Reviews you can trust, from real people like you.
How it works
- Our highly-trained Review Moderation team evaluates all reviews before they're published to ensure they're written by people like you and not a member of a doctor's office.
- This multi-step process takes up to 24 hours from review submission to publication.
- Doctors can't pay to have reviews removed or hidden.
- Reviews are only removed at the reviewer's request or if they violate our Terms of Service.
If you have questions or believe we should re-evaluate a published review, let us know.
Sort by:
*Treatment results may vary
Correction
Correction: date is 2006 not 2004
I have been reading this board for a long time. I...
I have been reading this board for a long time. I had a mini-lift with Daniel Baker in NY in 2004 when I was very young and barely needed it. Preemptive strike, this is how I called it. Baker is still considered the top plastic surgeon in the US, but, before making my decision, I went to see him (travelling from out of state) three times. The first was the initial consultation, the second and the third visits were to address all the questions that came to my mind while in the decision-making process. In the end, I concluded he was the one for me. NOTE that at the time (and still now) he did not have a website, there were very few reviews of him, NO photos, and I came to know about him through friends. Still on this site there are 6 reviews on Daniel Baker, one of the world most renowned plastic surgeons, that should say something, right?
Certainly not like this site, where you see flashing 4-5 stars reviews on even the most mediocre never-heard of-, plastic surgeons, who probably spend a lot of money and effort to advertise their business.
The outcome? It was amazing (not perfect), but no scars, no bruises, 9 days recovery time, back at work in 14 days. I got married and my husband's friends who did not know me, thought I was 28 (I was 43). However, there was a drawback that was immediately obvious. Do not expect plastic surgery to be perfect because it never is, it always comes at a price, you gain something but also give up a bit, in the expression perhaps, the smile, the eye, etc. I had a slight asymmetry where my right cheek looked slightly bigger than the left one, and because he did not use any fillers (I hate fillers), there was also some hollowness in the sides of my cheeks. I lived with it perfectly well. I went to see him at least 5 times after the first surgery for a few issues, he never charged anything for the subsequent visits, this is how he is.
This procedure lasted 10 years. In fact at times, I wished it would relax a bit. Now, year 11 thereafter, it is starting to relax indeed, and the asymmetry really begins to bothers me, even though everyone says I look 10 years younger my age (thank you Dr. Baker). I have also started to see some fat underneath my neck, so I contemplating the idea of a small revision, for the lower face especially.
I have been thinking to go back to Baker, but his prices have more than doubled since, and he has been reluctant to do a revision to correct the asymmetry, perhaps because he thinks it will be difficult to correct or perhaps for other reasons. Anyhow I have not pursued Baker aggressively mostly because of the costs and perhaps he is also 11 years older now, even though he is still very active.
This is how I got to realself and one of the first doctors who captured my attention was, of course, Dr. Harley, given the number of reviews for the most part positive. However, after having read virtually all of his reviews, including either some overtly negative (some of which have been taken down), and others that showed minimal difference, I have decided against pursuing this Doctor. The major reason is that it seems to me he does a "one surgery fits all", the same type of surgery for everyone. After having looked at so many of his patients, I have come to the conclusion (my personal opinion), that this BL surgery provides very little benefits to women who have minimal signs of aging (beginning to relax the jows and neck) while perhaps is more advantageous for women who are a little bit forward in the aging process, especially when the neck is the major issue. The scars in front of the ears are way too pronounced (most of surgeons use pre-tragal incisions hidden inside the ear), the under chin scars looks huge (mine was 1 inch, disappear in 1 month), and the incisions on the back (having had them before) are not as clean as they should be, with huge folds and bumps.
And nerve damage, I also have my opinion about this, because with Baker for example, he mentioned the surgery could have given me "a weakness" (NOT a palsy) short-lasting and that he had seen this complication very few times out of literally thousands of surgeries that -I knew- he had performed. Additionally, in the case of Harley very few people post long term, his prices have increased, he does not do a face-to-face consult, the follow up is complicated by the distance, so....why take the slightest chance? We are not talking about Igor Pitangui or Daniel Baker, exactly.
