Nose, Chin, Lower Bleph W/ Under-eye Fat Injections. Chicago, IL

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post, and for your positive response! I didn't think you were rambling for a second--I enjoyed every word! It's so great to hear about your positive experience; I've begun to really freak out about my upcoming surgery, and so I can't tell you how refreshing it is to hear that you're on the other side of your decision, and that you're happy with your results. And yes!!! The 'Accept Yourself' crowd is just as tribal as any other, isn't it?! Although, to my amazement, I've found some people who are into energy work and chakras and all that who've been super supportive and nonjudgmental about my position on PS. What a breath of fresh air they are! And you too, thank you so much :)

Thanks Angie! I will definitely check out those tips, and thanks for the positive vibes :)

I appreciate your supportive perspective, thank you. I love talking about Toriumi, so I'm glad you asked! And I love hearing that you're interested in working with him! I hope to be able to respond to you again in a few weeks with a raving review of our results together :) But anyway…
I was seeking out a rhinoplasty specialist, in large part because I want a chin implant, and I figured a nose doctor has some of the most experience with doing chins too (since noses and chins are sold in packages so often lol). I've been living in New Orleans, but I'm from Chicago (not to bash NO, but this is NOT a 'real city' in my opinion when it comes to uber-professionalism! as you might imagine…). I read through every New Orleans plastic surgeon's website, just looking for one that inspired me to get more information. I even looked at a few doctors in Baton Rouge. Boy, I'll tell you: I began selecting doctors for 'round 2' of my research, simply based on whether their websites were free of grammar errors and misspellings! One guy with a solid website happens to be a plastic surgeon who was referred to as "the quintessential New Orleans plastic surgeon" last year in Vogue Magazine: Dr. Calvin Johnson. So he was the first doctor I met with. He seemed to be a solid doctor in the technical sense, but he didn't 'get me' at ALL--he damn near accused me of having body dysmorphic disorder, because he thought I was nuts to want to have anything done to my nose. Johnson was in W Magazine back in 1994, on their list of 'the 5 best rhinoplasty surgeons in the world.' Of course, Toriumi graced their list in 2000 :)
I went back and forth about Dr. Johnson, until I decided I needed to spend the extra money and try to find a doctor who 'got me,' and who shared my vision.
I love money, and I kind of hate spending it! But I've spent years putting off doing anything cosmetic out of fear that something could 'go wrong,' and I truly believe that if you take the time to find a doctor who feels like a great fit for you, and you pay that doctor very well for his or her time and expertise, then you need't worry about mistakes and accidents. I've been convinced that virtually all 'botch jobs' and health-scares associated with plastic surgery procedures are the result of patients who make impulsive decisions about the doctors they choose; patients who are focused on 'getting a deal,' and thus, who compromise their scrutiny when evaluating a doctor and his or her credentials and demeanor; and, basically, all of these things are problems because there are so many doctors our here who aren't qualified to do the work they're doing. It's our job to find a great doctor and pay for excellent work. The rest will PROBABLY fall in place after that :)
My mother and I planned a day trip to Chicago, during which I met with Dr. Anthony Geroulis (who was, actually, the doctor I was primarily interested in, since he came to us with a rave review that I've been hearing about for YEARS through my mom!) and Dr. Dean Toriumi. I had bought the plane ticket and planned the trip just to come see Geroulis; but my mom went to see our beloved dermatologist in Chicago, Dr. Omeed Memar, and after grilling him for SOME kind of referral, Memar gave up Toriumi to us. Then, my mom makes the rounds, and gets my uncle-the-doctor's wife on the phone. She's got something like two sisters who've had a bunch of work done. One of them has been to Toriumi. Then my aunt-in-law gets on the phone and makes some calls to some more people. She gets back to my mom and says, quote: "Toriumi is your guy."
I was scared of Toriumi, though, after hearing something my mom and my aunt had discussed about him.
I always want to hear what kinds of complaints are made about a doctor. Surely, anyone who's been working for a reasonable amount of time will have SOME complaints floating around. Some complaints come from reasonable people, whereas other complaints come from people who underwent surgery with unrealistic expectations. The complaints can give you a lot of information about the kinds of decisions a doctor makes, and sometimes, the information you get from a complaints can even sell you on the doctor! You find yourself taking his or her side. So: the complaint my mom told me she heard about Toriumi is that he believes in 'ethnic purity' when it comes to aesthetic reconstruction. The illustration was of a Greek woman who came to him for a 'cuter' nose, but who left with a nose that was still disappointingly prominent, in her opinion.
This didn't necessarily bother me, though. I don't want much done to change my nose--I want to work with someone who believes that a few small changes can make one big difference. It was possible that this 'complaint' was really just alluding to the doctor having taste, class, and respect for the various styles of noses that exist!
