POSTED UNDER Rhinoplasty REVIEWS
Unethical, overconfident, lied repeatedly. Poorly skilled - left me with a deformity. No empathy/remorse. Continually gaslights.
ORIGINAL POST
Wasn't Open with Me About Risks - Devastated with Result
DeceivedAndDestroyedJanuary 4, 2019
$10,183
I went to David Roberts with a nice nose that had a break in it. I wanted the nasal bones brought in and tiny bump I had brought down. I stupidly only saw him and no other surgeon because of the rave reviews about him on here and I thought he was 'the best'. However, I think other surgeons would have turned me away because my nose was too nice to be operated on and there was a high risk that the nose could end up looking worse. David Roberts, however, was so confident that he could improve it that it fooled me into taking a risk that I should have never taken.
My nose now looks worse than before and I cry every day that I ever trusted him. The nose is sunken on one side, the bridge is lower than we'd agreed (to the extent that he even shaved between my eyes) and the tip appearance had changed even though he had assured me it wouldn't.
I was emphatic about the fact that I loved my tip and didn't want the appearance of it to change (especially the rotation). So much so that I asked him again just before the op and was willing to leave without being operated on. He assured me that it wouldn't change but it has. It's slightly more upturned, wider (because the bridge is wider) and more bulbuos. There's no way I would have gone ahead with it if he had said there was even a tiny risk of the tip looking different or if he told me he would shave between my eyes.
My nose now looks worse than before and I cry every day that I ever trusted him. The nose is sunken on one side, the bridge is lower than we'd agreed (to the extent that he even shaved between my eyes) and the tip appearance had changed even though he had assured me it wouldn't.
I was emphatic about the fact that I loved my tip and didn't want the appearance of it to change (especially the rotation). So much so that I asked him again just before the op and was willing to leave without being operated on. He assured me that it wouldn't change but it has. It's slightly more upturned, wider (because the bridge is wider) and more bulbuos. There's no way I would have gone ahead with it if he had said there was even a tiny risk of the tip looking different or if he told me he would shave between my eyes.
Replies (25)
February 17, 2019
Hi. I’m so sorry to hear of your experience with Dr David Roberts , apparently there are 2 David Roberts (rhinoplasty)
After having 2 botched rhinoplasties many years ago which have resulting in an upturned bulbous nose I have finally plucked the courage to see Dr Roberts for a revision in March. Would you have any photos to show? (Although I completely understand if you do not want to share) I am now unsure if I have chosen the correct person for a revision surgery. There are so many good and bad reviews for rhinoplasty surgeons that I am finding it really difficult to know who to go with . Once again sorry I hear that you are so unhappy with your outcome
March 5, 2019
Hi there's only one David Roberts ENT surgeon in London. I will send you a direct message.
March 5, 2019
Thank you Morenita. I look forward to hearing from you. I really appreciate your help
March 7, 2019
Hi snowman12, would you mind sharing your pictures, I have an admission booked with him for next week
March 12, 2019
Rhinoplasty, I’ve cancelled it now after reading these reviews. Don’t know who to trust now, I don’t huge problem with nose, just wanted a bit of an enhancement.
March 12, 2019
That's what I was looking for too and I ended up so much worse off not just in my nose but in my eyes/skin/cheeks.
If you don't dislike your nose, you should take a long time to think about it. Ask the people who you love and trust and see other surgeons because I honestly think David Roberts would have been the only one to tell me it's worth the risk.
If you don't dislike your nose, you should take a long time to think about it. Ask the people who you love and trust and see other surgeons because I honestly think David Roberts would have been the only one to tell me it's worth the risk.
UPDATED FROM DeceivedAndDestroyed
Don't do it unless you hate your nose/face
DeceivedAndDestroyedJanuary 16, 2019
I read a post on RealSelf a couple of weeks before the surgery saying something like 'unless you absolutely hate your nose, don't do it'. I didn't pay attention because I really believed I had picked a trustworthy, 'brilliant' surgeon who was making, in his words, a 'small' change with no change to the appearance of the tip.
In my worst nightmares, I never once believed that something like this would happen to me. Before the surgery, I read about these things on RealSelf and I would tell myself 'but I'm going to the best surgeon and he wouldn't say he could improve my nose if he couldn't. He would tell me if I was risking too much'.
David Roberts was so confident (and his past patient was so confident in his ability) that I really didn't feel like I was risking my nose/face. I went to see him 3 times armed with questions and I had questions on the day of the surgery so it's not as if I didn't give him ample opportunity. He came across very nice in the appointments. Nevertheless, he didn't once mention the risk of bone being shaved down too much or the bone being brought in too much thus creating a sunken look. In certain lighting, it looks like the right side of my bridge isn't there - I didn't have this before the op.
You read everywhere that surgeons go for under-correction rather than over-correction and I thought that David Roberts (the 'top' surgeon) would do the same for me. Instead he has shaved my bridge down so much that there's a visible discontinuity between the bone and the cartilage. This is also why the tip rotation has changed even though he assured me that it wouldn't.
It makes me so upset to think that all of this could have been avoided if he had just told me that there was even a tiny risk that the tip could look different. I asked for the third time about 30 minutes before the surgery because it was so important to me, I really can't understand why he wasn't upfront. I had made it so clear to him that I didn't want it to change even the tiniest bit. What would he have a lost compared to what I have lost? At most a few thousand pounds, but I had already paid at that point so he wouldn't have even been obliged to even give me a refund!
He also didn't even go through the risks with me before the surgery, he just gave me the consent form to sign. I had to ask him if I could read what I was signing and had to turn the page back over to read the risks. I felt so under pressure to read quickly. I've had surgery/medical procedures before and the doctor has always talked through all the risks that they've written down and made sure I understood them. When he left the room, I told my mum that it was very odd what had happened but didn't have time to process it fully because I was called to theatre earlier than planned - it all felt so rushed. I wish I had just run out of the hospital then and there. I now realise that by not even showing you the risks written down beforehand, a surgeon can add whatever risks they want to the sheet post-operatively to allow for anything that went wrong in the surgery.
