Read my story: I had a nose with a bulbous tip

I had a nose with a bulbous tip, a family nose if you will. I am latinx and wanted to keep my "look." I just wanted the tip to be reduced. I have disliked my nose since it formed as a teenager and took decades being prudent and interviewing several doctors from Los Angeles to Seattle. I found Dr. Portuese on Instagram after seeing a photo of another woman who had a similar nose to mine and thought her results were beautiful. I booked a consultation with Dr. Portuese.
Dr. Portuese was very charming. His office manager Janet was very charming. They used minimizing language to downplay any concerns I had. They convinced me to pay for a chin implant along with my rhinoplasty to "feminize" my face, make it more "harmonized.”
Listen, when you go see a plastic surgeon, you are essentially meeting with a car salesman. My feeling is that they want to upsell you by preying on your insecurities.
I went ahead with the surgeries. The morning of my appointment, which I felt was very rushed, Dr. Portuese flipped the chin implant material at me. He said it was a size medium, and never asked for my opinion or asked if I would like to see another size. Dr. Portuese essentially gave me no say in what my face was going to look like. But, I think, “He is the doctor.” I am anxious about going into surgery but trusted my doctor and his staff.
When I was released after surgery, everything seemed fine. The wonders of anesthesia! I was under the influence of painkillers and excited about my new face. A week later, I brought my mother with me for the unveiling at Dr. Portuese’ clinic. My mother was concerned that he had broken my nose. I told her that he had not….that I had only asked him to adjust the bulbous tip. He had not told me that my nose would be broken.
When we were in the clinic my mother asked him point blank: Did you break her nose?” He replied, very matter-of-fact, “Yes, I broke her nose.”
I am still perplexed as to why he would break my nose to adjust a bulbous tip.
My face was black and blue from what I understand to be the breaking bones on the top of my nose.
It was not long after the removal of the cast and the end of the painkiller script that I realized something was wrong. I could not breathe nearly as well as I could before the surgery. My nasal passages were a fraction of the size they were before, causing me severe anxiety as I felt I was going to asphyxiate.
I kept waiting for the debris of blood and mucous to fall out of my nose and sinuses, but it never did.
I could no longer sleep through the night.
I could not exercise -I practice and teach yoga.
I could not eat properly because I needed to breathe and eat out of my mouth at the same time.
I was having panic attacks because I could not breathe.
I could not control the panic attacks through breath.
I was, and still am, miserable since Dr. Portuese removed the cast from his surgery.
I reached out to Janet, the patient coordinator through email. I voiced my frustrations. She asked me not to be so upset in our interactions. She told me it was impossible that Dr. Portuese left me unable to breathe because he had inserted spreader grafts in my nose.
Finally I looked up my nose myself and I was shocked to discover my previously straight septum that never gave me any breathing problems was now pressed up against the left side of my nasal wall.
It appeared to me to be curved and almost completely blocking the entire flow of air for the left nostril.
I was able to get in to see Dr. Portuese the next day. This time I brought my boyfriend with me.
Dr. Portuese was rude. He raised his voice at me defensively.
He didn't apologize for what I believe were his mistakes.
He did not appear to me to be sensitive nor empathetic to my pain.
He did not to admit fault.
He said he did not insert spreader grafts, disputing his surgical notes and his office manager.
He said my septum was deviated previously and that he didn't have written informed consent to perform a septoplasty on me at the same time.
I do not believe he had written, informed consent to break my nose, either.
I said over and over again that I did not have a deviated septum nor problems breathing until he performed the rhinoplasty.
Why didn't he warn me that I could come out of surgery with breathing issues?
He then numbed my nose by first inserting a huge needle up it and then a subsequent needle to give me another shot.
Following, he took scissors to cut an adhesion inside my nose.
This was his solution to freeing up the airway. Dr. Portuese failed. I still have trouble breathing.
During this time I had a panic attack and Dr. Portuese accused me of being claustrophobic. I told him I was having a panic attack because he was rooting around in my face with scissors and needles and that I wasn't claustrophobic. He kept insisting that I was. Finally, he blamed my panic attack on the air conditioner not working in his office.
Following this horror story I consulted with a Ear Nose and Throat doctor who gently misted a cottontail with anesthesia, inserted it into my nostril until it was numb and then stuck a camera up there.
This was a 1000% improvement from how Dr. Portuese stuck me with needles and cut my face immediately after I questioned his technique and raised serious concerns about what he did to my body.
It is now six months later and I still cannot breathe properly.
All day everyday my nose is plugged. The pressure in my sinuses is massive. I can't blow any snot out of it because there is now an insufficient airway for it to exit out of the left side of my nose. My sinuses burn.
I am aware of it all day every day in every activity.
Had I known this was a possible outcome in hiring Dr. Portuese I would never have trusted him with my body.
I have since been to two plastic surgeons, and one ENT specialist. All agree I now need a septoplasty, turbinate reduction and insertion of spreader grafts.
I have consulted two attorneys with disappointing results. They both said that juries are generally unsympathetic to plastic surgery cases gone wrong be cause the patient elected to have it.
The take away is this: the photos and videos of patients right out of surgery do not indicate the functionality of the nose. Complications may not show up right away because of the painkillers.
After I had the surgery, I looked up negative reviews on Dr. Portuese and was aghast to find so many reviews that stated they had similar results as me with major breathing complications and revision rhinoplasty in their future.
I feel maimed and taken advantage of. Please do thorough research on your doctor choice. Google: “Negative review Portuese”