This one cuts deep.
A TikTok-famous plastic surgeon had her medical license suspended after allegations of botched surgeries and privacy violations surfaced.
Dr. Katherine Roxanne Grawe, known as “Dr. Roxy” on the popular social media platform, has been accused of breaching patient privacy and caring more about her online following than her patients on the operating table.
She’s amassed more than 842,000 followers on TikTok, where she regularly posted clips of her dancing in scrubs and interacting with livestream viewers during operations. But her online fame has come at a hefty cost: her medical license.
Some patients have allegedly been left with post-surgery injuries, according to Daily Mail, leaving them unable to work or even stand.
Dr. Grawe, who owns Roxy Plastic Surgery in Powell, Ohio, has now made her famed TikTok account private following the State Medical Board of Ohio suspending her license on Nov. 18.
According to the practice’s website, Dr. Grawe has performed 3,621 surgeries over her 12 years of experience. But some of her patients aren’t part of her more than 51,000 “satisfied” clients that she boasts online.
Julie Hager, a mom of four, received a “Mommy Makeover” surgery — which included a breast augmentation and a tummy tuck — from Dr. Grawe the day before her license was revoked. Speaking to local outlet WSYX, she recalled the horrifying experience that included “leaking icky [yellow] fluid” and discovering Dr. Grawe had lost her license the day Hager was leaving the recovery center.
Minutes before being discharged to return home, a staff member informed Hager of the news — and Hager “broke down.”
“It’s 20 minutes before I’m leaving and I find this out. I feel like it’s absolutely wrong they kept this from me,” she said.
Other patients came forward to share their harrowing tales of alleged botched surgeries and the subsequent complications that followed. Three patients were cited by the medical board, including Amber Runyon, who also received the “Mommy Makeover.”
Runyon filed a lawsuit against Dr. Grawe’s practice, telling WBNS that the drains used to remove fluid build-up and prevent infection following surgery were allegedly not working correctly.
Originally, she found Dr. Grawe on Snapchat and trusted her due to her social media presence and following, but was duped.
She claimed Roxy Plastic Surgery advised her to not seek medical attention at a hospital, which resulted in her condition worsening and missing two months of work. Even now, she said she can’t stand properly.
According to the other patients listed by the state officials, their Brazilian Butt Lifts (BBL) were botched due to not receiving ample post-op instructions. In March, one unnamed patient was forced to stay in the hospital after being rushed to the emergency room five days after the procedure. Her liver was not disposing of toxins and there was free air in her abdomen.
During that procedure, the doctor also livestreamed the operation online, prompting concerns over patient safety. The medical board said the surgery should have the doctor’s full attention and accused her of putting patients at risk.
Another unnamed patient who also got the BBL procedure alleged that the doctor did not provide post-op instructions, and later suffered from complications like sever cramping, abdominal pain and dark yellow urine.
Cincinnati-based attorney James Arnold, who is representing this patient in a lawsuit against the practice, said his client was also instructed to not pursue any further medical care.
Even Dr. Grawe’s Yelp reviews are flooded with negative comments and patient photos that date back months to years prior to her license suspension.
But this isn’t Dr. Grawe’s first warning. On Oct. 9, 2018, the board first notified the doctor of concerns over patient privacy breaches on social media, and informed her again of the same concerns on Sept. 28, 2021. The letter also said Dr. Grawe caused “avoidable complications,” which later required more surgeries for some, according to the Daily Mail.
At the time, Dr. Grawe’s punishment was to participate in educational courses on professionalism and ethics. Now, she suffers a more serious consequence.
Dr. Grawe’s license was suspended in a 7-0 vote, with three members of the board abstaining. She now has until Dec. 17 to request a hearing.
Roxy Plastic Surgery did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
As transparency about plastic surgery rises in the wake of TikTok, plastic surgeons are hopping on the app to gain more clientele and reach a bigger audience.
The medical culture on the app has boomed — the hashtags “medtok” has 2.3 billion views, “plasticsurgery” has 32.7 million and “tiktoksurgeon” has 12 million. While much of the hashtags are flooded with videos made my licensed professionals, other clips made by patients flaunt their results.
Even the famed Dr. Miami — whose notoriety is all thanks to A-listers like the Kardashians — has even garnered a following on the app, touting 2.2 million followers. While he cracks jokes about patients and posts clips of him and his employees dancing in the office, viewers don’t actually see what happens in the operating room.