It's worth pointing out though that the hospital have informed me that the forms have changed since November 2018 so there are now carbon copies of the forms you sign.
Another past patient on here said that she went to him because he was an ENT but said her experience was that of an assembly line plastic surgeon. Before my surgery, I found this hard to believe because he seemed so friendly in the consultations and seemed to listen to everything I was saying. But actually he clearly wasn't otherwise he wouldn't have changed (directly and indirectly) we had specifically discussed he wouldn't. My experience actually turned out to be very similar to this patient - on the day of the surgery, I did feel part of an assembly line and not an individual.
He told me that this would be a small change and that that people wouldn't notice the change. This is not the case at all. My whole upper face has changed:
- After the surgery, I had the most horrific black eyes and bruising that went down past my cheekbones and onto my cheeks. He said after that the bone was very thick but this extent of bruising wasn't discussed as a risk at all before the surgery. The nurse that discharged me was worried about the asymmetry of the bruising and said she would ask Mr Roberts would call me but he never did. Great aftercare!
I still have dark marks and scaly skin from this, 3 months on.
- He shaved much higher than he said he would, just below my eyebrows, and now there's a visible crease in my skin above this because of the discontinuity in the bone. The morph only shows that the bridge would be brought down from the start of my bump, which is below my eyes.
- The bridge of my nose now looks flattened.
- My nasal bones have been brought in more than my morph shows and so my under eyes now look more hollow.
Please think carefully before you do something like this - it has literally destroyed who I am - and once it's taken away from you, you can never get it back.
In my worst nightmares, I never once believed that something like this would happen to me. Before the surgery, I read about these things on RealSelf and I would tell myself 'but I'm going to the best surgeon and he wouldn't say he could improve my nose if he couldn't. He would tell me if I was risking too much'.
David Roberts was so confident (and his past patient was so confident in his ability) that I really didn't feel like I was risking my nose/face. I went to see him 3 times armed with questions and I had questions on the day of the surgery so it's not as if I didn't give him ample opportunity. He came across very nice in the appointments. Nevertheless, he didn't once mention the risk of bone being shaved down too much or the bone being brought in too much thus creating a sunken look. In certain lighting, it looks like the right side of my bridge isn't there - I didn't have this before the op.
You read everywhere that surgeons go for under-correction rather than over-correction and I thought that David Roberts (the 'top' surgeon) would do the same for me. Instead he has shaved my bridge down so much that there's a visible discontinuity between the bone and the cartilage. This is also why the tip rotation has changed even though he assured me that it wouldn't.
It makes me so upset to think that all of this could have been avoided if he had just told me that there was even a tiny risk that the tip could look different. I asked for the third time about 30 minutes before the surgery because it was so important to me, I really can't understand why he wasn't upfront. I had made it so clear to him that I didn't want it to change even the tiniest bit. What would he have a lost compared to what I have lost? At most a few thousand pounds, but I had already paid at that point so he wouldn't have even been obliged to even give me a refund!
He also didn't even go through the risks with me before the surgery, he just gave me the consent form to sign. I had to ask him if I could read what I was signing and had to turn the page back over to read the risks. I felt so under pressure to read quickly. I've had surgery/medical procedures before and the doctor has always talked through all the risks that they've written down and made sure I understood them. When he left the room, I told my mum that it was very odd what had happened but didn't have time to process it fully because I was called to theatre earlier than planned - it all felt so rushed. I wish I had just run out of the hospital then and there. I now realise that by not even showing you the risks written down beforehand, a surgeon can add whatever risks they want to the sheet post-operatively to allow for anything that went wrong in the surgery.
It's worth pointing out though that the hospital have informed me that the forms have changed since November 2018 so there are now carbon copies of the forms you sign.
Another past patient on here said that she went to him because he was an ENT but said her experience was that of an assembly line plastic surgeon. Before my surgery, I found this hard to believe because he seemed so friendly in the consultations and seemed to listen to everything I was saying. But actually he clearly wasn't otherwise he wouldn't have changed (directly and indirectly) we had specifically discussed he wouldn't. My experience actually turned out to be very similar to this patient - on the day of the surgery, I did feel part of an assembly line and not an individual.
He told me that this would be a small change and that that people wouldn't notice the change. This is not the case at all. My whole upper face has changed:
- After the surgery, I had the most horrific black eyes and bruising that went down past my cheekbones and onto my cheeks. He said after that the bone was very thick but this extent of bruising wasn't discussed as a risk at all before the surgery. The nurse that discharged me was worried about the asymmetry of the bruising and said she would ask Mr Roberts would call me but he never did. Great aftercare!
I still have dark marks and scaly skin from this, 3 months on.
- He shaved much higher than he said he would, just below my eyebrows, and now there's a visible crease in my skin above this because of the discontinuity in the bone. The morph only shows that the bridge would be brought down from the start of my bump, which is below my eyes.
- The bridge of my nose now looks flattened.
- My nasal bones have been brought in more than my morph shows and so my under eyes now look more hollow.
Please think carefully before you do something like this - it has literally destroyed who I am - and once it's taken away from you, you can never get it back.
Replies (21)
January 21, 2019
I'm so sorry to hear of your experience! Is there any chance that the problems with the tip is the swelling? Have you been to a follow up consultation since the surgery and how has he responded?
Have you got any photos to upload? I am considering David Roberts so it would be useful to see what you're describing.
Have you got any photos to upload? I am considering David Roberts so it would be useful to see what you're describing.
January 22, 2019
Hi, no it's not swelling it's just cos the bridge has too much of its original height cos he shaved down so much.
When I first went back he said we would try fillers at 6 months, which I found an awful solution. I didn't ruin a perfectly nice nose to be dependent on fillers forever.
Then when I went back again cos it was even more sunken and I was really upset, he conceded that he had taken the bone in too much and I would need another op to rebreak the bone and take it back out. Before the op, he probably spent 30 seconds covering the risks by saying 1 in 20 need a revision and it's usually solved non-surgically e.g. with steroids or a minor fix under local. But this is another major op under general.
