POSTED UNDER Rhinoplasty Reviews
5 Years Later and Multiple Surgeries, Not a Good Experience
ORIGINAL POST
5 Years Later and Multiple Surgeries, Not a Good Experience
$3,500
I underwent my first nasal surgery with Dr. Kim approximately five years ago, in June 2018, when I was 17 years old. The procedure involved a functional septorhinoplasty, including septoplasty, nasal valve repair, and minor cosmetic work on the nasal tip. The surgery aimed to correct a deviated septum, wide nasal tip, nasal valve collapse, and nasal obstruction caused by allergies. The total out-of-pocket cost was ~$3000. Insurance covered all functional aspects of the surgery. Throughout the pre-surgery process, Dr. Kim and his staff were consistently kind, accommodating, and reassuring, addressing both my family's and my own anxieties.
Recovery from the first surgery proved challenging, and the immediate post-operative period had its difficulties beyond our control. Despite initial distress, Dr. Kim provided reassurance and arranged a two-night hotel stay near the surgery center since we were from out of town. The recovery process unfolded as expected, with swelling and congestion gradually subsiding. However, during the two-month follow-up visit, it became apparent that my breathing had worsened, the scar between my nostrils hadn't faded as anticipated, and the middle part of my nose appeared pushed down, resulting in a bulbous tip and a new bump on the bridge.
To address these concerns, Dr. Kim proposed conservative scar treatment using silicone tape, saline spray, aquaphor ointment, and a potential minor revision around one year post-op to address the bump. Although disappointed, I opted to follow the conservative plan and managed my expectations, knowing that recovery would take several months. And, of course, I trusted Dr. Kim, and with the physician-patient relationship, I felt like everything was going to be okay.
By early spring 2019, approximately nine months after the initial surgery, I returned for a follow-up visit. Unfortunately, the issues persisted, with noticeable nasal valve collapse, a crooked appearance, and a darker scar. Dr. Kim recommended a more involved revision surgery in May 2019 to address the nasal valve collapse, scar revision, and crooked nasal bones, including the use of an ear cartilage graft. Throughout this process, Dr. Kim again generously covered the cost of a two-night hotel stay. The revision surgery was deemed medically necessary and incurred no additional out-of-pocket expenses.
It appeared that Dr. Kim was surprised when he opened my nose up the second time. Medical records state in all caps “remarkably dense scar tissue encountered resulting in meticulous but limited dissection to expose middle vault and bony vault.” My mom was shocked when Dr. Kim came out to the waiting area after surgery, and asked her something along the lines of “is he snorting [drugs/cocaine/etc] because the inside of his nose looked like a drug user.” And I was shocked when I heard this too— I would never, ever touch anything like that, especially with having been operated on. Being told he had said that about me felt violating and just wrong.
After this surgery, we had a similar situation as complications arose after the first surgery. Swelling at first, to be expected, then a slight depression in the bridge, still collapsing nasal valves, which all developed over time. Same conservative treatment. Some things had gotten better, like the obvious “scoop” in the middle part of my nose. The scarring still was dark and more noticeable. Still had nasal valve collapse, things still looked crooked. It wasn’t what we had initially planned— my nose felt, and to me, looked off.
Due to the pandemic, Dr. Kim saw me again about one year post-op in the summer of 2020. At this point, I was just pretty down about what had happened with the two surgeries. Nose breathing was still obstructed, and it was small in proportion to my face and how it had looked before. Our plan was to wait and see, stick what conservative management. You might imagine, with the social situation from the pandemic and getting sent home from school, and going through these unsuccessful surgeries, my self esteem had taken a big hit. Just really disappointing all around.
About a year after this, I had started getting in a mentally better place, I felt better about how I looked, and was a little more used to the nose situation. I was back out of state, in college. What was really tough now was breathing and allergies, now also sinus infections, snoring, trouble sleeping, and strangely, eyes tearing up, making exercise difficult— I even had strep a couple times and had my tonsils removed to try to stop the snoring, tonsil stones, etc. There is no concrete evidence that this was related to Dr. Kim’s surgeries, but it in the least it’s added to the situation at hand, dealing with more ENT problems. I’ve done multiple rounds of MRSA decolonization which have helped.
