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Consultation Review for a Lip Defect,waste of Time.
***This is a consultation review,it does not reflect the surgeon's skill in any way.I'm only posting this in hopes of saving other people with a problem similar to mine the time and effort (and money apparently) of a pointless consultation***
A little over 6 months ago I had a serious accident-a through and through laceration of my upper lip-.Due to unfortunate circumstances,primary repair was not done at the time,leaving me with a less than ideal aesthetic outcome(if you would like to see how my lip looks like,you can go in my profile and check out the abundance of photos I've posted on this site looking for help).A couple of weeks after the accident it became apparent to me that I would have to pursue some sort of corrective surgery down the road to minimize the defect and so my search of the "right surgeon" began.
Months went by and by 5 to 6 months post accident I though it was only right that I should start having consultations out of town with more qualified surgeons than those of my area.That's when I stumbled upon Dr Stam's profile on Realself,a young ambitious and well trained doctor with good reviews.Upon further research I confirmed that he had excellent results in cosmetic surgery such as breast augmentation,tummy tuck etc etc so I decided to send him and e mail,presenting my case,to see if he was trained in the field of reconstructive lip surgery and if he thought that my situation could be improved.In the email I was as thorough as I could be,explaining the details of the injury and the defect,as long as the time post accident and everything.Then through the phone,I was assured that improvement could be realized,either by surgical or non surgical means.
That was all I needed to hear and a few days later,a family member of mine proceeded to book a consultation,that as advertised on this site as well,was supposed to be free of charge.The family member of mine was assured that my trip would not be in vain,and that the worst case scenario would be a surgical scar revision,in an outpatient basis.I have to clarify at this point that I never really worried about having to have my lip revised,the way I see it,it is an inevitable consequence of not repairing the injury at the time it happened and I'm looking forward to the day that a surgeon will say the time is right to proceed with the repair.I knew beforehand that surgical intervention prior to 6 months is less than ideal and I would probably have to wait several more months for the scar to mature.You see,I was only hoping to establish a Doctor-patient relationship in order to be good to go for surgery when the time comes.Ultimately,I was very disappointed.
The day of the consultation came and I arrived at Dr Stam's office 15 mins prior to the time of the appointment.The girl at the front desk was delightful,made me feel very comfortable.With a very small delay,Dr Stam was ready to see me.I presented the problem once again,expressed my concerns and we then proceeded to the examination,that I kid you not and without any exaggeration,lasted no longer than 20 seconds.Dr Stam palpated my lip to feel the scar tissue,told me it was softer than what he expected and that was it.My main concern was the difference in lip volume between my right and left side caused by the scar tissue,and a bump that is very noticeable from certain angles/under certain lightning.So no Kenalog injections,no surgical revision,instead he offers to perform a modified lip reduction to the area of the defect to improve symmetry a bit.I traveled all this way to have the normal tissue/scar tissue ratio improved -instead I'm offered less lip and more scar tissue- after being assured it was possible only to have my hopes crushed in a consultation that lasted no longer than 8 to 10 minutes in total.Not only the consultation was a complete let down but I also ended up paying for it for some reason which is not a big deal really,it just adds to the feeling of being "cheated" in a sense.The free consultation is advertised on realself and through the doctor's front desk secretary .I had driven for 5 hours to Dr Stam's office and had to spend the night at a hotel so I could drive back in the morning,only to be treated as a trivial case (probably due to the fact that scar revision doesn't pay as much as breast augmentation).
At the end of the day,I want to say that I do not feel that Dr Stam is a bad plastic surgeon by any means.I've seen his work and if I was not impressed I would not have made all this effort to see him.Maybe I caught him at a bad day,who knows.My honest advice is,if you're dealing with a lip defect,not just a superficial scar,you're better off consulting with a Plastic Surgeon who specializes in Cleft lip repair right away cause that is what you'll end up doing eventually anyway.
