Think Twice - Biloxi, MS

I had a facelift, rhinoplasty, lower lid lift with fat injections and fat removed from under my chin. I waited one year and nine months to write this review and now wish I'd known about this site before I made the decision to have these procedures done. Although the nose and lower lids turned out well, the face lift is a disaster. I have soft tissue bunching on the left side (like pulling a curtain too tight across a table. The material 'bunches up' unevenly) which caused a hole in the left side of my face. This was done diring surgery according to the second opinion I received after I realized something had gone wrong. The top layer of skin was pushed back along my jawline and hung underneath my ears. (Push the skin back with your thumbs. See the skin folds behind your thumbs?) To make matters worse, I lost most of the sensation on both sides of my face from my temples to the front of my cheekbones to the front of my ears. I regained around twenty percent of my original pressure sensation. It feels as though I have masking tape on both my cheeks. I feel pressure, but not much sensation. In other words, I feel the pressure of the wind on my face, but not the wind. I will live this way for the rest of my life. I've had to grow a beard to hide the terrible outcome and to avoid the sensation of shaving over tape attached to my face. I won't go into the hole under my chin where too much fat was removed giving me a witch's chin. I blame myself for the level of vanity that caused me to make this decision. I regret not having asked this doctor more questions. I regret not researching his background relative to these procedures. I relied on Dr. Richardson to be forthright in explaining REAL recovery time, which was at least one year, not three weeks. Although the preoperative paperwork mentioned numbness, Dr. Richardson didn't bring it up even once during our preop discussions. In fact, after this long I've been told by two other surgeons I'll likely never regain sensation and the scope of the surgery was too broad (too many procedures at one time) to have expected a more positive outcome. This is something I relied on this doctor to tell me before risking my face to this experiment gone wrong. In summary, think twice before you alter the face given to you by your ancestors. One typically hears only the good stories. It can turn out quite badly and there's no way to reverse it. If you're determined, as I was, to allow someone you don't know to cut your face, make sure you have several thousand dollars set back for visits to a neurologist (I did not) as insurance wont pay any portion of the cost you'll incur if something goes wrong. Make sure your doctor has vast experience with the procedures you are requesting. Do not assume a doctor will volunteer this information. Above all else, just remember...Think twice. ..it's the only face you'll ever have.