POSTED UNDER Rhinoplasty Reviews
26 Years Old, Closed Rhinoplasty July 18th - Englewood, CO
UPDATED FROM YankeesGirl1987
6 months post
pictures
WORTH IT$4,700
Pictures of my broken nose for your viewing non-pleasure. Not sure how to flip them the right way on my phone.
YankeesGirl1987's provider
UPDATED FROM YankeesGirl1987
6 months post
Update - 6 months and an injury as well as update on review of doctor
Update:
Well, after roughly 6 months post-surgery, feeling relatively good and mostly recovered from my cosmetic surgery in July, I was playing racquetball with my boyfriend and he accidentally hit me - er - spiked me - in the face with a racquet. Broken nose. Absolutely devestated.
I want to share my experience with this in case anyone else goes through this and I want to update my review on Dr. Shah based on this experience.
So, face smashed - we go directly to the hospital. I get x-rays, I call Dr. Shah. Let me say that I have no earthly idea what to do in the scenario where I get a cosmetic surgery on my nose then break it 6 months later. So I called him in the waiting room to be seen at the hospital, in case he would want to do anything or want to know. He talked to my doctor in the hospital and she relayed to me that he would be doing a closed reduction to correct the nasal fracture on Friday (I went to the hospital on Tuesday night). I thought - great! I have an expert that's willing to help me out. Huge relief and feelings of pre-emptive gratitude towards Dr. Shah.
I called Dr. Shah's office in the morning, and his assistant tells me that they don't know what they are going to do yet - they need to see me first. That makes sense. He looked at my x-ray and my nose and said he wasn't sure where the break occured or if it was even there - that the doctor at the hospital may have misread the x-ray due to him breaking my nose in July for the cosmetic procedure. Granted, everyone I talk to and that sees my nose can see exactly where it's broken (including the doctor at the hospital) - there was a visible bump where the bone was moved. But I digress...
He puts me on a steroid pack so he can see what it looks like without the swelling, and asks to see me next Wednesday. I go along with it. His assistant calls me at 5:30 Tuesday night to cancel our Wednesday appointment and to see me on Friday. Not for any sort of procedure, but just to see me. At this point, Wednesday is the last day I can use my insurance to have this adjustment made before it is too late and my nose has healed in this awkward lumpy state. I'm out of time. So I call my insurance company - they are WONDERFUL and get me in right away to do the procedure even though I should have just went with them initially. I hear nothing more from Dr. Shah or his assistant.
I don't think I'm overreacting in saying that I am really disappointed in several aspects of Dr. Shah's office with this experience that was horrible enough to begin with. In addition to getting the runaround from the office and weird, dismissive calls from his secretary, I also still had a bump on my nose before I broke it and after the surgery he performed (the entire reason I had the procedure in the first place was to get rid of the German bump). So I already wasn't thrilled with it before it was broken and the amount of money that I spent to *still* have a bump on my nose. Basically:
-Please tell me if it isn't your place to fix something like this, rather than giving me a runaround for a week and a half. I'm a reasonable person. I don't know what the protocol is for this. I understand if it's not your responsibility.
-Please don't tell the hospital doctor that you will be doing a closed reduction and fix the fracture if you really aren't planning on doing so or need to do more evaluation first. I have work commitments that I have been changing due to the changing nature of Dr. Shah's guidance.
-Canceling a medical appointment at 5:30 PM the day before a 10:00 AM appointment the next day (not even personally, through your assistant), is unprofessional and very frustrating when I'm under a time constraint.
-The entire attitude of Dr. Shah and his assistant being completely indifferent and "not sure" about what was going on was both unnerving and exasperating. The doctors through Kaiser knew exactly where the break was and how to fix it. Why wouldn't Dr. Shah, someone that specializes in nasal and facial structure and surgery?
The illusion of him and his office caring for their patients has been made painfully clear and I truly wish I had gone to a different doctor for both the cosmetic surgery on my nose and the repair of the fracture.
Anyways, I am all fixed up now thanks to the doctors at Kaiser that got me in last minute before it was too late to fix and I would have had to have my nose broken again in order to repair the healed fracture. I am more than willing to update this review if I have a better experience with Dr. Shah's office in the future, but for now, I am wildly unimpressed with the entire process and the money that I have spent.
Long story short: if you are looking for a facial surgeon in the Denver area, I would recommend going to another one for both the results of your investment and for any follow up care.
Well, after roughly 6 months post-surgery, feeling relatively good and mostly recovered from my cosmetic surgery in July, I was playing racquetball with my boyfriend and he accidentally hit me - er - spiked me - in the face with a racquet. Broken nose. Absolutely devestated.