Continued nasal issues led me to talk to some nationally-known nose surgeons, to see if there was anything else to be done. A couple of surgeons I spoke to felt that they could take on the tertiary revision for at least some functional improvement, which was done in December 2021. My nose works somewhat better, although I wouldn’t say it’s much better than where we started. It is at least bigger, straighter and overall closer to how it looked before surgery altogether. (I thought insurance would cover it, which might have been a misunderstanding, I’m not sure, but I ended up paying $10,000 out of pocket, plus travel costs, in addition to insurance covering some of the functional expenses. Appears that the doctor I saw was not contracted with my insurance for all of the specific procedures he did, from what I can tell.)
The surgeon who did that surgery took pictures of what he found in my nose when he opened it up, which was some scar tissue, but nothing close to “remarkably dense” scar tissue. Also, to my understanding, very thin and reduced tip cartilages, and he did a lot of work with rib cartilage to try to fix it. There was also no longer just the mid-vault collapse, but also saddle nose deformity, which seems to be different and somewhat harder to treat and repair. All else I was told is that there was some bone where it wasn’t expected to be, some cartilage grafts weren’t where they had said they’d been implanted, no real functional benefit from the previous surgeries from what I was told. Just unexpected and a very tough situation to fix.
Since the third nose surgery, I had another procedure, this time on my tear ducts, to reopen and stent them. I guess my tear ducts had at some point been injured in the midst of all the nasal surgery. We don’t know when, exactly, it might have happened, but the tearing had become an issue after the initial nose surgery. I am now about 6 months into 5 years of allergy shots to try to mitigate allergy-related nasal inflammation, and have consulted about another revision. After seeing multiple doctors to discuss improving residual functional issues, we are looking at another surgery with rib cartilage within the next couple of years, to again fix the saddle nose deformity, and just to widen out the airway again and to help me breathe better— all functional improvements only.
At this point in time, writing this review, I am working through the mental difficulties that I’ve been managing since all this started going wrong. I even sent a letter to the office, and said that I might be honest and tell my story, as I can do. I also asked for an apology/reply, even an email, something of that nature. This definitely hurts the most, after putting trust in Dr. Kim and believing that the second revision would work.
This review is not meant to say anything false about Dr. Kim. It’s more just me telling my story, so people online can know what might go wrong, and what went wrong for me. In my case, I have spent all my savings on just trying to get back to square one, fixing everything that has happened. My family hasn’t paid for it, and I’ve worked hard, through the pandemic, and during college, to cover expenses. I’ve accepted that I’m not ever going to have what I had expected — my old nose, with better breathing. Would I have taken a different path, knowing this prior to surgery? Absolutely.
I've included photos here-- all are labeled with dates they were taken. I've blurred myself out but have done the best to include as much as I can. Hard to show functional issues with pictures, but I think these help get the idea across.
Everything I have written here I believe to be honest, accurate, and only my subjective experience.
Recovery from the first surgery proved challenging, and the immediate post-operative period had its difficulties beyond our control. Despite initial distress, Dr. Kim provided reassurance and arranged a two-night hotel stay near the surgery center since we were from out of town. The recovery process unfolded as expected, with swelling and congestion gradually subsiding. However, during the two-month follow-up visit, it became apparent that my breathing had worsened, the scar between my nostrils hadn't faded as anticipated, and the middle part of my nose appeared pushed down, resulting in a bulbous tip and a new bump on the bridge.
To address these concerns, Dr. Kim proposed conservative scar treatment using silicone tape, saline spray, aquaphor ointment, and a potential minor revision around one year post-op to address the bump. Although disappointed, I opted to follow the conservative plan and managed my expectations, knowing that recovery would take several months. And, of course, I trusted Dr. Kim, and with the physician-patient relationship, I felt like everything was going to be okay.
By early spring 2019, approximately nine months after the initial surgery, I returned for a follow-up visit. Unfortunately, the issues persisted, with noticeable nasal valve collapse, a crooked appearance, and a darker scar. Dr. Kim recommended a more involved revision surgery in May 2019 to address the nasal valve collapse, scar revision, and crooked nasal bones, including the use of an ear cartilage graft. Throughout this process, Dr. Kim again generously covered the cost of a two-night hotel stay. The revision surgery was deemed medically necessary and incurred no additional out-of-pocket expenses.
It appeared that Dr. Kim was surprised when he opened my nose up the second time. Medical records state in all caps “remarkably dense scar tissue encountered resulting in meticulous but limited dissection to expose middle vault and bony vault.” My mom was shocked when Dr. Kim came out to the waiting area after surgery, and asked her something along the lines of “is he snorting [drugs/cocaine/etc] because the inside of his nose looked like a drug user.” And I was shocked when I heard this too— I would never, ever touch anything like that, especially with having been operated on. Being told he had said that about me felt violating and just wrong.
