ARLINGTON, Texas -- A young mother of three is suing an Arlington doctor after she says a liposuction procedure left her legs with "dents, divots and an overall lack of smoothness."
The suit was filed in Tarrant County District Court last week on behalf of Tracy Burton, 31.
Burton said she felt it was the only way to get justice in a case that has left her upper thighs disfigured.
"It's like a shark bite," she told WFAA.
Last summer, the aspiring actress and model went to Dr. Pramesh Dave to have fat removed from her thighs.
Even though Dave specializes in internal medicine, Burton said she was assured that he was capable of doing the liposuction procedure.
""I told him I just wanted to shape it [the legs] down a little bit. That is what he told me would be done," she said.
But about a month after the $2,000 procedure, she said her thighs started to look lumpy and generally unhealthy.
According to documents also filed in court, a Mansfield plastic surgeon later examined Burton and found the liposuction was "...so aggressively forceful that literally all of the fat between the skin and the muscle was removed, causing a caved-in appearance."
A letter filed by the surgeon said the damage can't be repaired, and questioned why Dave — an internist — would perform such a surgery.
WFAA made numerous attempts to reach Dave, and stopped by his office on Monday. He never responded.
Burton said she filed a formal complaint with the Texas Medical Board.
Records indicate Dave was fined $2,000 and put under observation nearly eight years ago in an unrelated case involving care of a nursing home patient.
Burton's lawsuit asks for at least $200,000 in damages, but she said it really isn't about the money.
"I will never get this fixed," she said. "But other people need to be careful."