I want to share my experience with this in case anyone else goes through this and I want to update my review on Dr. Shah based on this experience.
So, face smashed - we go directly to the hospital. I get x-rays, I call Dr. Shah. Let me say that I have no earthly idea what to do in the scenario where I get a cosmetic surgery on my nose then break it 6 months later. So I called him in the waiting room to be seen at the hospital, in case he would want to do anything or want to know. He talked to my doctor in the hospital and she relayed to me that he would be doing a closed reduction to correct the nasal fracture on Friday (I went to the hospital on Tuesday night). I thought - great! I have an expert that's willing to help me out. Huge relief and feelings of pre-emptive gratitude towards Dr. Shah.
I called Dr. Shah's office in the morning, and his assistant tells me that they don't know what they are going to do yet - they need to see me first. That makes sense. He looked at my x-ray and my nose and said he wasn't sure where the break occured or if it was even there - that the doctor at the hospital may have misread the x-ray due to him breaking my nose in July for the cosmetic procedure. Granted, everyone I talk to and that sees my nose can see exactly where it's broken (including the doctor at the hospital) - there was a visible bump where the bone was moved. But I digress...
He puts me on a steroid pack so he can see what it looks like without the swelling, and asks to see me next Wednesday. I go along with it. His assistant calls me at 5:30 Tuesday night to cancel our Wednesday appointment and to see me on Friday. Not for any sort of procedure, but just to see me. At this point, Wednesday is the last day I can use my insurance to have this adjustment made before it is too late and my nose has healed in this awkward lumpy state. I'm out of time. So I call my insurance company - they are WONDERFUL and get me in right away to do the procedure even though I should have just went with them initially. I hear nothing more from Dr. Shah or his assistant.
I don't think I'm overreacting in saying that I am really disappointed in several aspects of Dr. Shah's office with this experience that was horrible enough to begin with. In addition to getting the runaround from the office and weird, dismissive calls from his secretary, I also still had a bump on my nose before I broke it and after the surgery he performed (the entire reason I had the procedure in the first place was to get rid of the German bump). So I already wasn't thrilled with it before it was broken and the amount of money that I spent to *still* have a bump on my nose. Basically:
-Please tell me if it isn't your place to fix something like this, rather than giving me a runaround for a week and a half. I'm a reasonable person. I don't know what the protocol is for this. I understand if it's not your responsibility.
-Please don't tell the hospital doctor that you will be doing a closed reduction and fix the fracture if you really aren't planning on doing so or need to do more evaluation first. I have work commitments that I have been changing due to the changing nature of Dr. Shah's guidance.
-Canceling a medical appointment at 5:30 PM the day before a 10:00 AM appointment the next day (not even personally, through your assistant), is unprofessional and very frustrating when I'm under a time constraint.
-The entire attitude of Dr. Shah and his assistant being completely indifferent and "not sure" about what was going on was both unnerving and exasperating. The doctors through Kaiser knew exactly where the break was and how to fix it. Why wouldn't Dr. Shah, someone that specializes in nasal and facial structure and surgery?
The illusion of him and his office caring for their patients has been made painfully clear and I truly wish I had gone to a different doctor for both the cosmetic surgery on my nose and the repair of the fracture.
Anyways, I am all fixed up now thanks to the doctors at Kaiser that got me in last minute before it was too late to fix and I would have had to have my nose broken again in order to repair the healed fracture. I am more than willing to update this review if I have a better experience with Dr. Shah's office in the future, but for now, I am wildly unimpressed with the entire process and the money that I have spent.
Long story short: if you are looking for a facial surgeon in the Denver area, I would recommend going to another one for both the results of your investment and for any follow up care.
Replies (4)
T
January 28, 2015
Oh my god, can't believe this happened to you! This has been my worst fear! I'm so sorry!!!
Y
January 28, 2015
Thank you so much for the comment. It's okay - just a fluke accident and I'm sure it doesn't happen very often. Just glad that I got into the doctor in time.
E
January 28, 2015
WOW!!! im shocked!!! Dr shah should be ashamed of himself. I believe its his responsibility to be looking after you for atleast 12 months post rhino. Youre only 6 months out and he was procrastinating on something so serious!!!?? Im just glad that thing got sorted. Im wishing you well and look forward to seeing a photo update :))
Y
January 28, 2015
Oh thank you so much! I'm not sure what his responsibility is at 6 months, but would have liked him tell me either way and just treated me with a teeny bit of respect so I could have moved past this nightmare sooner. I'll put up pictures soon (:
M
M
January 30, 2015
I follow all my patients for a year and then every year after that. So she was only mid-treatment with me. We don't abandon patients, and to hint at such is an insult. You should be careful how you speak about things of which you have no intimate knowledge.
