Facelift and Brow Collapse & Paralyzation

I have thought very carefully about writing this review because I wanted to give the doctor and his office every opportunity to address my concerns privately before sharing my experience publicly. Unfortunately, after months of trying to find a solution, I feel that I have no choice but to be completely honest about what has happened.

I had a facelift and brow lift with the expectation of a subtle improvement. My brows were already positioned well, and my goal was simply to elevate the tails slightly. I was not asking for a dramatic change, and I understood going into surgery that no result can ever be guaranteed to be perfect.

What I did not expect was to come out of surgery with a brow that is lower than it was before, and with one side essentially collapsed and paralyzed.

My left brow has dropped significantly, along with the eyelid, and the asymmetry is so pronounced that I feel it can make me look almost as though I have Bell’s palsy. I now have to tape my brow and eyelid up with facial tape every day just to feel comfortable going out in public. This is something I never had to do before surgery.

I want to be very clear: I am not upset because I expected perfection. I am devastated because I have been left with a significant problem that I did not have before the procedure.

I had no idea that a brow lift could result in a brow becoming LOWER than its original position, much less result in such a severe asymmetry and loss of movement on one side. If I had understood that this was a possible outcome, I would have approached the procedure very differently.

What has made this experience even more difficult is what has happened since the surgery.

I have been trying to communicate with the doctor’s office for approximately three months to address this issue. I am now 10 months post-op, and instead of feeling that there has been a genuine effort to take ownership of the outcome and help me find a reasonable solution, I have been told that I would need to pay full price again to correct it.

That has been extremely difficult for me to accept.

I understand that complications happen. I understand that revision surgery can sometimes have costs associated with it. I am not suggesting that a surgeon can control every possible outcome. What I am struggling with is the lack of accountability I feel I have experienced after being left with a significant complication from a procedure I paid for and did not have prior to surgery.

At no point did I ask for perfection. I asked for a small elevation of my brow tails. Instead, I am now facing another surgery simply to try to correct a problem that has profoundly affected my appearance and my confidence.

And the financial aspect has been particularly upsetting. Each time I have tried to discuss correcting the problem, the price has continued to increase. I am now in the position of having to seek another surgeon to fix something I never needed fixed before my original surgery.

That is heartbreaking.

I also want to acknowledge that the doctor himself was a good communicator before surgery. He made me feel safe, listened to me, and gave me confidence going into the procedure. My nose also turned out beautifully, which is one of the reasons I have hesitated for so long to write this review. I am not trying to discredit everything about my experience.

But a beautiful result in one area does not erase a devastating result in another.

Ultimately, what has broken my trust is not simply the surgical result it is how I feel the situation has been handled afterward. I would have hoped that a surgeon would want to work with a patient when the outcome is this significant, especially when the patient has spent months trying to resolve the issue privately.

Instead, I feel as though I have been left to deal with the physical, emotional, and financial consequences on my own.

I am now going to have to find another surgeon to evaluate me and hopefully correct this. I cannot continue walking around feeling self-conscious about my face and taping my brow and eyelid every day. I never imagined that a procedure intended to make me feel more confident would leave me feeling this way about my appearance.

I am posting this review because potential patients deserve to hear the full experience not just the good parts. If you are considering a brow lift, I strongly encourage you to ask very specific questions about the possibility of brow or eyelid descent, loss of movement, asymmetry, paralysis, and what the surgeon will do if a significant complication occurs. I also recommend asking very clearly about the surgeon’s policy and financial responsibility regarding revisions.

I wish I had asked those questions.

I am disappointed in the result, but even more disappointed that after spending this amount of money and repeatedly trying to resolve the situation privately, I do not feel that my concerns have been met with the level of accountability and support I expected from the surgeon who performed the procedure.

I am sharing my experience because I do not want another patient to make this decision without understanding that these outcomes can happen and, just as importantly, understanding what happens afterward if they do.

I trusted this doctor with my face. I expected to come out looking better than when I went in. Instead, I am now preparing to spend even more money with another surgeon to try to repair a problem I did not have before the original surgery.

That is the part of this experience I find hardest to accept.