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POSTED UNDER Chin Liposuction Reviews

Great Neck Lift/chin Lipo, Terrible Jowl Lipo

UPDATED FROM Graceful212968
8 months post

Permanent fat transfer consult

$6,000
I had a consultation with Dr. Kuy about a permanent fat transfer to address the loss of volume caused by my previous procedures with Dr. Donath. Quoted $3350 for a fat transfer to the jowls and a very small amount to the neck and all associated costs. I haven't made any decisions about what I'll do going forward, whether that be more fillers or a transfer. But I'll keep updating. Currently my fillers done 3 months ago are about 50% naturally dissolved if not more.

Graceful212968's provider

Alexander Donath, MD, FACS

Alexander Donath, MD, FACS

Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon

4.8 | 136 Reviews
PROFILE
Overall rating

Replies (5)

With regards to Dr. Kuy be wary of anyone who claims "fat transfer is permanent". The majority of people I know only had temporary retention. Another thing that might be helpful is that if you look at Dr. Kuys website you'll notice he has no dates on his before / after photos. You look your best after a procedure because you're still swollen. What some plastic surgeons will do is take photos within 2 weeks of your procedure which give the illusion of excellent results but then the patient ends up being disappointed a few months down the line when the swelling has subsided. It's important to see photos of patients 3, 6, 9, 12 months post surgery.
Thank you for taking the time to leave that advice. I appreciate it. I had written a really long detailed update about the consultation. It literally took me an hour to word it right and make sure it contained all the necessary and helpful info. I went to upload some pictures and the page refreshed and deleted it all. Ugh, the frustration. So I just left that tiny update instead. But there were two red flags I had during the consult. Number one, he said I should get fat transferred to my upper face. At no point did I mention my upper face or express any displeasure in how it looked. I hate when surgeons do that. Donath did the same thing. I literally went in for chin lipo and he convinced me to get jowl lipo and a neck lift on top of it at 37. Kuy was utterly perplexed as to why I had had such intense procedures for such a simple problem. Now I know to not agree to anything I didn't go in for. Kuy told his assistant to give me a price quote on the upper face. He wanted to inject fat under my eyes. I literally told her, that is some sh*t he just made up. I do not want that. I'm not playing around with these people anymore. The second red flag was that I asked to see before and after and they didn't have any. She said well I don't have any on my computer but they are on our website. Like, what plastic surgery place doesn't have pictures for you to look at during the consult?? So yeah, not feeling great about him. But I've kind of exhausted the surgeon options in my area. So I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Great comment
Wow, thats really disappointed to hear but i'm glad you were able to spot the red flags ahead of time and prevent any further harm or disappointment that may have come by choosing him as your surgeon. It's really difficult these days to find an ethical honest surgeon that will tell you the truth and attempt to work to achieve the goals you laid out rather than trying to further enrich himself by adding on procedures you never wanted in the first place. I myself am going through the same thing and attempting to find someone to fix my fat loss from laser damage. I had two fat transfers already and both dissolved fairly quickly. I also made mistakes choosing the two surgeons. In Asia and most of Europe fat transfer for the entire face with PRP costs between $2000-2500 and thats because they know they cant guarantee the result. In the U.S. surgeons in my opinion are greedy and promise us the moon and the stars and rarely deliver.
Dr Donath does fat transfers too. He is actually known for that.
did he not offer to do a fat transfer to fix it? hes supposedly good at that. dont do any under the eyes ever.
He offered to do a second procedure but only if I removed my review about the first procedure and didn't talk about him online again. I declined that offer. I wanted people to know about the outcome, good and bad, of the first surgery. Plus I wouldn't trust that he'd do a better job on the second go round.
you always have to trust your gut. I dont know this doctor at all but I know some injectors who are petty and if you dont like their work they dissolve you to oblivion. they are younger and less professional than I would imagine someone who has been practicing for as many years as him but you just never know.. thanks for your honesty.
did you ever find a doctor that was suitable to do the transfer? if you are still looking, I really think adding fat to the under eyes is very risky, I have seen fat pad repositioning by 1 doctor done well each time, if its necessary.
Which doctor are you referring to that does good fat transfer ?
No. I found a doctor I liked but he really didn't recommend doing it. I'm just living with it.
I had aggressive morpheus, my review is up if you wanna see me / what I mean.

can you tell me the doctor you found and why he recommended against it? was he recommending against fat transfer in general for young women cause it might grow?
well after posting that review I private messaged with someone who turns out to have had a bad experience with that doctor for the eye... I had seen one who had a good one... I think the good one just had Lower fat repositioning and that's it, the other one had cutting and adding stuff to the top so that's probably why....
Dr. Gerald O' Daniel. He seemed really honest and straight forward. He said I really don't recommend fat transfer around the mouth because it's such a highly mobile area. It's really meant for static places. He said if I was semi happy with filler than I should just keep doing that because it's temporary.
got it, im interested in my preauriculars, temples and kind of where you wee looking to do it as well
UPDATED FROM Graceful212968
6 months post

Chin and neck incision and results

In focusing on the bad parts of my jowl situation in my initial review I neglected to show much of the successful portion. Honestly I think he liposuctioned quite aggressively under the chin as well because you can literally see the tendons in my neck now (seen in the video). But I still think the neck and chin result is very nice. I had a generic pad of fat under my chin that wouldn't go away no matter how much I weighed. The incision under the chin is faded and almost completely flat at seven months post op. The incisions behind my ears were so miniscule they didn't even require a band aid past the first couple days. I was initially super happy with the outcome of everything. I'm still happy with the chin and neck. The bad jowl liposuction didn't make itself apparent until about five months post op when all of the swelling in my lower face had finally subsided. The more I healed, the more the problem revealed itself slowly but surely. At six months I could see the full extent of the overdone lipo.