Dr. Shah
E
January 30, 2015
Im commenting based on what she has told us. She was cancelled on by your assistant the day before coming to see you and then not having an explantation made it worse. I guess its a case of miscommunication. Im sure you had good intentions but they werent communicated in a way that satisfied her immediate situation. If she hadve known the "intimate knowledge" of what your intentions were it probably wouldve eased her mind and she wouldnt have expressed her concerns on this website? Im not here to bad mouth anyone im here to support a fellow friend
Y
January 30, 2015
E.m.k. is just being supportive- I don't think it's necessary to involve them.
M
January 30, 2015
The intent of RealSelf is too provide a community for patients. I think your support was well-intentioned. Support, however, does not need to be in the form of a criticism of another person. That was my only point. And I only involved you because you made a derisive comment.
M
January 29, 2015
I'm very sorry that you feel this way after your recent trauma midway through healing from your cosmetic rhinoplasty. I must correct some inaccuracies:
1. I never told the ER physician that I was fixing your nose that Friday. I told them to send you to see me with your x-ray films so that I could plan on surgery if necessary. A broken nose does not necessarily dictate surgery for management. As a former Chief of Plastic Surgery at Denver Health, the busiest Level 1 trauma center in Colorado, I've evaluated and managed hundreds of nasal and facial trauma cases. I know what I'm doing when it comes to facial trauma.
2. Yes, your plain films were not very conclusive considering the fact that I surgically broke your nose for your cosmetic rhinoplasty only 6 months earlier. For all I know, the radiologist was looking at your recently healed osteotomies and calling them "a broken nose." The best test to evaluate the extent of a nasal fracture is actually a CT scan. If I was still unsure on the day of your return visit, I would have sent you to get a CT scan. Just because you have a bump, it doesn't mean the nose is broken. The periosteal layer covering the bone could have been bruised, swollen, and tender. That is why I suggested 5-7 days of medical management first before risking anesthesia and surgery.
3. You were so tender when I evaluated you recently, I didn't even have a convincing physical exam to justify taking you to anesthesia for a closed or open reduction. This is why I put you on steroids, and gave you some safe anti-inflammatory pain medications, along with nasal taping to settle down the the swelling you were seeing. Once the swelling came down I could evaluate whether you had fracture fragments that were even reducible.
4. You never mentioned to me that you were under some insurance timeline. That is frankly far from typical. Post-trauma surgical reconstructions may not be advisable early on and insurance companies know that. Additionally if you were a Kaiser patient, you should know that you could only go to a Kaiser facility for any insurance procedure. As I treated you as a cosmetic patient, I had no knowledge of your insurance status.
5. The reality is that even if it had taken a few more days to get you into the OR for a surgery based on more clear and convincing evidence, I had every tool and technique at my disposal to reshape and reposition an injured fragment. But if you just had swollen bruised periosteum, reinjuring it in the attempt to "repair" a broken nose, may create even more bone callous. If this happens, your hump may get worse.
6. Your multiple postings of before and after pictures show a significant improval in your self-described "German" nose. At each of your post-op visits our interactions were kind and friendly. I even spoke to you about the possibility of a minor touch-up to the shape of your hump at 1 year post-op. You certainly never indicated the level of dissatisfaction that you now have in your ratings. I'm sorry that you re-injured your nose, am I'm sure it caused you a lot of anxiety, but I think that we were very caring and attentive to you during all your post-op visits. It's too bad that you are having trouble separating what I did for you from what recently happened to you. That being said there are no hard feelings on my end. I hope it turns out well for you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Shah
7
Y
January 30, 2015
Dr. Shah, while I truly appreciate your response and the improvement to my nose (which I was very clear that I'm mostly happy about)- the fact of the matter is that I was given the runaround by you and your assistant - in addition to still having bumps on my nose after the cosmetic surgery- which you stated was a lighting issue. And perhaps I'm overstating this recent experience. But it was very disturbing to me how I was treated.
It was cruel to make me wait so long without knowing what was going on (while canceling appointments last minute so late after the injury). I was in tears over it. It may have been better if you called personally upon canceling, got me in last minute at a different time, told me your plan, etc. Anything, really. I will happily put up pictures that show how obvious the break was. The doctors at Kaiser were appalled that I was told to wait so long. It would have been two and a half weeks after the injury had I gone with you and assuming you would have done anything. I imagine I would have needed it broken again to repair by that point.
You are right that your office was generally caring until this experience in which I was treated like a nuisance by your assistant (until I posted this review, of course). I am a friendly and reasonable person. I don't think I've ever posted a negative review! I wouldn't post this if I didn't feel that you and your office treated me poorly. And if my experience with your office continues and improves, I will gladly change it.
