Don't let this happen to you! 8 ½ Wks. Mid-Face/Neck Laser Lower Eyelift - Springfield, MO

Lots of Complications
--Hemorrhage/hematoma not drained or cleaned out resulting in scar tissue/fibrosis & a goose egg under chin and most likely revision surgery.
--Unable to hold my head in a normal position, or lift my head at all, plus extremely limited side-to-side motion. I also couldn’t relax my shoulder due to the pull on my neck & opening my mouth was a problem too. It made eating very difficult. I lost 8 lbs. in just the first 9 days and I’m not a big person.
--Lots of pain in shoulders, neck & back because of the above alignment problems, plus still having burning nerve pain from neck and down shoulder.
--Facelift needs revision surgery too, if even possible, I don’t know yet. Just check out my cheeks & jowels in the photos.
--Lower eyelift… an enlarged eye due to a droopy lower eyelid so can’t close eye completely, plus upper eyelid pulled down (dr. says not so but see photo). Incision under one eye needs revision.
--Laser work along with everything else needs to be redone as you can see in the photos.
--Eyes scratched & swollen… still dealing with Chemosis over 8 weeks later.
--Nerve injured resulted in a drooping lip especially when I talk.
--Ears clogged with blood, 4 weeks for hearing to return to normal.

Thanks for all your responses. As Anon2390 wrote, “If he is as qualified and experienced as he makes out then the only explanations for his bad job is either it wasn't him (i.e he had a trainee do it)…” This was my first thought, that it was unsupervised trainees that did it, because how could I have such terrible results by a man with his credentials and experience. The two sides of my face looked so different it actually looked like two different people worked on me.

Laser - During the sales phase PS said he could reduce the lines by about 80%. NOW he says, “the laser treatment only works on the upper lip and he only treated the lower lip & chin so the skin tone would match.”

Lower eyelid -pulled down and I can’t close the eye fully - PS says it’s a nerve issue, give it a year, it will raise up.
Upper eyelid pulled down - PS says this is not so, I’m mistaken (see photos).
Incision under one eye needs revision - PS says this is a good incision and will not need a revision.

Cheeks & jowls - PS says the problem was my face, as my cheeks were not symmetrical! Who’s is?!
During pre-surgery consult he said my cheeks were fine, and did not recommend cheek implants or fillers, instead he recommended the lower eyelid lift. PS has said he would do a one-time temporary fix with filler. This is the ONLY thing he is willing to do.

Neck - When the drains were removed, under my chin immediately turned black as it filled with blood. The blood was never drained or cleaned out even though his surgical center was just steps away. The the goose egg under my chin of scar tissue/fibrosis according to other PS’s will need revision.
All the PS has had to say is it’s just swelling, be patient and don’t worry about it. I started massaging and going to a physical therapist upon the advice of another PS, who wanted me to have an MRI as he I may have been injured on the operating table and have cracked vertabra in my neck.

This had been such a HUGE disappointment. This was something I was doing for myself, in celebration of a new year and new life and having four very difficult life events mostly behind me. I say mostly because two are major health issues highly likely to be future problems. My only child was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and needing immediate surgery by a skull-based specialist… and NO insurance. It was a rare tumor so they couldn’t say if a stage 3 or 4 or not, he could die before Medicaid came through. It became my full time job trying to find help for him, and help him. It feels like such a cold hard world when all you hear is no. After 3-4 months a surgeon relented when my son absolutely couldn’t wait any longer.

6 months later when he was through recovery and functioning reasonable well, I go back to work BUT only briefly… then I found myself with 47 staples in my head and recovering from a brain aneurysm. My son had his second surgery while I was recovering from mine and I couldn’t be there for him this time. When they found the aneurysm, the also found what appears to be a pineal glioma, like my son had. It’s not nearly as large as my sons and as it’s not currently causing any problems so I’m in a watch and wait mode and there is not telling how fast or slow it may grow. There are many variables and these things are not hereditary, so who knows what the future will bring.

I’m single, and essentially haven’t worked in 3 years as every time I start back to work there’s a new crises. This experience has just left me embarrassed and regretting that I spent $17,000 and did this and feeling like the unluckiest girl in the world. I start back next week trying to rebuild my business… given the questions about my son’s and my future health issues and considering the financial drain they can be… revisions of the cosmetic surgery may not be in my future.

I caught an image of myself in a mirror chewing gum and I was mortified by what I saw. I don't know how well this will show but on my left cheek there is an indentation going up the middle which looks like perhaps a laser was overly applied twice going up my face.

The results of the upper eyelid altered on one side & lower eyelid on the other side.

Since the PS thinks I’m manipulating photos to make him look bad, I’ve decided to photo another of my eyes. This time I have no makeup on, I’m not sitting in shadows & the only light is from a makeup mirror in front of me. Posting all my worst photos is just be too embarrassing. Besides my new small eye and new big eye, also note the obvious scar under one eye. Plus the darkness & veins under my eyes, which I haven’t mentioned yet on this site, I believe is from too much fat removal. My eyes do look their worst when I look up, but then I’m 5’2” so I am generally looking up at people. This also gives a different view of the damage done to my cheeks; how my mouth has been pulled down & is lumpier on one side; and the pad of scar tissue under my chin. In the second photo I was trying to take a back lit photo to show how my left ear now sticks out, but even with back lighting you can see the damage to my cheeks. The damage is apparent no matter the lighting condition.
I have wondered why the PS made that post. Was it out of spite, to cause further harm? What PS will want to take me on now since he has painted me a such a difficult patient? He would have to be insane to think others would believe that not following post-op instructions could cause such harm or that photos could be manipulated to that extreme. But other PSs will be reading his post with a different eye than the public. Whatever his reasons, I now have a new topic to discuss with the attorney, defamation of character and libel.

