POSTED UNDER Rhinoplasty Reviews
I am trying to accept the changes as they are
ORIGINAL POST
Uneven Nostrils, & Very Late for my Post Op Appt
WORTH IT$16,400
Rhinoplasty & Chin Lipo Surgery Experience
Pros: Cute side profile, affordable, attention to pain management
Cons: uneven nostrils, long wait times, rushed appointments
This is a detailed review about my pre-op and post-op experience with Dr. Grigoryants on January 10th, 2024. I saw him for rhinoplasty, septoplasty and chin liposuction. Please keep in mind I am posting this only 6 months post-op when I cannot see the final results. I mainly wanted to talk about the surgery experience itself. I will update this review at 6 months at 12 months when the swelling has gone down.
Pre-Op:
I flew into LA from out of state and was asked to come at 1:30 PM instead of the original time 2:00PM for my pre-op appt. I got there at 1:20 PM and had a lot of paperwork to read and fill out. Just the paperwork alone took me about 35-40 minutes as I was having two procedures done. In the time I was waiting, 2 ladies arrived to have their cast removed and another lady was scheduled for her pre-op at 2:00pm when my pre-op appt was originally at 2:00pm. This was a little confusing to me, and so I asked the receptionist how there were two pre-ops at same time, since by the time I was done with paperwork it was 2:00, but she honestly didn’t make me feel reassured about how there was time for all these patients and she wasn’t very friendly either. I was surprised that he would be seeing three patients and removing two casts before me. I was brought back to the room around 2:15 and the same receptionist told me some information about my surgery. Then I waited about 20 more minutes for Dr. Grigoryants.
Our pre-op appt was very fast, about 10 minutes total. Due to me coming from out of state, our consult was done by email so this was the first time meeting him in person. I was expecting it to be rushed because of previous reviewers but I didn’t think it would be THAT rushed. He also had not even looked at my blood work until then and almost forgot to do my computer imaging. I guess someone else at the office reviewed it and told me it was normal three weeks prior. Luckily I didn’t have too many questions.
I checked in at the Surgery Center the next day at 7:00 AM and my surgery was scheduled for 8:30 AM, but Dr. Grigoryants didn’t come to do my liposuction markings until 8:57 AM and he appeared rushed. He spent 2 minutes with me, took photos and did markings and said he’d “see me in there”. Nurses told me he had a surgery before mine, and started the surgery at 7:15. She was wheeled out at 9:06 with a bandage on her face, so it seems like the surgery is pretty fast. What made me most uncomfortable was knowing he literally does these surgeries back to back and as close to each other as possible. I worried this could leave more room for error. But perhaps if you’ve been doing these surgeries for 20 years like Dr. G, you have developed your own routine to get it done faster without complications.
Unfortunately I did have minor complications at first, and ended up developing uvula necrosis, which is when the breathing tube restricts blood flow to the uvula at the back of the throat causing some white patches and the tissue to die. By day three post op, this was causing me more pain than my nose.
Post-Op
When I got out of surgery, which took only 2 hours for both the rhinoplasty and chin liposuction, I was in an incredible amount of pain. I had previously told the Doctor I am highly sensitive to pain, and basically I remember hyperventilating and my body was spasming in the recovery room because the pain was so overwhelming. The doctor asked if I was cold because I kept clawing at the blanket and I said “no I am in pain!”. They gave me Fentanyl and small doses of Dilaudid and I kept having to say that Fentanyl doesn’t do much for me (I had it years ago at an ER for stomach ulcers and it didn’t work). So after moaning and crying for a bit the nurse squirted some lidocaine up into my nose and that made a huge difference. With that said, the post-op recovery experience was rushed as well and I was back in the car with my boyfriend just one hour after surgery was finished. I think the nurses wanted me out of there as fast as possible because I was making so much noise because of my pain, and I was probably making other patients uncomfortable.
