Failed Otoplasty - San Jose, CA

I have been ridiculed about my ears sticking out since middle school and finally decided to get them pinned when I was on break from an out-of-state college. I assumed the excessive price to be a signal of his skill level. After the operation, Dr. Yenikomshian had me in a turban-like dressing for an entire month.
Although his secretary Nancy, who no longer works with him, assured me that Dr. Yenikomshian frequently performed the operation, when I came into the office after the operation Nancy's eyes popped wide open. She was so surprised to see my head bandaged up with the turban and even poked fun at it. I got a little sick to my stomach wondering why Dr. Yenikomshian’s secretary who should be accustomed to seeing patients bandaged up that way (if it really were a common procedure) was so surprised. That slightly sick to my stomach feeling turned to anguish when the bandage came off and my ears were still sticking out.

There was somewhat of a difference between my appearance immediately after removing the bandage, but after a month or two my ears were back to the way they were before, except now with excessive scarring on the back of them. I was made aware that scarring was a risk of the operation but Dr. Yenikomshian assured me that they wouldn't be as visible since my ears were going to be pinned back.

So now a couple years and $7,000 later, I am still constantly teased about my ears. People around the office where I interned would refer to me behind my back as the intern with big ears. And now not only do I have to worry about people teasing me for my ears sticking out, but the scars on the back of them.

Please note, while Dr. Yenikomshian is certainly a 0-star doctor, I was also a 0-star patient. While I had been considering the operation my whole life, I hadn't done my research on enough doctors to ensure my money wouldn't be wasted. There were red flags everywhere. Right when I had the funds for the operation I quickly jumped into it and really only chose Dr. Yenikomshian because he was the only doctor with availability (flag #1). Flag #2, the otoplasty wasn't even advertised as an operation he performed on his web site. Had I looked at his Yelp page or anything remotely similar before my operation I would've seen flag #3, that other patients have had negative experiences with him as well. Also, I learned the importance of choosing a doctor that resides in the same state I do in order to be available for follow up appointments. I finally saved up enough money to get a corrective operation and am very excited and confident that I will see results this time around, I am going to utilize Realself heavily! Please learn from my mistakes.