Your support here has been the one bright spot in all this. This has been one continuous frustration in so many ways. The latest frustration, I went back to the ophthalmologist I saw shortly before the PS. My vision has worsened, which he confirmed. However, he wouldn’t give me an RX for glasses yet as 3 ½ months post-op my eyeballs are still swollen & I cannot close either eye fully, this had led to dry eye problems. He’s talking about putting in tear duct plugs &/or surgery on my eyes! So it’s off to other specialists for additional opinions on my eyes as well as for nerve pain from the neck injury too.
Every morning when I do my makeup it’s depressing and it puts me in a pissy mood that I just can't shake. Not good when you deal with the public selling real estate, my income suffers. It's so bothersome to see people staring oddly at me or when talking to someone and their eyes veer slightly off as they look at my face. Actually, it's just as uncomfortable when they look me in the eyes.... are they looking at me or my eyes? All I can say is be very careful out there.
Thanks again! Karen

I’ve tried to keep myself busy getting the house ready to put on the market and starting my business back up and trying not to deal with PS issues as I needed a break and my hair has been falling out. I don’t know if it’s because of the emotional stress or the physical stress that the PS put my body thru. Besides the receding hairline shown in the photo, I have a couple small bald spots and there’s an overall thinning going on too.
Going back to work has aggravated the neck problems. The muscle spasms have flared up again, the nerve pain in my neck and shoulder has continued, and now I have nerve issues in my lower legs and feet. I had an x-ray and I have a dislocated vertebrae in my neck. I had nerve conduction tests done and I am finally getting an MRI on Monday to access the extent of the damage.
OMG my face! It’s getting so much worse as the swelling subsides. In the photo where I’m smiling, the front part of my cheek looks like an apostrophe with a crater behind it, where did that deep angular dimple come from? Then there’s the new deep lines under my eyes that extend back to my hairline, and a new horizontal line under my nose that extends from one nasolabial fold to the other. Even my smile has been effected, that’s not how I normally smile, and there is a new horizontal ridge extending out from the corner of my mouth. If someone showed me this photo, I probably would have asked, Who is that?
In two photos, I pressed a finger to my face and you can see the indentation that shows I still have a lot for swelling at this late date. My God, if this isn’t horrendous enough, what am I going to look like when the rest of the swelling goes away??? I also included a close up to show how badly damaged my skin is, and from what I have read this will continue to worsen! I don’t understand where all those deep line under my eyes came from. And what the hell is happening with my neck! I went to take a photo of my neck with my ipad, and my allergies and asthma were acting up so I sniffed and was shocked when I saw this image of myself on the ipad. It looks like I had a tracheotomy and all the skin being pulled into it. Why on earth is that happening??? And where did all the loose skin come from??? The skin on my face seems to be stretching &/or loosening too. In the second neck photo I’m sitting back in a chair… I didn’t realize, until this photo, that it looked like I could store my lunch in the pocket in my neck! Yea, I’m having another meltdown and now the rest of my hair will probably fall out.

From the Op Report I’ve just learned that the PS used the “Smartlipo Laser”on my face. This is for use on the jawline and neck, not the face! And at a setting of 50-53 degrees Celsius which is too high according to the mfr. Was this disclosed or discussed pre-surgery? HELL NO! In consultation he talked about using a laser a little bit on my neck only, and there was NEVER any mention whatsoever of the “Smartlipo Laser” or liposuction. Interestingly, on his websites he changed the mfr’s. name of the equipment from “Smartlipo Laser” to “SmartLaser Lift”. He’s even got a second website SmartLaserLift.com with no mention of liposuction whatsoever. Every other PS’s website that I’ve seen that does laser lipo uses the mfr’s. name for the equipment which include laser and lipo in the name.

The Thermal damage to my skin is permanent and it appears other damage to my face maybe too!!! On RealSelf someone ask: BUCCCAL FAT PAD REMOVAL VS. LASER LIPOSUCTION ON YOUR FACE? Responses:
---Laser lipo of your face is downright crazy and irresponsible. It’s a set up for permanent irregularities, potential areas of fibrosis and additional things that you will not like. Charles Virden Reno Plastic Surgeon
---Liposuction is no longer done on the face. Liposuction is confined to the jawline and neck, and works best in younger patients whose skin might shrink better than older patients. When you liposuction too close to the skin, you will see grooves and ridges that are permanent and impossible to eliminate. Richard P. Rand Seattle Plastic Surgeon
---liposuction of the cheeks in not performed except in rare cases. The facial nerve is at risk. (I have a droopy lip) Scott Haupt Salt Lake City Plastic Surgeon
---keep lipo to chin and neck line - chance of disfigurement, which can be permanent. Marwan Khalifeh, Plastic Surgeon
---Except in extraordinary circumstances liposuction of the cheek is not indicated. Vincent Zubowicz, Atlanta Plastic Surgeon