God, I loved talking with Dr. Geroulis. What a warm, charismatic guy. I felt so comfortable and even cared about in his presence. Although…he wanted to give me an upper and lower bleph--and I STILL am on the fence about whether I'll ever do an upper blepharoplasty. Dr. Johnson said something that stuck with me, when I asked him about it: he said "I don't want to touch your upper lids because they have an exotic look." Johnson'd said he liked both my nose, and my upper lids, just the way they were. Georulis sold me on the idea that I likely would benefit from an upper lid lift, but it was going to pretty hard for him to convince me that there was any sense of 'need' for that procedure.
Off to Toriumi. It was like crossing the Rubicon, getting up to that office of his. I won't bore you with the traumatizing details LOL point is, I had gotten some bad news about one of the procedures I'd wanted, and now that two doctors have told me they won't work on my nose, I was not only feeling like, what's the point?, but also, I was emotionally exhausted with this process in which I reveal my physical--and character!--flaws ("flaws") to MORE strangers.
Cutting to the chase: Toriumi has a congenial, very professional demeanor. He was warm, without a hint of 'touchy-feely-ness.' He listened in such a nonjudgmental way, I was really amazed. And I didn't tell him what I didn't like about my nose. I simply told him that I'm here, seeking out one last opinion; that I'm totally ready to give up on doing this nose-thing, since nobody seems to want to work on it.
Toriumi didn't sell me, at all. He was a scientist. And I LOOOOVE that. I've sold things for years, and I'm super sensitive to even a HINT of 'sales-i-ness' in someone who I believe should be void of such behavior and intention.
The man just took a look at my nose, and started listing all the complaints I'D had about it! He was simply on my wavelength about it.
I'd found a doctor that shared my vision.
I knew he wouldn't want to go overboard, and I think what he's going to do--with shortening my nose a bit, straitening it out (my nose is faintly crooked), and by hooding my nostrils (I've got a hanging columella, which isn't too prominent from the right, but gives me a little bit of 'taurus face' from the left). He digitally altered a photograph of my nose to show me his intended results. It was my nose, but just with its beauty revealed. These were small differences, that amounted to a new impression when I looked at my face.
The cost of working with Toriumi is DOUBLE that of working with Calvin Johnson! Although, I'll also be getting not only nearly twice as much work done, but also, I'll be getting EVERYTHING I REALLY WANT in one surgery.
I like that he's more expensive. He seems to be a good man and a wonderful doctor. It would alarm me if he DIDN'T charge a lot more than the average national cost for his rhinoplasties, for example.
And I hear you about both the cost, and the timing of the surgery. I have decided to totally uproot the little life I had going and effectively 'start over' after my surgery. I've arranged for a 15-month 0% cash advance from one of my credit cards; so I've paid for some of this surgery out of savings, I've used some credit that requires pretty low monthly installments, and I've got enough money leftover to cover my credit card balance while I look for new work. I had a crappy job in New Orleans that didn't utilize my college degree at ALL. So this surgery comes as an opportunity, not simply to makeover my appearance, but to make over other areas of my life in a much more direct way.
I apologize for how long this is, but I'm going to finish answering your question, about what I'm having Toriumi do to me.
So, we started with the nose--the most expensive, and possibly, the most transformative procedure on my little list. We didn't have to talk much about my chin: everyone and their mother will agree that I should get my chin enhanced LOL The one other procedure I wanted was a lower blepharoplasty. The doctor didn't bring it up. So I mentioned to him that Dr. Johnson had intended to give me lower bleph (along with a chin). Well, apparently Dr. Johnson IS famous (kudos to me for choosing him out of all the surgeons in NO!), and Toriumi is familiar with his work. I feel like he took Johnson's prescription seriously. He just took a look at me and said, yes, that he could do a bleph, but had I considered doing fat injections in conjunction with a blepharoplasty? This was the final pleasant surprise in our consultation that made me willing to move mountains to work with this man. He showed my mom and I some before-and-after photos, and these women looked phenomenal. I wanted this!
So that's what he's doing: rhinoplasty (my first--not a revision; although I understand part of why Toriumi's so well-respected is because of his rhinoplasty revisions); chin augmentation; and lower bleph with fat injections.
One last thing: Toriumi intends to harvest some excess cartilage during my rhinoplasty and transplant it under my scalp, in the event that I ever might need it for a revision in the future. I remember Geroulis joking, just before we left his place for Toriumi's that day in Chicago, that Toriumi would take 'a piece of my rib and put it in my nose,' or something to that effect. This is the other criticism I've heard about Toriumu: that he does bold and weird things to patients during reconstruction, in order to guarantee that his work is solid and stable and has longevity. Again, I assume a lot of these critics are just 'haters.' Maybe some of the people who voice displeasure are, again, clients who had unrealistic expectations at the outset of their procedures. I'm inclined to trust him…and besides, all that crazy cartilage-stuff is probably part and parcel of why he's the revision-guy in the first place! He knows how to do a nose that will stand the test of time, and life! :)

Thank you for the detailed post. How did it go?