The heat is turning up to shut down the practice of social media famous Dr. Arian Mowlavi, who has popularized his plastic surgery practice through his 80,000 follower reach on Instagram.
Known as “Dr. Laguna,” Mowlavi is a popular character on social media with several viral videos discussing the services his clinic offers.
While Mowlavi’s marketing presence via social media cannot be disputed, his prowess as a surgeon has been called into question.
In 2021, a class action lawsuit involving 30 patients was field in the Superior Court of the State of California County Orange, and at least three dozen former patients have accused Mowlavi of a host of allegations — including the use of unlicensed technicians to help perform surgeries, the degrading treatment of disrobed women and the hard-selling of unnecessary procedures.
His accusers allege that over at least a four-year period, Mowlavi performed unneeded procedures on patients without their informed consent and performed botched procedures that led to disfigurement or infection, which attorneys for the plaintiffs attributed to a desire to put his financial interests ahead of his patients’ health and safety.
The lawsuits also accuse Mowlavi of allowing unlicensed employees to perform some procedures and to handle post-operative care, and removed prospective patients’ clothing and touched them without their consent. In addition, Mowlavi allegedly posted photos of patients to social media without their permission.
According to the L.A. Times, Mowlavi said in a video posting that showed the exposed buttocks of an unconscious patient, “We’re making some beautiful butts, so come with me.”
In June of this year, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spritzer filed a lawsuit against Mowlavi for unfair business practices. A status conference is scheduled for June 17, 2024.
Robert Kachenmeister, chief of the plastic surgery department at a south Orange County hospital who treated some of Mowlavi’s patients post-surgeries, called Mowlavi “a danger to the community and his plastic surgery patients” in a court declaration.
Kachenmeister later turned Mowlavi in to a medical review board in 2021, resulting in a 10-year probation period and a 90-day suspension of his medical license. All while a bankruptcy filing from the doctor — which cites the allegations raised in 20 lawsuits by his former patients — makes its way through court.
“The frequency of complications and poor results by Dr. Mowlavi’s procedures are unacceptable and not within the standard of care,” he wrote. “My understanding based on my own conversations with the patients [is] that they were being pressured and persuaded by Dr. Mowlavi to perform these procedures even though they were not in the patient’s best interests.
Jason Vance, a registered nurse working in Mowlavi’s clinic, reported the doctor ripped out a patient's breathing tube during surgery and flung it across the room.
“At any other institution, this would be grounds for immediate termination. I was worried for the patient’s health and safety,” Vance wrote in a court declaration.
Vance later texted Mowlavi’s wife, “I think he’s lost his mind.”
This is life-altering,” a former patient of Mowlavi's told NBC News about the impact of an allegedly botched liposuction. “It isn’t just that I didn’t get the results I wanted, it’s much more extreme than that.”
In his own court filings, Mowlavi has denied being responsible for any misconduct or medical malpractice, and has accused his critics of trying to destroy his career.
Mowlavi is a UC Berkeley alum and graduated from UC San Diego’s School of Medicine.
In 2018 one of Mowlavi’s patients died three days after surgery. He later settled a lawsuit brought in the case for $1 million.