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Left with Serious Deformity After a Painful Procedure

ORIGINAL POST

Left with Serious Deformity After a Painful Procedure

lovethatrail
$3,500
I'd like to start by saying that I hate leaving bad reviews. It always feels spiteful and tacky, but with medical treatments I feel like I have an obligation to others to share my experience. 
In April of 2019 I went to have an upper blepharoplasty with Dr. Kapadia at his Wellesley location. I had mild skin sagging in my eyelids and he said I was a good candidate, I'm in my early 30s. Prior I'd done my research and wanted to make sure I went to an eyelid expert, which he seemed to be. Unfortunately most aspects of the experience were poor, leaving me with facial deformities that makeup can't cover and are highly visible from a distance, among other things.
Without getting overly verbose I'll cut to the highlights.
Arrival was ok and everything seemed fine at first. I was given a mild valium and made comfortable. Then Dr. Kapadia tried to numb me with local anesthetic. He did a few shots. Waited. Asked me if I could feel anything. I definitely could, especially in one eye in particular. He gave me another shot. Waited. I could still feel something. Third shot to a different area. At this point he seemed very annoyed, and despite still having mild sensation, I said I was fine. He started the procedure. At first it was ok. We chatted about school and finance. When he got to my second eye I started wincing and told him I could feel it, it hurt pretty badly. He gave me a quick prick and then just kept going. I ended up being able to feel a lot of the procedure. *The cauterization felt excruciating*. I was sweating profusely it hurt so bad and after being ignored and him clearly rushing out of annoyance to finish, I bit my lip and tried to tough it out. 
As soon as the procedure was over, he just kind of said thanks and walked out. When I got into my ride I looked exactly how you'd think--swelling, bloody, shiny from topical ointment. The thing to note though, was that even with the dissolvable stitching in, puckering around my lids, and swelling--the outermost corner of both eyes had skin sticking out. Pointy skin pieces pinching out where the dissolvable stitches ended. Obviously at the time I figured it was all normal, this is what it looks like, I'll heal soon enough. As the next week went by I used an IR/red light to speed up healing. It worked super well. My followup with him wasn't for 2 weeks. So I sat tight, used the antibiotic cream, red light, and tried to be patient. Unfortunately as they healed a problem emerged. Those pointy flaps of skin stayed put. Not moving, not growing, just stayed the same as the rest of my eyes healed up super nicely and the inflammation subsided. By the end of week two I was very concerned. My eyes were basically totally healed, they looked awesome everywhere except for the far edges, outside my eyelid, near my temples. The bumps that were there day one (NOTE they were NOT granulomas because they were there moments after surgery and didn't shift or change as healing took place) were still there. 
I went in to seem him, worried. They are impossible to cover up with makeup because they're large skin protuberances that look like large pimples. Because they're on the corner of the eye, when I smiled and scrunched up my face they looked AWFUL. They crinkled up and made it look like I had sagging skin around the eyes suddenly. I immediately asked him about it and he completely ignored me. He said granulomas usually go away--and I explained they were there since day one, in identical spots on either eye, so they couldn't be granulomas.  The assistant in the office seemed kind of worried and followed up with a second question on my behalf, as she noticed that it didn't look normal. He flat out ignored me, and then without answering me on what it was said "We won't be able to go back in and fix anything until 4 months after anyway, so you'll just need to be patient.'' Then basically walked out after writing some notes on the computer. I was so upset that I didn't want to deal with him anymore. He made no effort to answer my questions or offer to help. And makeup won't cover them. I was forced to go back on my life with heinous bumps on my face, thinking I'd just have to live with it for a minimum of four months.
It's now nearly a year later, and I still have embarrassing, super visible bumps on the outside of both eyes. I had to wait (financially) before going to another plastic surgeon in NYC that's actually an expert. He said that it's just simply dog earring--which happens when the wound isn't sutured correctly and the skin is closed improperly-- a mistake that he said should never happen in this kind of delicate surgery...And in the most critical part of the wound, the outside--where it is the most visible. 
Needless to say I'm very disappointed. I now have to get a second surgery where I have them recut and sutured, then go through healing time again, fingers crossed I don't get visible scarring. Its as costly as the initial procedure and embarrassing. And doesn't give me back the months I've spent (in a high profile job where I'm photographed a lot) with these awful things on my face, completely incapable of hiding them. 
My father in law has a law firm that specializes in medical malpractice, so he's going to help me take legal action to try and get my money refunded to offset the cost of getting the error fixed. I'm not a litigious person, and don't want to scam money out of people, but I don't think it should be my responsibility to pay thousands more to fix such a silly mistake that, according to two other eyelid specialists, was 100% due to sloppy suturing, on top of the pain I experience during the procedure. 
I know his credentials seem great, and there's always the urge to assume you'll be one of the lucky ones--but I found Dr. Kapadia to be the archetype of an arrogant and dismissive surgeon. And worse, for an oculoplastic surgeon, he made a rudimentary mistake that almost never happens in upper blepharoplasty procedures when done by someone who specializes in it. I now have to go through legal channels to try and get my money refunded so I can afford to get it fixed. I will update as the process unfolds. Happy to see that so many others had pleasant experiences, as that was not the case for me.