Replies (5)

Your neck looks good but you my need a ft transfer to the face or for the low spots. :(
That's what I'm thinking as well. I'm still weighing whether fillers or a fat transfer is the better option for me overall.
I also had bad chin lipo :( I remember soon as came back my sis boyfriend told me I now had a old lady neck and that was after, it's been 5 years and I finally scheduled a neck lift to fix what was messed up, I'm scheduled for next month I feel Like I have to address my neck because it's looking pretty bad , esp since I'm only 40
That sucks. I'm really sorry. I know how depressing it can be to go in optimistic and come out the other side feeling very down about how you look. I wish you all the luck in the world on your neck lift. I hope it fixes the problem and that you're very happy afterward.
I had this same thing happen to me in my last jowl 10/2. I will be 6 months out in April and opting for filler. I was quite upset, I totally understand.
I genuinely don't understand the rationale of the surgeons in removing so much. When I went to get my filler, I showed the new doctor my before and after pictures. He said, "you looked better before. You had a nice full face. Now you look gaunt and no one wants that." I mean, ouch, but true. So far the filler has been good. It's not a perfect solution but it gets the job done for now. I'm waiting to see how long it lasts. If it lasts a year or two, I'll keep doing it. If it's gone within 3 months like the doctor said it might, that definitely wouldn't be worth it and I'll opt for a fat transfer. Either way it sucks that we have to deal with this. My heart goes out to you.
He should offer you a free fat transfer to resolve the issue. If he does it for you for free and it stays great but if it doesnt he should give you free fillers for life. Thats what a good honest and ethical surgeon should be willing to do for a patient who they removed too much fat from.
The surgeon's office did reach out and offer to see me for free and look at options. I really took my time and thought about it. In the end I declined because honestly, I just don't have confidence in the surgeon now. If I gave him another chance and somehow it ended up looking worse, I'd be even more depressed and regretful. I'd rather go with someone else even if it means paying for it. Because if I've learned anything from watching Botched, it's that they always cringe when patients say they went back to the guy who caused the problem for the fix. So I'm just going with my gut.
That's understandable, you should let the original surgeon know you're uncomfortable with seeing him again due to the damage he caused. Maybe he will offer you at least a partial refund so that you can use that money towards someone else that hopefully will get you the healing you desire and deserve.
I was emailing with the office manager and I let her know I wasn't comfortable with him anymore. I said if they'd like to refund that part of the surgery or pay for treatment elsewhere that would be great. I don't imagine that will happen but it's worth putting out there. Thank you for your nice comments.
If it's any consolation you're still beautiful. You have excellent bone structure so even with mishaps such as too much lipo being removed it doesn't take away from your natural beauty. Having said that I know what it's like to be damaged and lose fat in your face. The same thing happened to me with a Vbeam laser and i've been trying to find a solution ever since. I've gone through two fat grafts with neither one of them staying more than 2 months. If you do go for fat transfer ask the surgeon if he uses PRP along with the fat transfer. That's routine in Asian countries but here they say theres no literature to support it but I believe it helps with retention and apparently so do all Asian countries especially South Korea where it's standard with every fat graft. If you choose to pursue fat grafting try and have the surgeon incorporate PRP. Best of luck to you and I hope the next surgeon you get gives you the results you're looking for.
That's so kind of you to say. I'm so sorry you've had a similar experience. Have you tried the fat transfer with prp yet? I've heard similar stories that fat transfers fade very quickly which is sad since they're so expensive. Right now I'm waiting to see how long my fillers last. I'm hoping at least six months or longer. If that's the case, I might just stick with those.
UPDATED FROM Graceful212968
6 months post

Fillers (4 days)

I got a syringe of Juvederm injected into the bottom of my cheeks by Mandell Brown. He really focused on the right side which had the worse problem. So I'd say 80% went into the right cheek and 20% into the left. The left side definitely needed a little more but he didn't want to open another syringe. He said if I wanted more I could come back. The dollops he put in were very noticeable and you could feel each one. I didn't know if that was normal so I've been massaging them and that's smoothed them out somewhat. Overall the fillers helped the extensive volume loss on the right side quite a bit. I feel better about how I look now. My mom said I'm starting to look like myself again (how I looked pre surgery). Which is exactly what I'm hoping for. I've booked a consultation with Dr. Kuy in March to look into a permanent fat transfer. The idea of anything permanent happening to my face again scares me but I want to at least hear the options. Spending an estimated $800-$1000 every 3-6 months on fillers for the rest of my life sounds exhausting and expensive.

Replies (4)

You look very good. Be careful of fat transfer go to a doctor who is highly skilled because it has to be done correctly. Sometimes your body absorbs the fat transfer and you are back at filler injections so it's not a guarantee. Good luck.
Thank you. My fear is that I do all my research about fat transfer and the surgeon and it still goes wrong. Because that's what happened with the first surgery. The surgeon answered my long list of questions perfectly, listened to me, has stellar reviews, has all the certifications and a part of it still went wrong. That's what scares me.
Did you do anything for your neck?
I had a neck lift and chin liposuction.
Did you get any vertical streaks or neck banding during the recovery process?
I'm not entirely sure what those terms mean. I didn't get any new wrinkles or folds from the procedure on my neck. The tendons right under my chin are visible now if I lean my head all the way back. You can see it in the video I posted on my latest update.
Yes! The filler looks wonderful. Much improvement.
Thank you! I'm feeling much better about how I look now. I don't know if fillers are the long term solution for me but they've given me time to really review all my options.
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