Joseph Serletti's Online Review Report Card

Top notch plastic surgeon & wonderful staff all around. Plan ahead if you can.

My mom was a patient of Dr. Serletti for breast reconstruction after a double mastectomy. The problems caused by Dr. Serletti and his team is something she will be addressing for the next year. Her left breast is 1/3 fat necrosis (rare and a result of fat in the flap not receiving enough blood flow), her abdomen was done by residents and is asymmetrical with “dog ears” (she was told prior to surgery that Dr. Serletti would be performing her surgery). According to two other plastic surgeons her breasts were also asymmetrical in size and nipple placement. She will require 2-3 more surgeries to look normal again. The additional cost, trauma to her body and emotional havoc this experience had on our family will be long lasting. Cancer was enough of a stress without the added issue of plastic surgery problems. The worst part of this experience was Dr. Serletti’s attitude, dismissiveness, and unprofessionalism towards her. He did not provide important information upfront and he obtained surgical consent while she was in her hospital bed. We do not recommend Dr. Serletti for women who require reconstruction based on our negative experience. My mom was a patient of Dr. Serletti for breast reconstruction after a double mastectomy. The problems caused by Dr. Serletti and his team is something she will be addressing for the next year. Her left breast is 1/3 fat necrosis (rare and … More

I loved all the doctors and nurses at PennMed while dealing with cancer and other health-related concerns. But then I needed to have reconstruction done after double mastectomy and that has been nothing but a nightmare. I was not provided critical information upfront - risks, high likelihood of additional surgery to look normal / feel whole again, that residents would be working on me. As a result of working with Dr. Serletti as my plastic surgeon, my left brst is 1/3 necrosis (if it was ever viable), my right brst is scarred from cauterization, my breasts are not symmetrical (left is higher per other plastic surgeon), and my abdomen looks horrible and unsymmetrical (another plastic surgeon said I have ‘dog ears’ on either side of my abdomen). I'm looking at another year at least w/ multiple surgeries and added costs. I thought cancer was the challenge... it was the plastic surgeon!!

Attn: women/men with breast cancer ... do not let my history be your future. You deserve to not only survive cancer, but also to thrive. I haven’t been able to move on from losing my breasts to cancer since having reconstructive breast surgery at Pavilion/HUP from Penn Med’s plastic surgery Chief and his doctors. In hosp, my handwritten consent form was swapped out last minute to an electronic one ...

ATTN women/men w breast cancer (BC): I rec’d BC diagnosis and my greatest hope is that leaving this review will allow you to choose a better path. I regret my path to have my breasts reconstructed (DIEP FLAP) by this man. If you decide to choose him as your surgeon, please protect yourself: 1) get copy of your signed consent upfront (like oncology breast surgeon does!) so you know what you’re agreeing to (vs. in hospital bed about to be wheeled into surgery wo any knowledge of what you just signed); 2) even though you may be told by his nurse / attending physician that this man will be doing/did the surgery, residents might do portions of surgery (I later found out residents worked on my ab, which was left very unsightly and unsymmetrical and I may or may not have mesh in my ab… surgeon doesn’t even know, but “believes” it’s biodegradable IF in my body; 3) understand possible complications: my belly button was sewn in my hospital room; my right breast was scarred from cauterization; a large portion of my left breast has necrosis … if it was ever viable (nurses told me doppler stitch was not in normal spot, which is where necrosis is located); wound care was very difficult; I had a lot of issues with ab pain. Like me, you may need to press and press and press to get real answers (vs. narcotics). You shouldn't have to work that hard to get what you require. 4) Understand amazing care you receive at every other office at Penn Medicine may not be your experience here. He didn’t even see/call me in hosp post-surgery until last day, making me delay my discharge until he got there and the way he talked to me was flippant and ignorant (BTW apparently 70% of reconstruction requires “revision” beyond nipple creation - who knew? Not me... so no informed consent). When you have office visits, none of your concerns will be documented in visit summaries. My surgery w Chief was 11.22.21. As a result of being his patient, I may need to undergo TWO more breast surgeries to be made whole. Finding a surgeon to fix my breasts was an added stressor, but kind people in other offices helped/CARED! I will likely need to incur out-of-pocket expenses to fix my unsightly abdomen if it’s considered cosmetic - not medical - to look normal. I will not be whole for many months. When I documented all my concerns (electronically via patient portal) on 3.3.22 and asked him to call me to discuss, nurse didn’t share my note with him until 3.8.22. He didn’t call me as requested; I need to schedule “next available”. It’s 3.11.22 and I still haven’t heard from office to schedule. I had shared I’m losing sleep, worried and anxious (new necrosis finding by diff doc means large portion of new breast needs to be removed and refilled). Does this response seem normal? Like a doctor who cares? You must ask yourself why he is so confident in being so dismissive. Who is he accountable to as “Chief”? Women/men w BC, I humbly hope I’ve helped you today because cancer and losing your breasts are enough. You deserve quality care and a quick return to normal!

I was Dr Serletti's first patient at Penn after he relocated from Rochester, 16 years ago. He performed my breast reconstruction after my breast cancer surgery. I can't say enough great things about him. His demeanor is very professional, and he does wonders.

I was referred to Dr Serletti from my primary care Dr. I needs to have a cosmetic procedure due to a ruptured implant. I didn’t know of any cosmetic surgeons as my procedure was done 26 years ago and that Dr retired. I made an appointment brought along my test results and was basically humiliated and treated like I was wasting his time even talking to me. I spoke to him for 5 minutes and in that 5 minutes made me feel so uncomfortable and unwelcomed. Basically gave me 3 options and recited those options with an arrogant attitude. When I walked out of the room.. I went to the reception desk and asked the cost.. she wrote them down on a post it note as she said she couldn’t write anything up until the after the Dr closes the file. When leaving, the person I came with told me that the Dr came out and yelled at the receptionist and loudly announces that the woman wants cosmetics!!! He said to her I’ll let this one slide but don’t do it again!!! He was rude and didn’t want to help me or ts

I had reconstructive surgery years ago on my jaw after a car accident , if this is the same doctor that operated on me in Rochester NY he is a great Dr . and I would like to find out because my father was in a farming accident and had reconstructive surgery on his face and the bone in front of his eye is putting pressure on his eye ball . I had reconstructive surgery years ago on my jaw after a car accident , if this is the same doctor that operated on me in Rochester NY he is a great Dr . and I would like to find out because my father was in a farming accident and had … More

I’m more than happy with the outcome of my reconstruction, Dr Serletti is professional and extremely skilled in breast reconstruction, I’d recommend him to anyone regarding mastectomy breast reconstruction.

His condescending and uncaring manner during my cancer treatment was unforgivable. I ultimately went to a new doctor (who was incredibly kind) to fix Dr Serletti’s botched job. I will never forgive the way he talked to me or the physical scars that he seemed unconcerned about.