Then I was impressed with some of the reviews of Dr. Jacono, but after researching carefully, there it goes with lawsuits and an unacceptable number of unhappy patients.
In essence, I have decided not do anything at all, at least until I am 99% confident (as I was with Baker) that the outcome would be good and I was in the best possible hands.
I decided to write my story not because of the happy patients, but because of several wonderful women here who have been unhappy and have decided to share their journey, expectations and frustrations. My advise for those who rely on this site for making their decisions, is DON'T, or be very, very careful because looking at Doctors here, is equivalent to looking at a commercial on TV.
Best to all.
Certainly not like this site, where you see flashing 4-5 stars reviews on even the most mediocre never-heard of-, plastic surgeons, who probably spend a lot of money and effort to advertise their business.
The outcome? It was amazing (not perfect), but no scars, no bruises, 9 days recovery time, back at work in 14 days. I got married and my husband's friends who did not know me, thought I was 28 (I was 43). However, there was a drawback that was immediately obvious. Do not expect plastic surgery to be perfect because it never is, it always comes at a price, you gain something but also give up a bit, in the expression perhaps, the smile, the eye, etc. I had a slight asymmetry where my right cheek looked slightly bigger than the left one, and because he did not use any fillers (I hate fillers), there was also some hollowness in the sides of my cheeks. I lived with it perfectly well. I went to see him at least 5 times after the first surgery for a few issues, he never charged anything for the subsequent visits, this is how he is.
This procedure lasted 10 years. In fact at times, I wished it would relax a bit. Now, year 11 thereafter, it is starting to relax indeed, and the asymmetry really begins to bothers me, even though everyone says I look 10 years younger my age (thank you Dr. Baker). I have also started to see some fat underneath my neck, so I contemplating the idea of a small revision, for the lower face especially.
I have been thinking to go back to Baker, but his prices have more than doubled since, and he has been reluctant to do a revision to correct the asymmetry, perhaps because he thinks it will be difficult to correct or perhaps for other reasons. Anyhow I have not pursued Baker aggressively mostly because of the costs and perhaps he is also 11 years older now, even though he is still very active.
This is how I got to realself and one of the first doctors who captured my attention was, of course, Dr. Harley, given the number of reviews for the most part positive. However, after having read virtually all of his reviews, including either some overtly negative (some of which have been taken down), and others that showed minimal difference, I have decided against pursuing this Doctor. The major reason is that it seems to me he does a "one surgery fits all", the same type of surgery for everyone. After having looked at so many of his patients, I have come to the conclusion (my personal opinion), that this BL surgery provides very little benefits to women who have minimal signs of aging (beginning to relax the jows and neck) while perhaps is more advantageous for women who are a little bit forward in the aging process, especially when the neck is the major issue. The scars in front of the ears are way too pronounced (most of surgeons use pre-tragal incisions hidden inside the ear), the under chin scars looks huge (mine was 1 inch, disappear in 1 month), and the incisions on the back (having had them before) are not as clean as they should be, with huge folds and bumps.
And nerve damage, I also have my opinion about this, because with Baker for example, he mentioned the surgery could have given me "a weakness" (NOT a palsy) short-lasting and that he had seen this complication very few times out of literally thousands of surgeries that -I knew- he had performed. Additionally, in the case of Harley very few people post long term, his prices have increased, he does not do a face-to-face consult, the follow up is complicated by the distance, so....why take the slightest chance? We are not talking about Igor Pitangui or Daniel Baker, exactly.
Then I was impressed with some of the reviews of Dr. Jacono, but after researching carefully, there it goes with lawsuits and an unacceptable number of unhappy patients.
In essence, I have decided not do anything at all, at least until I am 99% confident (as I was with Baker) that the outcome would be good and I was in the best possible hands.
I decided to write my story not because of the happy patients, but because of several wonderful women here who have been unhappy and have decided to share their journey, expectations and frustrations. My advise for those who rely on this site for making their decisions, is DON'T, or be very, very careful because looking at Doctors here, is equivalent to looking at a commercial on TV.
Best to all.
Provider Review