A plastic surgeon whose Illinois license was suspended following a Tribune investigation that found eight patient deaths connected to his Chicago clinic is now temporarily barred from practicing medicine in his home state of Michigan.
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs recently suspended Dr. Ayoub Sayeg’s medical license, meaning he cannot practice in the state until the matter is resolved through an administrative hearing process.
The order of summary suspension, dated Sept. 25, said the Michigan department found that “the public health, safety, or welfare requires emergency action.” It is based, in part, on complaints from a Michigan woman and her mother who allege Sayeg botched their 2024 cosmetic surgeries.
“As part of its investigation, the department retained an expert who reviewed this matter and opined that (Sayeg’s) conduct was a violation of general duty and below the minimal standard of care,” the Michigan administrative complaint states.
Dari Brown, of White Lake, Michigan, told the Tribune she and her mother endured costly surgeries with other physicians to try to correct Sayeg’s work. Sayeg had performed a breast augmentation procedure on Brown and a facelift and neck lift on her mother.
“I’m just happy,” Brown said of the Michigan suspension. “Hopefully no one else has to go through what I went through.”
Specifically, the Michigan administrative complaint alleges, Sayeg’s surgeries left Brown with improperly sized and positioned breast implants, and her mother’s ear and earlobe position represented “a significant deviation from accepted standards of practice.” Brown’s mother also experienced eyelid drooping. Sayeg failed to maintain “complete, accurate, and timely documentation” in both cases, according to Michigan officials.
The Michigan suspension also notes that Sayeg’s medical license in Virginia was suspended based on Illinois’ ongoing disciplinary proceedings and that he failed to notify Michigan officials within 30 days as required.
Attorney Michael Goldberg, who represents Sayeg in the Illinois proceedings, said the plastic surgeon is not practicing medicine while his licenses are suspended. Sayeg, 58, is fighting the disciplinary action in Illinois. A hearing is scheduled for late next week.
Sayeg, who lives in Michigan and became licensed there in 2002, runs a clinic called Your New Looks in the upscale suburban community of West Bloomfield. In 2013 he expanded to Illinois, where he opened 63 Laser & Skin Clinic near Midway International Airport, and then traveled between both states offering tummy tucks, liposuction, breast augmentations, facelifts and other popular plastic surgery procedures.
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In July, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation temporarily suspended his medical license. The state inspected Sayeg’s Chicago clinic and alleged, in part, that he had failed to meet requirements for delivering anesthesia-related services in a practice setting.
The inspection came less than two weeks after the Tribune reported the state had not disciplined Sayeg despite multiple patient deaths in Illinois. The patients — all women of color and mothers — died in a seven-year span shortly after their surgeries at his clinic, located at 3918 W. 63rd St. in a predominantly Latino neighborhood.
Six died from complications of plastic surgery, according to medical examiner and coroner records, and the other two overdosed on pain medication at home. Each surgery involved a tummy tuck and at least one other procedure, typically liposuction. The Tribune investigation also noted six people — including Brown — had filed complaints since 2004 against the surgeon in Michigan. None involved a death.
Illinois officials have acknowledged flaws in their investigation, which began after the state received a complaint in October 2020 regarding the death of Idalia Corcoles, a 39-year-old Chicago mother of four who died the previous year, shortly after her surgery. Her family sued Sayeg and his anesthesiologist in 2021, and jurors delivered a $56 million verdict in late 2024 following a trial.
As the state licensing investigation was pending, three more of Sayeg’s patients died of complications from surgery. It wasn’t until Sept. 5, 2025, nearly five years after the state began investigating Sayeg in Corcoles’ death, that the department filed its own complaint alleging the doctor’s conduct violated the Illinois Medical Practice Act, state records show.
The department amended its complaint this year to include allegations involving another patient, Crystal Walker Keating, 47. She died in November 2018, the same day Sayeg performed her tummy tuck, liposuction, flankplasty and fat grafting of the buttocks, also known as a Brazilian butt lift.
Her estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit, and a trial ended in 2024 with a hung jury. After that, attorneys agreed to almost $1.1 million in settlements with the various parties, including the hospital and medical staff who treated Walker Keating. Sayeg and his business entities were responsible for $470,000 of the total, court records show.
Illinois officials have pledged to pursue the maximum penalty against Sayeg to bar him permanently from practicing in the state. They also said they will perform an internal review of how the department handled the case and will pursue changes to state laws in the next legislative session to help accelerate the disciplinary process in similar cases.