The hooding was not corrected and marionette lines were still noticeable

Treatment Provider

Provider Review

• 7 Oct 2015

When I met Dr. Chang and spoke to him about wanting the above procedures, he discouraged me from having a temporal brow lift. He said my brow was in a good location that looked right on my face, and changing it would look unnatural. Instead he recommended doing surgery on the upper eye lids to correct the small amount of hooding. I agreed to this. Dr. Chang was initially very pleasant, and made attempts to communicate realistic expectations. I also negotiated price with him and got a reduced price that matched another surgeon who was a long drive from my home. Surgery went smoothly. The problems started when I went for my follow-up visits and I was asked by Dr. Chang's patient coordinator, and also his nurse, how I felt about my surgery results. I said that I was not totally satisfied, but felt that if Dr. Chang could do a little tweaking, I would be totally satisfied. The two things that bothered me were that the hooding had not been corrected on my left eyelid, and the marionette lines, while improved, were still noticeable. Then I met with Dr. Chang and he said that the hooding could only be corrected by a temporal brow lift - this is the brow lift he originally said that I didn't need and that it would make me look unnatural! Dr. Chang said that normally he charges $5500 for that, but would only charge me $3500. However, right after meeting with Dr. Chang I met with his patient coordinator, who told me he normally charges $4500, so I was getting a good deal at $3500. (Actually when I checked going rates, $3500 is on the mid to higher side of my comparisons.) In response to my questioning Dr. Chang about doing a small corrective surgery to remove that little bit of hooding that bothered me, he said that it would cost him a lot of money to remove a "millimeter" of skin, that I just didn't understand that. He made it clear he considered the hooding to be a minor issue. However, this "millimeter" of skin was one of the reasons that I came to him in the first place! And, for that "millimeter" of skin he was more than willing to at first proceed with expensive surgery to the upper eyelids, and then to suggest a temporal brow lift to the tune of $3500 when the hooding was still present post-surgery. This being the brow lift that Dr. Chang originally said I didn't need! Then I mentioned that the "marionette lines", while reduced, were still significantly present after the mini face-lift. Dr. Chang explained that if he had pulled the skin on my face any tighter, I would look unnatural. The best option would be to use a filler, for which he normally charges $900 a syringe, but would charge me his cost of $450, and I would need two syringes for $900. This seemed fair and reasonable to me, and I made an appointment to come back in a few days to have the fillers injected by Dr. Chang to correct the marionette lines. But the more I thought about the problem of the eye hooding, and Dr. Chang saying that I needed to spend $3500 for a surgery that he had originally discouraged me from having, it bothered me. So, yesterday, the day before my appointment for the filler injections, I called his patient coordinator and asked to receive copies of the "before" photos of my eyelids, so that I could compare. (It turned out that the hooding in the location I mentioned had not improved). Then, today, I came for my appointment to have the fillers injected by Dr. Chang. He told me that I was not the type of patient that was a good fit for his office. He seemed displeased that I had spoken to his staff of my not being satisfied (of course, they approached me first) and he said that I was a patient who could not be made happy. He said that he doubted I could find any other plastic surgeon to satisfy me. Dr. Chang said that he did not want to proceed with injecting the fillers for the marionette lines that he had promised to do at cost, because he was sure I would not be happy with that service either. He said that my dissatisfaction had a negative effect on his ego ("ego" was the word he actually used). I reminded Dr. Chang that he had verbally committed to injecting the fillers for the marionette lines at his cost, and that that was why I came in for this appointment. At first he said he was not obligated to proceed, because no papers had been signed. Then Dr. Chang said he would proceed but that I would need to sign many legal documents for him to do so. I felt that proceeding would be a mistake, because his prior statements caused me to lose confidence in him. Then the most amazing thing happened - he said over and over again that he couldn't see why I would want him to proceed with the filler injections or anything else because I wasn't happy with his work, and he that he no longer wanted me as a patient!!!!! Most of this conversation was on Dr. Chang's part, and I just listened. But then I said to Dr. Chang, that while one view of the situation was that he is correct, and I am a person who is just impossible to please, another view is that instead of taking responsibility for correcting a procedure to satisfy a patient, he simply blames the patient for the problem. This did not go over well with Dr. Chang and he rose from his seat to end the discussion. I spent around $9850 with Dr. Chang, and his work was okay, but I was dissatisfied with how I was treated. When a patient says they are not fully satisfied with a procedure and the solutions given are questionable (as in the brow lift) or withdrawn (as in the fillers at cost which he preferred not to proceed with), that bothers me. Whether it is a doctor or a plumber (will I get struck by lightning by the American Medical Assoc. for making that comparison?), they both have careers in service-oriented fields. It is inevitable that not every service will satisfy every patient/customer. The real test of merit is in how the provider handles these situations. In my case, I think I was more or less kicked out of Dr. Chang's practice!