***This was an attempt to present my experience as objectively as I could,and once more an attempt to help people who are in the same boat as me find the appropriate care they need.Even though I was reluctant to post this at first,after a few more consultations with plastic surgeons who do cleft lip surgery,I now feel compelled to share my story.***
A little over 6 months ago I had a serious accident-a through and through laceration of my upper lip-.Due to unfortunate circumstances,primary repair was not done at the time,leaving me with a less than ideal aesthetic outcome(if you would like to see how my lip looks like,you can go in my profile and check out the abundance of photos I've posted on this site looking for help).A couple of weeks after the accident it became apparent to me that I would have to pursue some sort of corrective surgery down the road to minimize the defect and so my search of the "right surgeon" began.
Months went by and by 5 to 6 months post accident I though it was only right that I should start having consultations out of town with more qualified surgeons than those of my area.That's when I stumbled upon Dr Stam's profile on Realself,a young ambitious and well trained doctor with good reviews.Upon further research I confirmed that he had excellent results in cosmetic surgery such as breast augmentation,tummy tuck etc etc so I decided to send him and e mail,presenting my case,to see if he was trained in the field of reconstructive lip surgery and if he thought that my situation could be improved.In the email I was as thorough as I could be,explaining the details of the injury and the defect,as long as the time post accident and everything.Then through the phone,I was assured that improvement could be realized,either by surgical or non surgical means.
That was all I needed to hear and a few days later,a family member of mine proceeded to book a consultation,that as advertised on this site as well,was supposed to be free of charge.The family member of mine was assured that my trip would not be in vain,and that the worst case scenario would be a surgical scar revision,in an outpatient basis.I have to clarify at this point that I never really worried about having to have my lip revised,the way I see it,it is an inevitable consequence of not repairing the injury at the time it happened and I'm looking forward to the day that a surgeon will say the time is right to proceed with the repair.I knew beforehand that surgical intervention prior to 6 months is less than ideal and I would probably have to wait several more months for the scar to mature.You see,I was only hoping to establish a Doctor-patient relationship in order to be good to go for surgery when the time comes.Ultimately,I was very disappointed.
The day of the consultation came and I arrived at Dr Stam's office 15 mins prior to the time of the appointment.The girl at the front desk was delightful,made me feel very comfortable.With a very small delay,Dr Stam was ready to see me.I presented the problem once again,expressed my concerns and we then proceeded to the examination,that I kid you not and without any exaggeration,lasted no longer than 20 seconds.Dr Stam palpated my lip to feel the scar tissue,told me it was softer than what he expected and that was it.My main concern was the difference in lip volume between my right and left side caused by the scar tissue,and a bump that is very noticeable from certain angles/under certain lightning.So no Kenalog injections,no surgical revision,instead he offers to perform a modified lip reduction to the area of the defect to improve symmetry a bit.I traveled all this way to have the normal tissue/scar tissue ratio improved -instead I'm offered less lip and more scar tissue- after being assured it was possible only to have my hopes crushed in a consultation that lasted no longer than 8 to 10 minutes in total.Not only the consultation was a complete let down but I also ended up paying for it for some reason which is not a big deal really,it just adds to the feeling of being "cheated" in a sense.The free consultation is advertised on realself and through the doctor's front desk secretary .I had driven for 5 hours to Dr Stam's office and had to spend the night at a hotel so I could drive back in the morning,only to be treated as a trivial case (probably due to the fact that scar revision doesn't pay as much as breast augmentation).
At the end of the day,I want to say that I do not feel that Dr Stam is a bad plastic surgeon by any means.I've seen his work and if I was not impressed I would not have made all this effort to see him.Maybe I caught him at a bad day,who knows.My honest advice is,if you're dealing with a lip defect,not just a superficial scar,you're better off consulting with a Plastic Surgeon who specializes in Cleft lip repair right away cause that is what you'll end up doing eventually anyway.
***This was an attempt to present my experience as objectively as I could,and once more an attempt to help people who are in the same boat as me find the appropriate care they need.Even though I was reluctant to post this at first,after a few more consultations with plastic surgeons who do cleft lip surgery,I now feel compelled to share my story.***
Provider Review