If this was it I wouldn't be so devastated because at least it's somewhat reversible. It's the fact he shaved my bone down so much. When I went to see him I was only about 4 weeks post op so I still had a lot of swelling and didn't see how at the time how much he had shaved down my bridge.
However, there's literally nothing he will be able to do to reverse that.
Please appreciate that this is still very raw for me and I posted to hopefully save someone going through the same thing I have where they totally believe what the surgeon says because Tatler and his past patient say such positive things about him. Telling you all my experience isn't going to help my situation in any way. But perhaps I can save someone else from this pain because knowing how avoidable it was and that it was purely cos I trusted a surgeon I shouldnt have makes it so much worse. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
April 13, 2019
Sorry I missed this. I very much doubt I will have a revision with him even though he's offering it for free. How can I trust someone that essentially tricked me into an operation, whose main concern was just getting me to theatre so there would be no turning back for me rather than making the risks clear to me. He overshaved rather than undershaved probably because it was more lucrative for him. If I knew he was that type of surgeon before I would have known to steer clear. My friends and family are also dead against me going back to him because they say he's already destroyed my natural nose for a bit of money and if I go back he's just gonna mess up my face more.
February 17, 2019
Thank you so much for sharing your story . Your experience sounds so much like my experience with another surgeon and I am booked to see Dr Roberts to correct , now I am completely confused to what I should do. My life has been on hold for so many years as I m so conscious of my botched nose,. The only thing that has kept me going is believing that Dr Roberts is the man to fix this awful situation. I have even heard bad results about Dr Ion.
I am thinking do I take a chance with Dr Roberts and pray that I m one of the lucky ones , as I feel my nose could not get any worse. I just dont know as your story sounds awful and I know only too well how life changing this must of been for you
March 21, 2019
I am day 1 of the operation recovery with Mr Roberts. I didn't feel like an assembly line at all, he called me (unprovoked) a few hours after the surgery to tell me how it went and asked how I was recovering.
I have had barely any bruising- and mine was an open rhinoplasty!
Before the operation I didn't read the specific risks, but he had told me of them extensively through consultations. I had multiple consultations with him and he treated me as an individual. He originally turned me down so I could work on my mental health, when I cam back almost a year later he commented on how I was more smiley and asked how I was doing.
Before surgery he outlined exactly what he would do, including that he would change my tip a little in order to balance my nose. I had asked for an open rhino, even though I didn'tneed it, and he obliged simply to adhere to my wishes as a patient. He told me all the details of the surgery down to the tools he was using.
I do know this patient's testimony is genuine, but I have so far had a good experience. I will however update if anything changes as I heal.
I have had barely any bruising- and mine was an open rhinoplasty!
Before the operation I didn't read the specific risks, but he had told me of them extensively through consultations. I had multiple consultations with him and he treated me as an individual. He originally turned me down so I could work on my mental health, when I cam back almost a year later he commented on how I was more smiley and asked how I was doing.
Before surgery he outlined exactly what he would do, including that he would change my tip a little in order to balance my nose. I had asked for an open rhino, even though I didn'tneed it, and he obliged simply to adhere to my wishes as a patient. He told me all the details of the surgery down to the tools he was using.
I do know this patient's testimony is genuine, but I have so far had a good experience. I will however update if anything changes as I heal.
March 24, 2019
I am glad you had a good experience. I would hope that after two bad reviews on here about his communication, he applies this approach to everybody irrespective of age (as I know you're very young), how easy/minor HE thinks the operation is and whatever other factor that seems to have led to huge inconsistencies in patient treatment.
This is probably the most significant cosmetic surgert someone can do to themselves and just because he has done lots, it is still the first time for the patient.
I just found out that he did medial iosteotomies (breaking the front of my nose) but he only spoke to me about breaking the side of my nasal bones. It's another thing that I wouldnt have consented to had I known.
It's a huge abuse of my trust in him as a medical profession. I wake up every day and remember what's happened and question why he would ever put someone through this for such a small amount of money.
This is probably the most significant cosmetic surgert someone can do to themselves and just because he has done lots, it is still the first time for the patient.
I just found out that he did medial iosteotomies (breaking the front of my nose) but he only spoke to me about breaking the side of my nasal bones. It's another thing that I wouldnt have consented to had I known.
It's a huge abuse of my trust in him as a medical profession. I wake up every day and remember what's happened and question why he would ever put someone through this for such a small amount of money.
March 24, 2019
Hi LauraKathy.
I am pleased to hear that your experience with Mr Roberts has been so positive.
Will you be uploading before/after photos .
I am due to see Mr Roberts next week, it all feels a bit surreal at the moment , a lot depends on the outcome of my appointment. Thank you for sharing your story
March 26, 2019
Hi- I took photos the day of the op, they are on my page :) I do know Morenita83 is genuine, and I know how much pain this surgery has caused her. Even with a great surgeon things can go wrong. Perhaps because I was younger, Mr Roberts was more careful to outline the risks with me. Anyway, I am yet to have my cast off so we shall see. In general I have felt pretty good since- the shape seems okay with my nostrils being more symmetrical than before, but again I do not know what it looks like beneath the splint. I do know that when I called Mr Roberts over the weekend in a panic because of this white flap in my nostril (turned out it was just mucous) he was really understanding and could remember what he did in my surgery to re-assure me it was to do with interior sutures.
Another difference between me and Morenitas83 was that I truly did hate my nose. I look back on photos of my old nose, and I do not feel like it was mine- it was asymmetrical, large, with a hump. I do have a sort of fond nostalgia for it already, but since the day after the operation I felt free from my overly large profile. I think I would be fine with some asymmetry since it is smaller, so long as I can still breathe. Considering I am day 6 after the op and can breathe pretty okay through my nose already I am hopeful. Again, healing and scarring could change everything, so we will have to see.
Please make sure you are mentally prepared for the surgery. I felt really calm going in because I had sorted out my mental health problems, and I was truly sure that I was ready to give up my old nose.
