syringes of filler he had purportedly used in the tear trough to help diminish the appearance of under eye bags.  I was furious.  I called his office and was quickly shooed away and treated like a delusional geriatric patient.

I don't know why i was such an easy mark for Dr. Lam.  It started out seemingly very simply, but ended in a financial nightmare.  I had spent a fortune relocating for my new job and really, truly could not afford the price tag for his inept, possibly fake filler treatment. Fillers should not just vanish within a week; most last about a year.  I ended up seeing another doctor to get rid of the weird lip lumps and to have proper filler treatments that lasted and didn't just vanish inexplicably.

Dr. Lam is a a fast talker, ableit somewhat inept with regard to the English language.  He claims to be multi-lingual.  I actually am multi-lingual and he is wildly deluded about his foreign language skills.  I was very embarrassed to have to so quickly see another doctor - after doing an enormous amount of research - and was shocked to discover my new doctor had seen many unhappy Dr. Lam victims in order to fix his inept "work," which Dr. Lam claims is a supreme art.  The man is delusional and a thief.  

Please don't fall for his fast-talking, pushy, sales pitch (bolstered by his dutiful staff).  His practice is unethical and could potentially bankrupt a person.  I don't think he actually views "patients" as people - just as puppets from whom to glean as much cash as possible.  I am really embarrassed at my own gullibility and I would really like my money back.  I did not get what I came for, and until I saw a new doctor (free consultation) who dissolved the word bumps and then used real fillers.

RUN don't walk away from Lam Facial Plastics and Dr. Frankenlam!