Revision FFS With Dr Bart Van de Ven

I first had full FFS in 2008 with a well known surgeon in Thailand. I had a lot of swelling but could see there were early signs of asymmetry and boney lumps. As the swelling subsided over the next 6 months my fears were confirmed, I had uneven orbital rims with stoney bone lumps that gave an unnatural finish and a completely unsymmetrical jaw line on either side. The icing on the cake however was the bruising or stretching to the mandibular nerve which left me with awkward mouth and chin movement ,causing me to bite my lower lip, distortion to my smile and even speech. This took me over three years to re-master a new way of smiling and laughing so naturally I was very hesitant about going back or having anymore surgery.
8 years later I revisited my surgeon and after my consultation I didn't feel comfortable with having any corrections and decided to look a little closer to home. I recalled meeting Dr Bart Van de Ven and researching him I felt him more than adequate to be an expert in bone work and arranged a consultation with him in late 2016. At the meeting I explained my concerns and what I hoped to achieve.1) The bone lumps removed from around my orbital rims WITHOUT CHANGING THE LOOK OF MY EYE SHAPE. This was very important to me. I have ( had) nicely defined and youthful eye shape. I just wanted the lumps taken off. 2) Have my uneven jawline balanced out.3) Correction of my witches chin. Dr Bart felt confident not only could he do this but also suggested the following :- 1) brow/forehead type 1 revision. 2) Hairline lowering 3)Temple lift ( my concern of drooping eyelids after bone removal ) 4) Nasal medpor implants 5) Revision Rhinoplasty ( He didn't like my nose and advised I'd have a much better profile result ) 6) Cream to fade my facial skin pigmentations.He sent me two separate simulations and two surgery proposals, one with the rhinoplasty and one without. I must admit that the profile simulation with the new nose and all of the suggestions above was very tempting but I felt I mustn't lose sight of the original purpose and that was to correct and re-balance and not get a completely new face.We agreed on the procedures as follows ( original proposal in photos to follow soon)1)Forehead recontouring type 1 (shaving) Including orbital rim shaving.2) Hairline lowering. 3) Temple lift.4) Jaw angle reduction and chin contouring.5) Ointment treatment (pigmentations)6) Medpor implant nasolabial region. My date was set for May 2017... I couldn't wait! After waking up from surgery I could see I had gone through some big changes , bigger than I bargained for. Swelling was of course extreme and I had heavy indentation from the cooling/compression on my forehead. Unfortunately the cooling hadn't been turned on by my night nurse and I always wondered if that could've been detrimental to my initial healing. The weeks, months to follow were incredibly difficult. My bottom lip was dramatically reduced from its new position and sat inward in my mouth and pushed the top lip upwards, I also had extreme contortions of the lips and chin, my lower lip pulled heavily to the right and my frenulum ( the stringy bit between your gums and upper lip) had been caught badly within the internal stitches and became swollen and inflamed. I also developed a mucocele cyst from constantly biting my lower lip. For the next 12 months I was administered Botox in the lip and chin area to control the contortions and it was around 9 months before Dr Bart acknowledged that the frenulum needed to come out and I had to travel back to Belgium at my expense for him to tackle that and attempt to remove the mucocele cyst. The frenulum was removed successfully, unfortunately the mucocele cyst is still with me to this day. The upper face also has its problems. Early on I felt like I could see a dent in my forehead and my youthful eyelids no longer were defined and lacked all definition....However... The bone lumps on the orbital rims had gone. As the months passed and my follow up appointments rolled by with the Dr. It was 17th February 2019 on my last review the doctor concluded that it looked like I had some possible nerve damage to the lower face and a hole in my forehead/sinuses cavity causing the tenderness and sensitivity in the brow areas. My eyes looked different with the drooping eyelids and the hairline lowering looked no different, maybe even a little worse in my opinion.I asked the Dr if I could be compensated for my troubles and he agreed and gave me his insurers details for me to pursue a claim. Over the next coming months I started to experience extreme swelling in the forehead ( photos to follow) and had a ct scan on the NHS that showed bone deformity in the sinuses due to my surgery with Dr Bart. I got a second opinion from a respected private ffs surgeon in the UK who also confirmed this and advised revision surgery would be very complex and expensive. I shared this evidence along with photos with Dr Bart's insurers and clinic and the insurers strung out my claim for almost a year before simply replying with a no and that I signed a contract wavering any claim on complications. If it wasn't bad enough having a less than expected outcome, complications and the need for more surgery but the cruel and unnecessary protocol to make me chase for a year when the insurers probably knew that after a year has passed from start of symptoms or original procedure you cannot legally continue your claim with medical negligence. 2 years on and I luckily no longer need Botox to stop the contortions. I have used my own initiative with facial exercise and with some success I am happy to share my technique with any readers who maybe suffering with similar side effects. I have also found that pushing my tongue behind my bottom lip when I smile is a good trick to give the illusion of a full and natural smile, however when I laugh, my lower lip still pulls in and the tongue trick doesn't work on this and when I talk my lower lip still goes off to the side a little, there is nothing I can do about this and I believe that after 3 years that this is a permanent defect. The contours of my jaw and chin have improved symmetry but it's like the old problems have been replaced with new ones like exposed salivary glands and a bone lump that you can see through the skin on my right profile. As for the medpor implants now they were successful in producing a natural volume to the mid face, very aesthetically pleasing. The downside however is I can feel them inside my mouth with my tongue or finger, not ideal but you get used to it. Most importantly I am still getting sporadic forehead swellings that range from minor to more extreme. I have found that this can be treated with antibiotics in the meantime I haven't found any surgeon who can help me.

As promised, a photo insight into my journey.
I hope hear the helpful to anyone considering these procedures.

I hope this is a helpful insight to anyone considering these procedures