Rhinoplasty: Stories

Function, aesthethics

Dr. Devita made my nose smaller but did not improve my breathing which was half the reason for surgery and also what my insurance company had paid for. Breathing out of the left nostril was slightly better and the right was worse than before.

There were many more problems, though. My nose came out crooked, the bone was pushed in too far on one side and out too far on the other (bad osteotomies), and there was a bump on the bridge. Most of the time he was saying to be patient and wait for the swelling to go down. But it was pretty obvious there were issues, even as early as removing the cast.

So I waited patiently for a year at which point he agreed to fix these errors for "free" -- but billed my insurance full price again, of course. He was confident that after a little fine tuning everything would be excellent, and I was very excited to hear that. But after the revision surgery I was devastated. My nose was still crooked, and now the tip was crooked too. The right nostril was too far out, and the bump wasn't even completely removed! The incision left a scar this time and there are strange and (and quite ugly) depressions near the tip. Breathing is only slightly better and is still a problem on the right side. The revision was a failure.

After the surgery when I pointed out all of these issues, he said it was just swollen. So I walked out and never called back. He knows why, and I know why he never called me either. It's a year later, and my nose is the same.

I had another surgeon explain some of the errors in more detail. They said it would be tricky to correct some of them now, especially not having enough septal cartilege left to harvest. I'm not sure it's worth the risk.

Cost for 2 surgeries: $20,000 insurance, $2,500 me.