Three plastic surgeons who have been the subject of a long campaign of unsubstantiated claims against their practice say they even tried using a private investigator to find the complainant, but to no avail.
Posters put up in the Auckland suburb of Remuera over many years claim an unnamed plastic surgeon is "dangerous, dishonest and incompetent" and that the doctor is "inflicting horrific harm to women”.
The posters have been affixed to road signs for up to eight years in the area, carrying the title "plastic surgeon warning" and referring to an older male surgeon operating out of 122 Remuera Road.
That address is the OneHealth Building, which is currently used, or has been previously used in the past ten years, by three surgeons - Dr Greg Taylor, Dr Tristan de Chalain and Dr Martin Rees.
All three doctors said they were aware of the posters but are still unaware as to which surgeon they are aimed at, or who is responsible for posting them.
Dr de Chalain told 1 NEWS that they have tried extensively to find out who is behind the posters, and at one stage even engaged a private investigator to look into it.
"No patient has ever come forward to voice their concerns in person," Dr de Chalain said.
"At the time these [posters] started, I was in my mid-fifties and the signs related to a '60+' surgeon, so I always assumed that it wasn't me, but to be honest, who knows? As Greg says, we are all about the same age.
"As you can imagine, because we are all tarred with the same brush, we have racked our brains to try to come up with a potentially unhappy patient to whom this might be attributed, but to no avail.
"Unfortunately, it is a facet of plastic surgery that, to some extent, goes with the territory - we deal with [psychological] issues, not just physical bodies and outcomes, which may be technically good, [but] can sometimes stir up strong and conflicting emotions which are manifested in a variety of ways.
"I am aware of a fellow practitioner who had eggs thrown at his window at irregular intervals for over a year."
He said disgruntled patients are "a very real and widespread/well-recognised hazard of the profession".
Dr de Chalain said this aspect of the job was the inspiration behind a novel he published in 2010 called Wolfs Paw, which revolves largely around a man seeking revenge against plastic surgeons for alleged substandard care.
"I believe that this patient is clearly very aggrieved and has carried this grievance for a long time," Dr de Chalain said.
"We have tried every other avenue, so maybe media coverage will help to get him or her to come forward so that their concerns can be addressed."
In a statement, Dr Taylor's office described the posters as "potentially defamatory" and said the person posting them is going the wrong way about making a complaint.
"I would very much welcome a resolution to this issue," Dr Taylor said.
"Appropriate channels are in place to allow people the opportunity to raise any concerns they may have and to allow a surgeon the opportunity to properly consider and address the complaint.
"I really hope this person can take that step and find the help they need."
Dr Rees said "whilst we may have our suspicions, we have no proof as to who is planting the posters.
"I am the most 'senior' of the three surgeons working at OneHealth/Remuera Surgical Care, so the 'complainant' could be one of my patients."
He said some patients, who are "the exception and fortunately rare", become aggrieved, often due to their own actions or unrealistic expectations.
Dr Rees said he has been physically threatened during his career by disgruntled patients, as well as receiving "vitriolic emails that would have made the most hardened sailor blush".
He said he has had two patients complain to the Medical Council about his treatment, but that neither was found to have any substance and both cases were dismissed.
The Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC), asked if it had any record of complaints relating to the campaign, said it would not discuss individual cases in order to "protect the privacy of all parties".
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