Just like it says in this review- only do this surgery if it is worth the risk!
Another difference between me and Morenitas83 was that I truly did hate my nose. I look back on photos of my old nose, and I do not feel like it was mine- it was asymmetrical, large, with a hump. I do have a sort of fond nostalgia for it already, but since the day after the operation I felt free from my overly large profile. I think I would be fine with some asymmetry since it is smaller, so long as I can still breathe. Considering I am day 6 after the op and can breathe pretty okay through my nose already I am hopeful. Again, healing and scarring could change everything, so we will have to see.
Please make sure you are mentally prepared for the surgery. I felt really calm going in because I had sorted out my mental health problems, and I was truly sure that I was ready to give up my old nose.
Just like it says in this review- only do this surgery if it is worth the risk!
March 26, 2019
Hi, I am so sorry for your experience. Even great surgeons can get it wrong as you say. I still have not had my cast off, so I don't know, but I do feel like Mr Roberts has taken care of me. My trauma has been minimal, almost no bruising and I can breathe, and he has checked up on me. Perhaps since he knows my background, and that I am young, he was more thorough. I never really got the sense he thought it was easy, in fact he always said it is the hardest (nasal) surgery he performs. Inconsistency does seem to be a feature of your case, for which I hope you find healing.
This must be a really frustrating time for you, and I hope you are doing better than when we last spoke :)
This must be a really frustrating time for you, and I hope you are doing better than when we last spoke :)
March 26, 2019
Hi LauraKathy
Thanks for your message.
I meant that maybe as I'm in my 30s and he felt that my particular case was easy (just changing the bone) because he really didnt talk about how complex/unpredictable it was.
He didn't talk to me about the risks apart from if I asked about specific risks.
He also didnt tell me everything he was going to do in the procedure e.g. break the front middle of my nose. FayePhillips on here said that his communication was lacking and he did things that she hadn't requested so I'm clearly not an anomaly. I foolishly thought her experience was an anomaly which is why I trusted him with my face!
When I asked him about the risks during our consultation, he told me he would go through them at the hospital and then at the hospital, he never did. That should have been a huge red flag for me but I really trusted that if he was going to tell me anything non-standard (e.g. not just general surgery risks) he would highlight them.
The things that I'm experiencing now were predictable/avoidable if he had looked at my nose and planned properly e.g. bone being shaved too much, visible cracks in the bone, polly beak (the bulging cartilage now have), sunken appearance, needing a graft or being reliant on filler for life were never mentioned.
He knew I was initially reluctant to go under general so why not highlight the risk of needing to go under general twice and having to break the bone twice instead of saying revisions are usually done under local or non-surgically. He knew very specific details about my medical history that meant he should have been highlighting all these risks to me, which is why my psychiatrist has said that this is his fault.
I truly feel like he didnt care about me as a person. My mum told him I was severely depressed (i.e. as depressed as a person can possibly be) and he told me to get counselling but he didn't even follow up to see how I was doing.
I have now seen 2 other surgeons for revision consultations and it is clear that they would have prepared me for the downsides I experienced and not promised things that weren't 100% guaranteed (e.g. no changes to the tip).
Like I said I really hope he had changed approach to communication as he knows how distraught I am that he has put me through something that was totally avoidable.
Thanks for your message.
I meant that maybe as I'm in my 30s and he felt that my particular case was easy (just changing the bone) because he really didnt talk about how complex/unpredictable it was.
He didn't talk to me about the risks apart from if I asked about specific risks.
He also didnt tell me everything he was going to do in the procedure e.g. break the front middle of my nose. FayePhillips on here said that his communication was lacking and he did things that she hadn't requested so I'm clearly not an anomaly. I foolishly thought her experience was an anomaly which is why I trusted him with my face!
When I asked him about the risks during our consultation, he told me he would go through them at the hospital and then at the hospital, he never did. That should have been a huge red flag for me but I really trusted that if he was going to tell me anything non-standard (e.g. not just general surgery risks) he would highlight them.
The things that I'm experiencing now were predictable/avoidable if he had looked at my nose and planned properly e.g. bone being shaved too much, visible cracks in the bone, polly beak (the bulging cartilage now have), sunken appearance, needing a graft or being reliant on filler for life were never mentioned.
He knew I was initially reluctant to go under general so why not highlight the risk of needing to go under general twice and having to break the bone twice instead of saying revisions are usually done under local or non-surgically. He knew very specific details about my medical history that meant he should have been highlighting all these risks to me, which is why my psychiatrist has said that this is his fault.
I truly feel like he didnt care about me as a person. My mum told him I was severely depressed (i.e. as depressed as a person can possibly be) and he told me to get counselling but he didn't even follow up to see how I was doing.
I have now seen 2 other surgeons for revision consultations and it is clear that they would have prepared me for the downsides I experienced and not promised things that weren't 100% guaranteed (e.g. no changes to the tip).
Like I said I really hope he had changed approach to communication as he knows how distraught I am that he has put me through something that was totally avoidable.
March 28, 2019
Our experiences sound very different. I am sorry yours has not been great. I got my cast off yesterday and I am thrilled, then again you were right about needing to hate your nose to go through with this. My old nose is a distant memory, an insecurity gone forever.
For me he was very thorough with exactly what he would do in the operation, I wrote it down in fact. Right before I went in he re-iterated the process i.e breaking and resetting the bone, shaving the cartilage, refining the tip. Even though I asked that my tip and front not be changed, through my consultations we discussed and agreed that changes would have to be made, though subtle, in order to make the nose look balanced. I am glad for that, as now I can see if he had just taken down the hump and nothing else my nose would have looked strange. I don't think this would have been possible as a process if he were not an effective communicator. Again this is just my experience.
