Rhinoplasty: Stories

My nose had a hump and a wide bulbous tip, those were my main reasons for wanting a nose job. Now after the surgery I have difficulty breathing from one nostril due to my septum being "pushed over" as my ENT put it, part of my nose looks crooked or broken from the front, I still have a hump on one side of my nose, my tip is so upturned that it exposes my nostrils which are now two completely different shapes and sizes, and my bridge is so narrow between my eyes that the shape of my nose has changed from an hourglass to a pinched triangle!

I DEFINITELY need a revision surgery to fix all this, and it's going to cost me so much money because there's literally half a dozen things to fix now, and I just spent all my savings on this awful surgery that ruined my nose. I'm so hurt right now... I don't even know how I'm going to live with this. Especially with the holiday season.... I can't stand to be in family photos or take pictures with my friends anymore. All I want to do is hide my face now!

I thought I had picked the right surgeon when I saw all these positive reviews on here for Dr. Salzhauer and so many patient pictures on his "Nose Guru of Miami" website. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that a surgeon with 12 years of experience and hundreds of nose jobs under his belt would ever send me out of his office with a nose like THIS! It just blows my mind! Pictures don't lie, and to me looking at my pictures is like watching a horror film... where im slowly watching in agony as my nose turns bad. This is the most heartbreaking and difficult thing I've ever had to deal with mentally and emotionally.

The surgery itself wasn't all that bad... except for the anesthesiologist who couldn't find my vein and ended up stabbing me not Once, not Twice, not Three Times, but FOUR TIMES with the threading needle trying to find a vein! She gave me a shot of local to numb each injection site too, so really I was jabbed 8 times by needles, which was so awful because I HATE NEEDLES! But I came out of the surgery feeling fine, and my healing wasn't very painful at all. His staff was very responsive and made the process easy for me. The only complaint I have is while they were taking the payment over the phone, the lady tried to "upsell" me a chin implant with my rhino... which offended me because I never mentioned wanting any more work done... and I definitely don't think my face looks like it needs any work done either.

All I can say now is coulda, shoulda, woulda... I've made the biggest mistake of my life in going to him for my rhinoplasty, and now I have to find a way to fix it. And I pray that others reading this don't end up making the same mistake as me. I wish that plastic surgeons gave out refunds but there's no way that would happen. Dr. Salzhauer was nice enough to offer to have me come back in to fix the hump... but after this whole experience there's no way I could ever trust him to do anything to my nose again. I can't speak for his other procedures, but I definitely would NOT recommend him to anyone for a rhinoplasty. I think he's a nice guy, and his staff is easy to work with, but my nose... my pictures... they say everything.

The crooked bump photo shows two post-op shots of my nose. I will post a pre-op shot of the front of my nose.

Reading these comments about how my nose doesn't look bad has made me feel a lot better. I'm still unhappy with the results, but I will give it more time to see if anything changes- and if it does I will update this again and change my review for the doctor.

So I found my revision surgeon and he told me that, in addition to all my other previously stated problems, I also have an inverted-v deformity as a result of the botched nose job. He thinks my surgeon did a poor job of filing down my hump because he completely missed the top part of the hump and filed down the middle third of my nose which is why it looks uneven in so many areas. He also said the that it wasn't just my nostrils are uneven, but the two sides of my nose look completely different and one side of my alar is higher than the other. He just hopes that the inside of my nose isn't as big of a mess as the outside, and that my the cartilage in my septum is untouched because he will need that to fix the deformities.

I am so thankful to have found such a wonderful revision surgeon, but I am even more upset now to find out that I have SO MANY PROBLEMS as a RESULT of my first surgery. Seriously, my nose and my bank account would have been a million times better off had I never gone to see Dr. Salzhauer. My revision surgeon is going to cost twice as much as my original surgery, and he estimates it will take at least 3 hours!!!

So the lessons I've learned from this experience are:

1) Always find a facial plastic surgeon for facial surgeries because they specialize in the face and know what they're doing

2) Don't try and save money by doing to the cheaper surgeon because you will most likely get what you pay for

3) Any surgeon who has a website that makes you sign up for their mailing list in order to see before/after photos of his patients obviously cares more about sales and advertising than actual results

4) I do not recommend my surgeon for any nose jobs. And according to yelp and citysearch, neither do some of his other rhinoplasty patients. I cannot speak for any non-facial surgeries.

I finally had my revision surgery...
The operation took 5 HOURS!
Why?
Because Salzhauer had messed up my nose so badly they needed 5 hours worth of surgery to try and fix everything. When my revision surgeon told me what nose looked like when he opened me up I was so infuriated that I cried.

What my revision surgeon found:

1) My septum was completely screwed up and "zig zagged" in the back. That was his actual description of what my septum looked like, and it took him a long time to straighten it back out. He said he was surprised I could even breathe properly. I CANT BELIEVE A SURGEON WOULD EVER LEAVE A PATIENT WITH A ZIG ZAGGED SEPTUM. If medical malpractice suits weren't always grossly skewed in favor of the medical provider, I would sue Salzhauer for ruining my septum like this.

2) Open roof deformity on my bridge (which I had discussed with Salzhauer before my rhinoplasty and specifically told him that I did not want to have an open roof deformity after they filed down my bump. But of course he still left me with one).

3) Poorly done high osteotomy which is what left me with the ridiculously narrow bridge between my eyes (which the surgeon was unable to fix due to time constraints and the other issues he was trying to fix at the time)

4) The middle third of my nose was sunken in and I had an inverted v-deformity because Salzhauer took out too much of my cartilage there and left an open roof up top.

5) The tip of my nose was a massive ball of scar tissue. Apparently Salzhauer tried to perform a Goldman's Tip procedure to narrow my nose, but didn't know that the procedure is an out-dated and horrible method that most surgeons will not use anymore because it causes the sides of the nose to eventually collapse and it requires cutting the sides of the cartilage and damaging it.

6) Spreader grafts were used all along my bridge to try and strengthen it and rebuild a smooth shape. The tip also has grafts to reinforce it because of all the scar tissue and damage that Salzhauer left in the tip.

7) To try and reverse the scar tissue my surgeon also has a plan to inject steroids in my tip over the course of months to smooth things out.

So 5 full hours later, I can tell you that my best advice to anyone looking to get any type of cosmetic surgery is to AVOID SALZHAUER! Just don't do it, and I promise you will save yourself a world of regret and thousands of dollars.

Also, my revision surgeon was a million times more caring and his staff was more professional. The anesthesiologist threaded the IV so fast and painlessly... unlike the lady Salzhauer had who stabbed me 4 times with a needle to try and find a vein. Also my revision surgeon came to visit me the day after surgery and bought me q-tips and ointment and other post-surgical supplies... and all I got from Salzhauer was a mass forwarded post-op email. Seriously, just avoid this guy at all costs if you value your face. Biggest regret of my life was going to him.