After this surgery, we had a similar situation as complications arose after the first surgery. Swelling at first, to be expected, then a slight depression in the bridge, still collapsing nasal valves, which all developed over time. Same conservative treatment. Some things had gotten better, like the obvious “scoop” in the middle part of my nose. The scarring still was dark and more noticeable. Still had nasal valve collapse, things still looked crooked. It wasn’t what we had initially planned— my nose felt, and to me, looked off.
Due to the pandemic, Dr. Kim saw me again about one year post-op in the summer of 2020. At this point, I was just pretty down about what had happened with the two surgeries. Nose breathing was still obstructed, and it was small in proportion to my face and how it had looked before. Our plan was to wait and see, stick what conservative management. You might imagine, with the social situation from the pandemic and getting sent home from school, and going through these unsuccessful surgeries, my self esteem had taken a big hit. Just really disappointing all around.
About a year after this, I had started getting in a mentally better place, I felt better about how I looked, and was a little more used to the nose situation. I was back out of state, in college. What was really tough now was breathing and allergies, now also sinus infections, snoring, trouble sleeping, and strangely, eyes tearing up, making exercise difficult— I even had strep a couple times and had my tonsils removed to try to stop the snoring, tonsil stones, etc. There is no concrete evidence that this was related to Dr. Kim’s surgeries, but it in the least it’s added to the situation at hand, dealing with more ENT problems. I’ve done multiple rounds of MRSA decolonization which have helped.
Continued nasal issues led me to talk to some nationally-known nose surgeons, to see if there was anything else to be done. A couple of surgeons I spoke to felt that they could take on the tertiary revision for at least some functional improvement, which was done in December 2021. My nose works somewhat better, although I wouldn’t say it’s much better than where we started. It is at least bigger, straighter and overall closer to how it looked before surgery altogether. (I thought insurance would cover it, which might have been a misunderstanding, I’m not sure, but I ended up paying $10,000 out of pocket, plus travel costs, in addition to insurance covering some of the functional expenses. Appears that the doctor I saw was not contracted with my insurance for all of the specific procedures he did, from what I can tell.)
The surgeon who did that surgery took pictures of what he found in my nose when he opened it up, which was some scar tissue, but nothing close to “remarkably dense” scar tissue. Also, to my understanding, very thin and reduced tip cartilages, and he did a lot of work with rib cartilage to try to fix it. There was also no longer just the mid-vault collapse, but also saddle nose deformity, which seems to be different and somewhat harder to treat and repair. All else I was told is that there was some bone where it wasn’t expected to be, some cartilage grafts weren’t where they had said they’d been implanted, no real functional benefit from the previous surgeries from what I was told. Just unexpected and a very tough situation to fix.
Since the third nose surgery, I had another procedure, this time on my tear ducts, to reopen and stent them. I guess my tear ducts had at some point been injured in the midst of all the nasal surgery. We don’t know when, exactly, it might have happened, but the tearing had become an issue after the initial nose surgery. I am now about 6 months into 5 years of allergy shots to try to mitigate allergy-related nasal inflammation, and have consulted about another revision. After seeing multiple doctors to discuss improving residual functional issues, we are looking at another surgery with rib cartilage within the next couple of years, to again fix the saddle nose deformity, and just to widen out the airway again and to help me breathe better— all functional improvements only.
At this point in time, writing this review, I am working through the mental difficulties that I’ve been managing since all this started going wrong. I even sent a letter to the office, and said that I might be honest and tell my story, as I can do. I also asked for an apology/reply, even an email, something of that nature. This definitely hurts the most, after putting trust in Dr. Kim and believing that the second revision would work.
This review is not meant to say anything false about Dr. Kim. It’s more just me telling my story, so people online can know what might go wrong, and what went wrong for me. In my case, I have spent all my savings on just trying to get back to square one, fixing everything that has happened. My family hasn’t paid for it, and I’ve worked hard, through the pandemic, and during college, to cover expenses. I’ve accepted that I’m not ever going to have what I had expected — my old nose, with better breathing. Would I have taken a different path, knowing this prior to surgery? Absolutely.
I've included photos here-- all are labeled with dates they were taken. I've blurred myself out but have done the best to include as much as I can. Hard to show functional issues with pictures, but I think these help get the idea across.
Everything I have written here I believe to be honest, accurate, and only my subjective experience.
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