I wish you best of luck for your revision journey and your counselling. You're a truly lovely woman and do not deserve the pain you are feeling
For me he was very thorough with exactly what he would do in the operation, I wrote it down in fact. Right before I went in he re-iterated the process i.e breaking and resetting the bone, shaving the cartilage, refining the tip. Even though I asked that my tip and front not be changed, through my consultations we discussed and agreed that changes would have to be made, though subtle, in order to make the nose look balanced. I am glad for that, as now I can see if he had just taken down the hump and nothing else my nose would have looked strange. I don't think this would have been possible as a process if he were not an effective communicator. Again this is just my experience.
I wish you best of luck for your revision journey and your counselling. You're a truly lovely woman and do not deserve the pain you are feeling
March 28, 2019
Thanks for your message. I'm glad you're happy. He's clearly learnt from my case that just changing the bone is not practical and can lead to problems. When I initially went to him, he is the one that pointed out that my tip was nice and he wouldn't want to change it. That's when I realised that I had a nice tip. I went to him because he was supposed to be a top surgeon and had significant experience. How horrific that I was his human guinea pig and he had to ruin my face to find out something he didnt know before. I refuse to believe that a surgeon that was a nice person would take that kind of risk with a patient.
March 28, 2019
Weren't you insistent he not change anything but the bump however? It may have led to mistakes but it sounds like he was just trying to fullfil your wishes?
I don't mean to sound harsh, but I truly cannot believe he used you as a guinea pig, or that he is not a nice person.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but I truly cannot believe he used you as a guinea pig, or that he is not a nice person.
March 28, 2019
No, he told me in my first consultation that he wouldnt change my tip as it didnt need changing. I had no requests at that point. In my second consultation, I asked if he was sure I didnt need any changes to the tip and he said I had a nice tip that didnt need changing. And I asked if it would look any different and he said it wouldnt. By my third consultation, I had realised that it was a lovely tip that shouldnt be changed and I told him that. And I checked again that it wouldnt look different and asked yet again just before the surgery. I gave him plenty of opportunity to tell me if it would look out of balance. Like I said I saw him 3 times, he had plenty of time to analyse my nose.
The things that have happened to me (overshaved bone, pollybeak, sunken on one side) would not have been unforeseeable to an expert and they had nothing to do with him trying to adhere to my wishes because I had actually followed his initial suggestion. Presumably, he just was so confident in his abilities that he didnt even mention them as risks. I really thought he was very nice too until I saw the day of the operation. That is why I ignored Faye Phillips's review. How I wish I hadn't.
The things that have happened to me (overshaved bone, pollybeak, sunken on one side) would not have been unforeseeable to an expert and they had nothing to do with him trying to adhere to my wishes because I had actually followed his initial suggestion. Presumably, he just was so confident in his abilities that he didnt even mention them as risks. I really thought he was very nice too until I saw the day of the operation. That is why I ignored Faye Phillips's review. How I wish I hadn't.
March 28, 2019
It does sound like you were insistent on not touching the tip.
I can’t say that Mr Roberts is not an expert.
When you messaged me in private after you were still disappointed with the results but said Mr Roberts was a good surgeon, why the change of mind now?
March 28, 2019
LauraKathy, as I've explained Mr Roberts told me twice that he didn't want to change my tip before I even realised how nice my tip was. Have you spoken to Mr Roberts about my case to be able to claim that not changing the tip led to mistakes on his part? I find your defence of his mistakes on my nose rather bizarre as you cannot possibly know what has caused them unless you have discussed my case with him. Mr Roberts, Mr Paun and Mr Kirkpatrick have all agreed about the bulge in cartilage and the dent between the bone and the cartilage (caused by the over shaving of the bone while not changing the cartilage). Please refer to the reply to my first comment above, when I first went back to see Mr Roberts after the operation, I only had one problem - that it was sunken on one side - he conceded that he had taken one side in too much. This was around the time I messaged you and everything else looked fine. However, the bone was still very swollen so the other errors he'd made weren't apparent (e.g. shaving too much of the bridge, the dent between bone and cartilage and the bulge in the cartilage and the change in the tip). Looking at the pre-op photos he took, it is clear that my bump was cartilage not just bone so the bump was never going to be addressed by changing the bone only. The fact that these risks were not pointed out to be before the op is why I realised that he wasn't open with me about the risks. I've only just found out that he had done medial osteotomies when he only told me he would be doing lateral osteotomies. Having seen Mr Paun and Mr Kirkpatrick now (I made a grave mistake by just relying on FlowerPower's experience and not seeing any other surgeons before my first op), I realise how lacking in his communication he was and how minor he made out my surgery to be. My morphs show such a minimal change from the front view but the change is massively significant to my upper face. I find this interrogation from you extremely strange. There's nothing I'm saying here that I haven't said to Roberts myself both in email and in person. He hasn't once tried to claim that these errors are due to my not wanting to change my tip because he didn't want to change my tip either! I trust that these replies are satisfactory for you. I will let anyone else seeing this conversation make up their own mind about this peculiar situation.
April 10, 2019
DeceivedAndDestroyed,, I am in a similar boat to you. I though surgeons with good review would know how to make a good looking nose, but all they know what to do is make a nose smaller – not good looking. All surgeons will promise you a natural looking nose, however I have seen the noses of patients who are happy with the end result and these do not look natural. For anyone considering a rhinoplasty the first question is, if after the bandages come off, I do not like my nose, can you reverse all of what you did? if the answer to this is no, then do not go ahead with surgery. I had consultations with several surgeons, they will promise you the wold before surgery, claiming they are great surgeons and can achieve anything. But only after surgery, when you don’t like what they have done and you want a revision, only then will they tell you, that ‘you had a difficult nose’ and ‘the results of a rhinoplasty are unpredictable’, ‘to front rarely ever looks like the morph of the front’, ‘oh it just swelling’ this will take about 3-4 months to mostly disappear… ‘oh the tip looks hideous now, but it will look better in 12 months’.
UPDATED FROM DeceivedAndDestroyed
He's admitted tip HAS changed, I need grafts (due to overshaving) and that he didn't tell me all the risks
DeceivedAndDestroyedApril 10, 2019
Sorry for the very long update but hopefully it’s comprehensive. The headings of each section summarise my grievances with Roberts.