As for the technicalities, I'll change the review to state that you didn't tell the ER doctor that you would be fixing the break that Friday (though I see no reason she would lie about that). I could not go to any doctor and have my insurance cover it (Kaiser allows you to go to any hospital, but outside providers are out of pocket), so that part of my review is accurate. I did not know that there was a window of time to have my insurance cover it since I trusted you and didn't look into it until the last minute (which was my mistake). I told you and your assistant everything I knew at the time.
Again, thank you for taking the time to respond. It speaks well of you. I am not posting a negative review because my nose was broken. I am posting it because your office needs to not treat patients like this, and I would have liked to know this when picking a doctor to trust my face, time, and money in.
M
January 30, 2015
I've never given you any runaround. My office notes clearly state that in-office revision might be a possibility. That's what we spoke about. Since I was not able to see you Wednesday as planned, because of a last minute emergency during the snow storm on my side of things, we scheduled you that morning for the next available appointment which was for Friday. I'm not sure how you got your notice after 5 pm that day considering your appointment was for that morning?! I'm sorry that you feel that we were stringing you along. That is furthest from the case. You were too swollen to make a good evaluation and decision. I can't put it any other way. As for your insurance, we are not Kaiser physicians and your out of pocket expenses would have been purely cosmetic because the surgery center I use doesn't take insurance at all. I hate the idea of an unnecessary operation especially when patients have to cover all costs. I stand by the care you received and I stand by my employees. Things don't always go smoothly and we appreciate that patients are willing to keep a dialogue going. If you feel that I didn't attend to your emotional needs as well as you would have liked, I am indeed sorry. Keep me informed of your progress and I'm happy to continue seeing you if you wish.
Good luck,
Dr. Shah
Y
January 30, 2015
I don't really have an interest in arguing over details when I already stated what happened. We are saying the same thing about Kaiser. Apologies if I misunderstood or was unclear. I received a call at 5:30 PM on Tuesday (already a week after the injury) to cancel a 10 AM appointment on Wednesday, like I already stated. That is incredibly unprofessional when it's so late in the process as it is. You perform surgeries on Fridays, so had I rescheduled with you on Friday, I would have had to wait until the following Friday for surgery (over 2 weeks after injury). I'm glad you stand by everything but perhaps you should be more willing to accept criticism and improve your practice rather than attacking people on this site and getting hyper defensive. I didn't have a chance to have a dialogue with you so I'm not sure what you mean by that. I only communicated with your assistant who was audibly annoyed and indifferent every time I spoke with her. I was considering staying with you but in light of your responses I think I'll take my business elsewhere, something I wish I had done in the first place.
I recommend treating your patients with more respect and being open to an improvement in your staff and practices, though it sounds like that isn't going to happen. Take care.
M
January 30, 2015
By dialogue, I am referring to this current process. I am absolutely willing to accept your criticism and we will all use it to improve the care we give to patients. Thank you for your honest input.
Sincerely,
Dr. Shah
Y
M
January 29, 2015
Additionally you have six months on your original cosmetic recovery, that now has been reset to zero because you had your nose reoperated on. You will have to wait a year to see your final results, and as I remarked earlier, this new surgical reinjury of your nose may actually make your nose bigger. Hopefully it doesn't, so good luck. If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact my office. You have our information.
Sincerely,
Dr. Shah
Y
January 30, 2015
Thank you. My nose is not bigger. It is back to what it was before the break. Agreed I have to wait another year to talk to a doctor about having the results I wanted in the first place. But at least my nose isn't crooked while I wait.
M
January 30, 2015
I'm glad. But you are early after surgery. Hopefully it stays that way as the area of bone injury heals. Good luck.
Y
Replies (4)
L
September 6, 2014
Looks great but do you believe it will stay discolored like that? I feel mines is darker as well
Y
September 6, 2014
Haha I didn't think it was discolored. Maybe a little red because I used a cleaning strip thing beforehand. I'm sure your (and my) skin will be back to normal soon. Just hang in there
K
September 7, 2014
You're looking super duper cutie!!
Y
September 7, 2014
That's a high compliment from you!! Thanks very much (: hope you're doing well. I know how much you've helped people on this site (including me) and it's very appreciated. God bless.
M
September 8, 2014
You really look amazing- I love your results! I just booked my surgery for Oct 13th with Dr. Raval in Denver. I am getting excited/nervous! Glad you are still happy with your new nose! It fits your face so much better and makes you look adorable!
B
September 11, 2014
Looking great! I know, it's so weird being okay with pictures from all angles! Good luck with the swelling!
Replies (4)