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Mitesh Kapadia, MD, PhD

Mitesh Kapadia, MD, PhD

Oculoplastic Surgeon, Board Certified in Ophthalmology

4.9 | 327 Reviews
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Replies (5)

March 2, 2020
I can see “dog earring” but your eyes are still pretty. It is hard for you to go through this. Hope you can find a good doctor can fix that.
March 9, 2020
Please continue to update. I was considering to see him for the same procedure and also tear trough filler. Now I'm scared!
June 15, 2020
I would like to start by saying that I am extremely sorry you had a bad experience in my office. I work really hard to try to make every one of my patients happy with their procedures and I obviously did not accomplish this goal with your surgery. I reached out to you two months ago by DM when I was first told about this review but never received a reply.
Bumps like this after surgery can be due to several different causes, all of which can be remedied by a minor revision. As always, these types of revisions are done at no cost to the patient.
While I certainly understand your decision to go elsewhere I would still be happy to discuss this with you further offline.
Dr. Kapadia
July 28, 2020
Did you end up going to this doctor? I had tear trough filler by him and it was awful! I would never recommend. I believe a majority of his reviews must be fake.
July 24, 2020
Jujudu-you are right to feel scared. I just read this poor woman's review just a little too late. I just had the same procedure from the same doctor with similar disappointment. My jaw hit the floor as I read her story last night because her experience echo's what I just went through. This is supposed to be a painless procedure but because Dr. Kapadia did not numb me well enough, I felt some of the cauterization, needling in the corners of my eyes and right up until the end when I could feel him stitching me up! Each time I told him I could feel pain he sprayed what I imagine was a topical lidocaine. By the time he was done, I too was sweating. My body became so tense from feeling the pain of the procedure. This procedure is delicate and should be performed delicately but he is rough. Even when he wiped my eyes off after it felt like he was scouring my eyelids. If that wasn't bad enough, he botched the job. My left eye now looks smaller than my right and I can no longer open that lid entirely. I have cried many times and am struggling not to become too depressed. But I am reminded of the hack job every time I look in the mirror, close my eyes (bc I feel tightness on the left) or try to look up and can feel the difference. He seemed dismissive over my concerns at my one week post op telling me I needed to give it time. I am no doctor but I am certain beyond any reasonable doubt that my eyelids will not magically correct themselves no matter how much time passes. It is obvious he misjudged and took too much off one side. Like the woman who posted her story, I went to Dr. Kapadia based on website reviews and his expertise as an oculoplastic surgeon. The expectation is perfection or at least satisfaction with credentials like that. To the woman who posted the story, I am so sorry you went through this. I feel your pain. Please let me know how your corrective surgery goes. I will be looking for a recommendation as I am sure I too will need corrective surgery. Hopefully some good will come out of all of this for us. I wish you all the best.
July 28, 2020
Hi there! I went to him because of his high ratings as well and am so unhappy that I did! My eyes look worse now than before! He made them uneven. The difference in the position of my eyelid scars is significant. He took too much off of one side and not enough off the other. These results are not in align with his ratings or credentials and I have grown quite depressed over it. These are my eyes! I am in the process of getting a second and possibly 3rd opinion on the botch job he performed. I will likely need corrective surgery. And I am really sorry to hear about your tear through filler experience. It is unacceptable. During my initial consultation he mentioned the fillers to me as well. I do not have undereye bags or wrinkles so I think it is a routine suggestion on his part. If you look at his photo gallery a large percentage of people had the fillers in addition to blepharoplasty. I hesitated to get them but opted out last minute and glad I did. Once I hear from a couple of other doctors I will post my own review. Here's hoping others are spared the same rush job experiences we share. Good luck to you!
April 6, 2021
What a shame, your eyes are perfect except for those tiny nodules. Hope you got a satisfactory resolution.