I have already posted some of this information to Hopeful20's review in the comments. It's worth referring to these too because other people mention their experiences. I think the biggest mistake I made was thinking that, because of the Tatler top surgeon recommendation and as an ENT, Roberts was different from the usual cosmetic surgeons.
*****MISLED ME INTO HAVING THE SURGERY*****
Before the operation, there were certain " deal-breakers" that would have stopped me doing the operation:
1) Changes to the tip. (Roberts himself didn't want to change my tip either).
2) The need for grafts - my nose wasn't that bad that I wanted to go down this route and I have allergies/autoimmune conditions that may make it more likely for my body to reject/attack the graft. Roberts was aware of these conditions from the outset.
3) Breaking my nose from the front.
Roberts definitively told me 1) wouldn’t happen on more than one occasion, including just before surgery. He also told me 2) wasn’t needed. For 3) when we asked about the procedure he only mentioned breaking the nose from the sides.
In reality, all three of these actually happened. I cannot explain how soul destroying this is. I made my decision to go ahead with the operation based on the information that Roberts gave me. I completely trusted him and believed that if there were any relevant risks he would tell me.
******POOR PRE-OPERATIVE PLANNING AND IRREVERSIBLE OVERCORRECTION*****
My nose is now sunken on the ride side, has a dent and a cartilage bulge on the left side and has a line that goes across my nose showing where Roberts has shaved down my nose too much.
This isn't due to unpredictable healing. It's due to poor pre-operative planning and over-shaving. For example, Roberts admits that the bump was in cartilage and bone but he only addressed the bone.
Another member on here has pointed out that from an economic (and a revisions statistic) perspective, it's actually better for surgeons to go for overcorrection. Filler is a much cheaper and quicker alternative for them than operating again.
****DIDN’T MENTION ALL THE RISKS TO ALLOW ME TO MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION****
I do not believe that after going to see an honest and ethical doctor, you should ever find yourself in a position that they didn't prepare you for. This is where I find myself. Even if Roberts had said, 'It's not very common but it does happen. If this outcome is totally unacceptable to you, then you shouldn't do the surgery' then at least I was warned. But the fact is, I wouldn't have done the op if he had warned me and I am sure he knew this because he knew my nose wasn't bad.
I had previously seen the 'top' doctors about under eye fillers before and didn't get them because the risks scared me. They literally talked through all the risks with me from most common to less common to rare (e.g. blindness and stroke) even though they had never experienced the rare outcomes. This is because that this is what ethical doctors do; they inform you of all possible eventualities. And this is just for something temporary and reversible like fillers. So I suppose that my experience with these doctors in the past made me assume all 'top' doctors were open, honest and thorough.
What shocks me is that no matter how many questions I asked, Roberts still didn't tell me everything I needed to know to make an informed decision. I can only interpret this now as a way of not scaring me off with the true risks.
******HIS JUSTIFICATION FOR NOT TELLING ME ALL THE RISKS*****
When I complained to Roberts last week that he never warned me before the op about the risk of needing a grafts, he said that ‘I didn't tell you about skin necrosis or the risk of infection either’ as if that somehow justifies not telling me all the risks. Actually it makes it worse, all he’s doing is admitting that he didn’t make me aware of all the risks.
Telling patients about the risks shouldn't be a box-ticking exercise where a doctor just says something generic to cover their back.
He also said the reason he didn't warn me, pre-op, about the risk of needing filler is because I didn't specifically ask about it! To me this is ridiculous, how would I ever know to ask about something that I wouldn't expect. Rhinoplasty is a permanent, surgical procedure why would I go for if I was going to end up being dependent on filler for my nose to look normal? Also, I did ask about grafts and he still didn't tell me 'you don't now, but there's a chance that if I misjudge and overshave your bone, you may need them'.
Fillers and grafts come with their own risks and if there's a chance his patients are going to need them he needs to be telling them about this before the operation.
Roberts also knew I was initially completely unwilling to go under general in the first place. I am now facing the need to go under general again, re-break my bone, grafts/fillers. I also have unwanted changes to my tip and permanent skin staining from the bruises. Roberts did not once mention ANY of these as risks and he still thinks that it’s okay he didn’t.
*****DIDN’T GO THROUGH RISKS ON THE CONSENT FORM*****
When I asked him to go through the risks with me during our second consultation he told me ‘we’ll go through them at the hospital’. I should have insisted he go through them with me at the time but I thought they were just standard general surgery risks (e.g. bleeding, infection). HUGE mistake as he didn't go through the risks with me at the hospital or even tell me where to find them on the consent form. For anyone that hasn’t had an operation/procedure before, this is NOT normal in the UK.
*****BROKEN PROMISES*****
The worst thing is that not only was I not warned but I was specifically told the opposite of what's happened to me i.e. that I wouldn't need grafts and the tip wouldn't look different.
1) Changes to the tip
At my last appointment with him, I think he actually conceded after a lot of disputing that there 'maybe 1mm' change to the rotation of tip. It’s more than 1mm and it makes my nostrils show more so it's a difference to the overall look. I cannot describe how cheated I feel that he didn't tell me this could happen given how emphatic I was that a tiny change to the tip would bother me and the fact that I asked him again just before surgery.
There are also other ways that my tip has changed that including the fact that when I smile it looks completely different (it spreads because my nasal bones have been narrowed) and it looks far too prominent because he's shaved down my bone so much.
2) Needing grafts
He has now admitted that I will need a graft (or fillers), when last time I saw him he said that re-widening the nose would address the dent between the bone and the cartilage. He also admitted that I have a line across my nose that shows the distinction between bone and cartilage. This shows up really badly in photos and what's ironic is that during his 'you'd be surprised at the transformation' spiel, he said that his patients have more confidence in photos after the operation.
