Jennifer Fessler doesn’t sugarcoat it. Known as a “friend of” on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, she’s had four breast surgeries, and until recently, not a single one gave her the result she was looking for. “Each time I thought the next one would fix it,” she says. “It never quite did.”
Her story is more common than most women realize. Revision surgery—going back under the knife to correct a previous procedure—is one of the fastest-growing areas of plastic surgery, driven in large part by first (and second, and third) surgeries that never addressed the real problem.
For Fessler, that problem had a name she didn’t hear until her fifth consultation: tubular breasts. It’s a congenital condition where breast tissue develops in a narrow, constricted shape—not uncommon but often overlooked. “Before he even examined me, my surgeon said, ‘It sounds like you have tubular breasts,’” she recalls. “Four surgeries in, and I was hearing the actual diagnosis for the first time.”
Four Surgeries, Zero Answers
Fessler’s history with breast surgery goes back decades. “I’ve had four breast augmentations starting when I was in my 20s,” she says. At the time, she was told small implants would correct her tubular breasts and help her avoid the scarring of a lift. “So I did that, and I ended up with very large, tubular breasts. Not what I wanted at all.”
What followed was a cycle many patients know all too well—one surgery meant to fix the last. “Then I had another surgery, hoping to fix that,” she says, explaining that even when adjustments were made, the results still didn’t feel right. Over time, the repeated procedures led to more scar tissue and more complications, not less.
“A few years ago, I was like, I really don’t want or need implants anymore. I just want them out of my body,” she says. It wasn’t about chasing a certain look. “It wasn’t really as much of an aesthetic situation. I’m in my mid-50s, and I don’t need, nor do I want, big boobs.”
But the explant surgery created a new issue she wasn’t expecting. “There was no fold,” she says. “Any bra I tried to wear would creep up on one side within minutes.”
Without that fold—the natural crease under the breast—there was nothing to anchor the breast or a bra in place. “It was annoying, but I was willing to live with it,” she admits, relying mostly on sports bras and workarounds.
Until one moment changed everything. Last summer at the Jersey Shore, her bathing suit shifted without her realizing it. “My son screamed like he was being burned,” she says. “It was just enough. Enough was enough.”
That was the turning point—not about vanity, but about function, comfort and, as she puts it, “just wanting practical breasts.”
The Surgery That Finally Got It Right
Fessler found New York plastic surgeon Dr. Michael J. Stein, MD through a fellow Real Housewife and says the word-of-mouth reputation she kept hearing matched exactly what she experienced in person. “Everyone said the same things: exceptional surgeon, incredibly humble, the one people go to when other doctors say a case is too complicated,” she says. “He was all of that.”
Dr. Stein specializes in breast revision and says Fessler’s presentation, while complex, is something he sees constantly. “Jennifer basically represents a staple of so many patients who come to my practice,” he says. “They all come in thinking they’re completely unique, that they’re the only one who’s had this troublesome course of three or four surgeries. But it’s very common. ”
He attributes much of it to how breast surgery gets discussed. “There’s an oversimplification on social media; people think getting implants is like getting your teeth cleaned,” he explains. “It doesn’t really work that way. Every woman’s breasts are asymmetric, and the rib cage they sit on is asymmetric. If you don’t account for those nuances, things are going to shift over time.”
Dr. Stein says for this case, he had to reconstruct both breast folds, release years of internal scar tissue and widen the breast footprint to finally treat the tubular anatomy none of her previous surgeons had addressed. “I was not only correcting issues from her previous surgeries,” he says, “I was correcting the anatomical issues she had before she ever had surgery in the first place.” To stabilize the new fold, he placed an —an absorbable mesh called GalaFLEX—that acts as a scaffold while the body’s own tissue takes over.
The surgery took four and a half hours. The implants placed were small and light, chosen for balance and structure—not size. “I told him very clearly: I don’t want big boobs,” Fessler says. “I just wanted something practical.”
"I Love Looking at Them"
One month post-op, Fessler says she’s already thrilled—and a little impatient. “Dr. Stein told me not to even look at them for three months. I said, I don’t know what you mean. I love looking at them.” The scars are hidden under the fold, and she says her nipples, misshapen from prior surgery, have been smoothed and reshaped. And most importantly: she can wear a bra.
“That sounds like a small thing,” she acknowledges. “But it’s everything. Just getting dressed in the morning and not thinking about it. Going to the beach with my kids and not worrying.”
She hopes being open about her experience helps other women who feel stuck after unsatisfying results. “So many women go through multiple surgeries and don’t talk about it,” she says. “If something isn’t right, you don’t have to just live with it.”
