Woman Says New York City Doctor Botched Her Plastic Surgery

An English woman has filed a lawsuit saying a famous Park Avenue plastic surgeon who once dated television newswoman Katie Couric botched her cosmetic procedures and left her looking awful.

Charlotte Brimecome of Hampshire, England, says Dr. Carroll B. “Cap” Lesesne operated on her April 29, 2008, and left her with a nipple askew, facial and head scars, improperly inserted cheek implants, a paralyzed eyebrow, a dented nose, and a bald spot on the side of her head.

Court papers say that after Lesesne did a second surgery to correct the problems, the 43-year-old woman developed severe pain, swelling and infection. They say he also removed her left breast implant without her consent — prompting the lawsuit’s civil assault claim, said Brimecome’s lawyer, Allen V. Koss.

Brimecome’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court, says Lesesne was “careless,” “unskillful” and “negligent,” and caused her physical pain and mental anguish. It asks unspecified money damages.

The surgeon’s lawyer, Bruce Habian, said Thursday his client tried to fix Brimecome’s previous, apparently unsuccessful surgeries by other physicians.

“This is a patient who had multiple procedures before she came to him, and he tried to help her out,” he said.

Lesesne — who chronicled his more than 20 years in practice in a 2005 memoir, “Confessions of a Park Avenue Plastic Surgeon” — said he was “shocked and deeply saddened by this lawsuit, which is completely frivolous.”

The surgeon said he and Brimecome communicated several times after the surgery, and she did not complain “a single time about the breasts, nose or mid-face.” He said Brimecome’s “complaint is completely without merit, and I look forward to defending myself.”

Lesesne said he didn’t know why Brimecome would want to sue him.

Lesesne’s relationship with Couric in 1999 and 2000 is noted on his Web site, which adds that 30 percent of his patients come from overseas — some from as far as Hong Kong and Istanbul — and include political and business celebrities.

The lawsuit includes a complaint by the patient’s husband, Ian Brimecome, for loss of his wife’s company and consortium. She is an advertising and marketing executive, her lawyer said.