****OVERCONFIDENCE IN HIS ABILITIES**
We had told Roberts during my second consultation that I had previously had a non-cosmetic surgery than went wrong I needed several revisions and it had made us distrust surgeons. Instead of telling me about the worst case scenario in this situation or even just asking for more information about what happened, he just said something along the lines of 'I specialise in revisions, I teach students'. I'd already read about the fact that he does a lot of revisions which is one of the reasons I chose to see him.
In hindsight, his response was another red flag but at the time I thought that he was that confident he could improve my nose. I mean why else would he risk robbing a patient, who's already had a hard time, of something they're happy with (the tip) and making their bridge so bad that it now needs grafts to look normal? Turns out because he overestimated his abilities.
I find it shocking that someone that specialises in fixing nose jobs that have gone wrong didn't warn me about what could possibly happen to me. He either didn't care what he was putting me through or must have been too confident in his abilities (evidently unjustified).
***** YOU ONLY SEE THE RED FLAGS WHEN IT'S TOO LATE*****
I think I wasn't as wary with Roberts precisely because he wasn’t a ‘cosmetic’ surgeon, he was an ENT. This turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life. Despite seeing Faye Phillips review about feeling like he was an assembly line plastic surgeon, I can only see the red flags in hindsight. You can only realise how much he didn’t tell you after the operation goes wrong and by then it’s too late - your nose and face has already been ruined. Then suddenly all the omission of detail becomes clear and, I have to say, tactical. I'm sure he knew that if he had told me that there was a small risk that I might need fillers or a graft, he would have scared me off.
******TRIVIALISING SURGERY AND PREYING ON MY INSECURITIES*****
One of my biggest mistakes is that I didn’t see any other consultant to show me how much Roberts was trivialising the surgery, downplaying the risks and not properly analysing my nose. This wasn't to save money but because of the top doctor recommendation and the past patient review on here.
In hindsight, I now see that he also preyed on a minor insecurity I had. Here are things he said when he saw that I was uncertain about going ahead with the operation:
"I can see why it bothers you, it's in the middle of your face....It will bring out your eyes"
"If I thought it wasn't in your best interests, I would tell you" "If I didn't think I could do it, I would say"
"You'd be surprised at the transformation"
He didn’t tell me anything like ‘you should only do this if you really hate your nose'.
*****DIDN'T GENUINELY CARE FOR ME AS A PATIENT*****
After the surgery, when I went back to him the third time, I was crying saying I should have never had it done and that my original nose was so much better. My mum told him I was extremely depressed because of the results of the surgery. (I have gone through some very difficult times before this but have never been depressed.) He told me to get counselling and agreed to a revision but he didn’t once check up on me to see how I was doing. If I ever needed any solid evidence he didn't care about me as an individual, this was it.
I have already posted some of this information to Hopeful20's review in the comments. It's worth referring to these too because other people mention their experiences. I think the biggest mistake I made was thinking that, because of the Tatler top surgeon recommendation and as an ENT, Roberts was different from the usual cosmetic surgeons.
*****MISLED ME INTO HAVING THE SURGERY*****
Before the operation, there were certain " deal-breakers" that would have stopped me doing the operation:
1) Changes to the tip. (Roberts himself didn't want to change my tip either).
2) The need for grafts - my nose wasn't that bad that I wanted to go down this route and I have allergies/autoimmune conditions that may make it more likely for my body to reject/attack the graft. Roberts was aware of these conditions from the outset.
3) Breaking my nose from the front.
Roberts definitively told me 1) wouldn’t happen on more than one occasion, including just before surgery. He also told me 2) wasn’t needed. For 3) when we asked about the procedure he only mentioned breaking the nose from the sides.
In reality, all three of these actually happened. I cannot explain how soul destroying this is. I made my decision to go ahead with the operation based on the information that Roberts gave me. I completely trusted him and believed that if there were any relevant risks he would tell me.
******POOR PRE-OPERATIVE PLANNING AND IRREVERSIBLE OVERCORRECTION*****
My nose is now sunken on the ride side, has a dent and a cartilage bulge on the left side and has a line that goes across my nose showing where Roberts has shaved down my nose too much.
This isn't due to unpredictable healing. It's due to poor pre-operative planning and over-shaving. For example, Roberts admits that the bump was in cartilage and bone but he only addressed the bone.
Another member on here has pointed out that from an economic (and a revisions statistic) perspective, it's actually better for surgeons to go for overcorrection. Filler is a much cheaper and quicker alternative for them than operating again.
****DIDN’T MENTION ALL THE RISKS TO ALLOW ME TO MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION****
I do not believe that after going to see an honest and ethical doctor, you should ever find yourself in a position that they didn't prepare you for. This is where I find myself. Even if Roberts had said, 'It's not very common but it does happen. If this outcome is totally unacceptable to you, then you shouldn't do the surgery' then at least I was warned. But the fact is, I wouldn't have done the op if he had warned me and I am sure he knew this because he knew my nose wasn't bad.
I had previously seen the 'top' doctors about under eye fillers before and didn't get them because the risks scared me. They literally talked through all the risks with me from most common to less common to rare (e.g. blindness and stroke) even though they had never experienced the rare outcomes. This is because that this is what ethical doctors do; they inform you of all possible eventualities. And this is just for something temporary and reversible like fillers. So I suppose that my experience with these doctors in the past made me assume all 'top' doctors were open, honest and thorough.
What shocks me is that no matter how many questions I asked, Roberts still didn't tell me everything I needed to know to make an informed decision. I can only interpret this now as a way of not scaring me off with the true risks.
******HIS JUSTIFICATION FOR NOT TELLING ME ALL THE RISKS*****
When I complained to Roberts last week that he never warned me before the op about the risk of needing a grafts, he said that ‘I didn't tell you about skin necrosis or the risk of infection either’ as if that somehow justifies not telling me all the risks. Actually it makes it worse, all he’s doing is admitting that he didn’t make me aware of all the risks.
Telling patients about the risks shouldn't be a box-ticking exercise where a doctor just says something generic to cover their back.
