Wider Nose and Unable to Breathe

Dr. Reish performed a functional rhinoplasty on me over a year ago in October 2020 and left me unable to breathe and with a wider and thicker nose than I had before. My nose is literally back to its old shape, just bigger. There is also a visible indentation in my skin and lumpy appearance where he put the grafts in.
I wanted to post my review on RealSelf, as unfortunately that’s where I found Dr.Reish and I believe patients have the right to the truth and to be fully informed about a surgeon’s less than ethical practices.
My main goal was to correct breathing issues. At the same times we discussed fixing a few minor cosmetic imperfections. However, I just want to make it clear that I would’ve never gone under the knife if it wasn’t for functional issues. I had 2 septoplasties previously, combined with sinus surgeries and turbinate reduction with other providers but was still having problems breathing.
Dr’s Reish’s surgical plan was to correct internal/external nasal valve collapse, straighten the septum and correct nostril asymmetry to allow for better air flow. Cosmetically, he was going to refine and deproject the tip, reduce a small dorsal hump and narrow the bridge of the nose.
I live on the west coast, so all my consults and pre-op appointments were via FaceTime. Dr. Reish assured me that a physical exam or a CT scan are not necessary prior to surgery, and he is highly skilled to identify issues and come up with a treatment/surgical plan with virtual visits. I brought up multiple concerns about potential complications, however he kept assuring me that those would not be an issue based on his skill level. So as a single-parent, I traveled to NYC mid-pandemic, wasting all of my savings based on Dr. Reish’s professional assurances that his success rate is outstanding and that he is confident in the positive outcome of the surgery.
As soon as the bandages came off, I immediately noticed the nostril asymmetry, but Dr. Reish deflected my concerns with “you are going to love the results as soon as the swelling comes down”, reassured me that it’ll improve as it heals, and rushed out of the office. Literally, my visit with him was like 5 minutes. Rachel was the one that took off my cast and answered all my questions.
I have not been able to breathe through my nose at all for the past year. It severely impacts the quality of my life. I am fatigued all the time because I can’t sleep or exercise and have major anxiety when wearing a mask. It’s also affects my speech because I am constantly pausing to take a breath of air – pretty embarrassing in professional conversations. Cosmetically, the only thing that’s changed is my nose is now wider than it was prior to surgery.
I immediately reached out to Dr. Reish for another FaceTime consult, when I noticed my nasal valves collapsing about 2 months after the surgery, however despite diagnosing me via FaceTime prior to surgery, he was no longer willing to admit to the issues post-surgically and diagnose me in the same manner.
In later visits, he continued to downplay my concerns, was super vague and offered conflicting revision options. In my last telehealth visit he said additional grafts would be needed, but those will make my nose even wider and most likely not help the problem.
The real shock came when I requested my medical records and realized that they were incomplete and did not reflect the conversations that took place. Most of his statements were copied and pasted from one visit to the next with a verbiage that was meant to cover him legally but omitted a lot of relevant information that was discussed in our appointments. He was also intentionally misleading in his statements.
For example, when he finally admitted that that my nasal valves are collapsing, he didn’t actually document that. In fact, he stated the following in my May 2021 visit notes: “the CT scan did not show any significant signs of septal deviation or internal nasal valve collapse”. Well, of course! Nasal valves are cartilaginous and dynamic and will not show up well on a CT Scan – he would know that as experienced surgeon. Instead, an internal valve collapse is diagnosed with a nasal endoscopy, physical exam or a Cottle maneuver. Prior to surgery, he told me himself that a CT scan is not helpful, diagnosed me using a Cottle Maneuver and noted the following in April 2020 notes: “There is right external nasal valve collapse”. If he could diagnose a collapse with a cottle maneuver prior to surgery, why couldn’t he have done the same post-surgery?
Since then, I’ve met with three local surgeons, and an ENT, and they confirmed the following (taken directly from their notes):
• Deviated septum; septum is leaning to the left
• Nostril asymmetry; columella deviated to the left
• Right side inverted V deformity
• Right side lacks proper support (where Dr. Reish didn’t properly place the alar rim graft)
• Nasal tip is amorphous (bulbous) (not more refined as we discussed)
• Inspiration reveals collapse of the left and right nasal valves, right greater than left
• Residual bony hump
• Ridge on the inside right side of the septum (which wasn’t there prior to surgery; I can feel it when the nostril collapses against it and it is also reducing some of the airflow).
The worst part of this is none of the local surgeons are willing to operate on my nose after 3 failed surgeries.
I wanted to share my story in hopes it helps someone else. I’ve now lost a full year of my life trying to cope with this. The surgery complications and interactions with his office (which is a disorganized mess) left me emotionally and physically drained. The fact that he had no reviews with negative outcomes should’ve been a huge red flag for me but unfortunately I found out too late that negative reviews are being deleted from RealSelf. Every surgeon has negative outcomes, but I believe honesty and integrity should be at the top of the list for a medical professional. Unfortunately, that’s not the case here.