Biggest Mistake Ever (with pictures)

I've read a couple books recently that I would definitely recommend to anyone who is thinking of having plastic surgery with any doctor. The first is Complications by Dr. Atul Gawande (who wrote about his general surgery residency at Harvard). Dr. Gawande said that as a general surgery resident, he would tell patients that he was merely "assisting" with their surgeries, but then he would actually perform the surgeries with instructions from a superior. The resident did the cutting, suturing, etc., while calling it "assisting" the surgery. He said the medical people he worked with considered residents' "assisting" to mean them actually doing the surgeries as long as the residents had a game-plan that was given to them from a higher-level surgeon. He then said that when the doctors from the hospital got sick or their families did, they wouldn't let residents or fellows work on them - a total double standard. I'm not sure how much this goes on with residents and fellows who train with plastic surgeons, but the book will certainly give you something to think about.

The second book I read was called Pretty. Scary. by Anne J. It looks really campy from the cover, so I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. It was written by a plastic surgery consultant who talks about a lot of the bad stuff that goes on in the plastic surgery industry. I really related to her discussion of how plastic surgeons' staffs often mislead patients about the risks of their surgeries, what their outcomes will be, how difficult the recovery will be, etc. I felt very misled by Dr. Kridel's staff about how my nose would look after surgery, the risk of complications, and how Dr. Kridel would handle it if I did have complications post-surgery. So I definitely related to this book and would recommend it.

Overall, I hope people will realize from my review that rhinoplasties are dangerous operations that can ruin your life, even if you go to a very expensive US doctor who markets himself well. My nose was pretty decent before I went to Kridel - I think about a B+ or A-. Then after Kridel, I think it became a D. I obviously wish I had just kept the nose that I was born with.

Also, when surgeons tell you that if you don't like the result of your surgery, they can just put your nose back to basically how it was before (a lot of surgeons seem to say that to people before the surgeries), it's not true. I don't think ever. Plastic surgery is so poorly regulated today, and it's almost impossible to win a lawsuit or even get a lawyer if you've been botched, so surgeons often mislead their patients to get them to pay for surgeries with no consequences to the surgeons.

Another thing surgery offices do to mislead patients is to tell them that the consent forms that they're asked to signed are just formalities that their lawyers insist on. They make it sound like it's almost impossible for you to have any of the problems listed on the consent form. But look at my review- I had a hideous graft from Kridel, then it absorbed within a couple years, and also the left side of my nose collapsed. So I had all those complications that were supposedly so extremely rare. Of course, after my surgery, the form I signed was shoved into my face and I was told that I obviously knew the list of problems I had with my nose were a substantial possibility.

Finally, I want people to know to be careful of going to a surgeon who is a fellowship director for the AAFPRS. If you do go to one, please ask who will be doing your surgery- the surgeon or his fellow. I can't promise that the surgeon will tell you the truth. I think plastic surgeons are more shady than used car salesmen. But at least you can try.

Here are the photos from before and after my surgery. Dr. Kridel initially put a graft in the nose that I don't think looked good at all. You can see it in my after shot that was taken 7 months after surgery (the 3/4 angle). Then in the other after shot, taken from a front view 2.5 years after surgery, the graft had luckily been absorbed by my body so the nose looked somewhat better - although still bad (it still had the problem of the left side collapsing).