He also said the reason he didn't warn me, pre-op, about the risk of needing filler is because I didn't specifically ask about it! To me this is ridiculous, how would I ever know to ask about something that I wouldn't expect. Rhinoplasty is a permanent, surgical procedure why would I go for if I was going to end up being dependent on filler for my nose to look normal? Also, I did ask about grafts and he still didn't tell me 'you don't now, but there's a chance that if I misjudge and overshave your bone, you may need them'.
Fillers and grafts come with their own risks and if there's a chance his patients are going to need them he needs to be telling them about this before the operation.
Roberts also knew I was initially completely unwilling to go under general in the first place. I am now facing the need to go under general again, re-break my bone, grafts/fillers. I also have unwanted changes to my tip and permanent skin staining from the bruises. Roberts did not once mention ANY of these as risks and he still thinks that it’s okay he didn’t.
*****DIDN’T GO THROUGH RISKS ON THE CONSENT FORM*****
When I asked him to go through the risks with me during our second consultation he told me ‘we’ll go through them at the hospital’. I should have insisted he go through them with me at the time but I thought they were just standard general surgery risks (e.g. bleeding, infection). HUGE mistake as he didn't go through the risks with me at the hospital or even tell me where to find them on the consent form. For anyone that hasn’t had an operation/procedure before, this is NOT normal in the UK.
*****BROKEN PROMISES*****
The worst thing is that not only was I not warned but I was specifically told the opposite of what's happened to me i.e. that I wouldn't need grafts and the tip wouldn't look different.
1) Changes to the tip
At my last appointment with him, I think he actually conceded after a lot of disputing that there 'maybe 1mm' change to the rotation of tip. It’s more than 1mm and it makes my nostrils show more so it's a difference to the overall look. I cannot describe how cheated I feel that he didn't tell me this could happen given how emphatic I was that a tiny change to the tip would bother me and the fact that I asked him again just before surgery.
There are also other ways that my tip has changed that including the fact that when I smile it looks completely different (it spreads because my nasal bones have been narrowed) and it looks far too prominent because he's shaved down my bone so much.
2) Needing grafts
He has now admitted that I will need a graft (or fillers), when last time I saw him he said that re-widening the nose would address the dent between the bone and the cartilage. He also admitted that I have a line across my nose that shows the distinction between bone and cartilage. This shows up really badly in photos and what's ironic is that during his 'you'd be surprised at the transformation' spiel, he said that his patients have more confidence in photos after the operation.
****OVERCONFIDENCE IN HIS ABILITIES**
We had told Roberts during my second consultation that I had previously had a non-cosmetic surgery than went wrong I needed several revisions and it had made us distrust surgeons. Instead of telling me about the worst case scenario in this situation or even just asking for more information about what happened, he just said something along the lines of 'I specialise in revisions, I teach students'. I'd already read about the fact that he does a lot of revisions which is one of the reasons I chose to see him.
In hindsight, his response was another red flag but at the time I thought that he was that confident he could improve my nose. I mean why else would he risk robbing a patient, who's already had a hard time, of something they're happy with (the tip) and making their bridge so bad that it now needs grafts to look normal? Turns out because he overestimated his abilities.
I find it shocking that someone that specialises in fixing nose jobs that have gone wrong didn't warn me about what could possibly happen to me. He either didn't care what he was putting me through or must have been too confident in his abilities (evidently unjustified).
***** YOU ONLY SEE THE RED FLAGS WHEN IT'S TOO LATE*****
I think I wasn't as wary with Roberts precisely because he wasn’t a ‘cosmetic’ surgeon, he was an ENT. This turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life. Despite seeing Faye Phillips review about feeling like he was an assembly line plastic surgeon, I can only see the red flags in hindsight. You can only realise how much he didn’t tell you after the operation goes wrong and by then it’s too late - your nose and face has already been ruined. Then suddenly all the omission of detail becomes clear and, I have to say, tactical. I'm sure he knew that if he had told me that there was a small risk that I might need fillers or a graft, he would have scared me off.
******TRIVIALISING SURGERY AND PREYING ON MY INSECURITIES*****
One of my biggest mistakes is that I didn’t see any other consultant to show me how much Roberts was trivialising the surgery, downplaying the risks and not properly analysing my nose. This wasn't to save money but because of the top doctor recommendation and the past patient review on here.
In hindsight, I now see that he also preyed on a minor insecurity I had. Here are things he said when he saw that I was uncertain about going ahead with the operation:
"I can see why it bothers you, it's in the middle of your face....It will bring out your eyes"
"If I thought it wasn't in your best interests, I would tell you" "If I didn't think I could do it, I would say"
"You'd be surprised at the transformation"
He didn’t tell me anything like ‘you should only do this if you really hate your nose'.
*****DIDN'T GENUINELY CARE FOR ME AS A PATIENT*****
After the surgery, when I went back to him the third time, I was crying saying I should have never had it done and that my original nose was so much better. My mum told him I was extremely depressed because of the results of the surgery. (I have gone through some very difficult times before this but have never been depressed.) He told me to get counselling and agreed to a revision but he didn’t once check up on me to see how I was doing. If I ever needed any solid evidence he didn't care about me as an individual, this was it.
Replies (2)
April 11, 2019
Thank you for updating your progress consistently and in detail. You've really provided food for thought and show another side to even the so-called best surgeons. Hope you can get where you want to be and that this will one day be a distant memory.
April 11, 2019
Thank you so much for your message Tatiana. I just feel like Roberts has already destroyed me but my experience will help people who wouldn't otherwise pick up on the signs. In the last week, I've heard from 3 people that went to see him for consultations and he didn't talk about risks with them either. I want people to remember that the only reason any doctor doesn't mention risks is to not put you off the procedure which, to me, is an indication that their priority is getting money and not your best interests.
to help someone else avoid this pain in the future.
Our Code of Conduct prohibits incentivized reviews of any kind. It's disappointing to hear that this wasn't your experience with your surgeon. We would appreciate the chance to look into your concerns, if you email us directly (contactus@realself.com).
We're always willing to take a second look when issues are brought to our attention.
Thanks in advance!