I really think they could have done a better job with my immediate post-op pain management because I wasn’t expecting such an extreme situation, but it’s okay. I just feel like I wasn’t listened to thoroughly about my pain sensitivity during the pre-op appt, but Dr. Grigoryants did make sure I had plenty of pain medicine for my recovery and I am very grateful for that. I think he is overall understanding and a lovely person, he just works fast and is very efficient. This efficiency is what likely gives him the reputation for rushing appointments.
Another thing that bugged me is I was not sent home with a compression garment for my chin liposuction. I was just wrapped with gauze pads and an ace bandage. This worried me because all my research made me believe if I didn’t wear a compression garment for 3-4 weeks, the skin would not attach to the muscle. But Dr. Grigoryants told me later that day that there is basically no compression garment that can tighten skin, and that often times compression garments cause a bad outcome leaving indentations or unevenness and they are uncomfortable and unnecessary (his words). I was very impressed with the liposuction even just a day or two after surgery and because he did not use tumescent fluid, there wasn’t much swelling, however I did have a lot more bruising than I thought I would and both of my eyes were black and blue. Other than that, my recovery went smoothly, I wasn’t in much pain, just uncomfortable from not being able to breathe.
My cast appt removal was scheduled for 2:00pm on Jan 16th and by the time I was brought back it was 2:45PM. Dr. Grigoryants did not remove my cast, a medical assistant did. And then she starts pulling the splint out but it hurt too bad and I asked for Dr. Grigroryants to come do it. She gave me a sample breast implant to squeeze for the pain. Dr. Grigoryants finally came to see me at 3:10.!
6 months later…
The thing that bugs me the most right now is how uneven my nostrils are at 6 months. In my most recent photo you can see the left nostril lays flat while the right one comes to a point. It is most obvious when I take photos and that’s when I get self-conscious about it. I also believe if Dr. Grigoryants had me wear a compression garment like most other surgeons, I would not be dealing with the skin laxity issues I have now. When I’ve asked him about the nostrils, he just says as the tip swelling goes away, the nostrils will be changing as well. I don’t anticipate much more changes to my nostrils at this point, especially since he has a history of making asymmetrical nostrils in his other patients, even years after their surgery. But I don’t want to be one of those people who “chase” the perfect rhinoplasty, so I am trying to accept the changes as they are, as the side profile is very cute, and my breathing issues are markably improved. If I see very noticeable changes in the nostrils at 12 months, I will update this review to 4 stars. Thank you.
Pros: Cute side profile, affordable, attention to pain management
Cons: uneven nostrils, long wait times, rushed appointments
This is a detailed review about my pre-op and post-op experience with Dr. Grigoryants on January 10th, 2024. I saw him for rhinoplasty, septoplasty and chin liposuction. Please keep in mind I am posting this only 6 months post-op when I cannot see the final results. I mainly wanted to talk about the surgery experience itself. I will update this review at 6 months at 12 months when the swelling has gone down.
Pre-Op:
I flew into LA from out of state and was asked to come at 1:30 PM instead of the original time 2:00PM for my pre-op appt. I got there at 1:20 PM and had a lot of paperwork to read and fill out. Just the paperwork alone took me about 35-40 minutes as I was having two procedures done. In the time I was waiting, 2 ladies arrived to have their cast removed and another lady was scheduled for her pre-op at 2:00pm when my pre-op appt was originally at 2:00pm. This was a little confusing to me, and so I asked the receptionist how there were two pre-ops at same time, since by the time I was done with paperwork it was 2:00, but she honestly didn’t make me feel reassured about how there was time for all these patients and she wasn’t very friendly either. I was surprised that he would be seeing three patients and removing two casts before me. I was brought back to the room around 2:15 and the same receptionist told me some information about my surgery. Then I waited about 20 more minutes for Dr. Grigoryants.
Our pre-op appt was very fast, about 10 minutes total. Due to me coming from out of state, our consult was done by email so this was the first time meeting him in person. I was expecting it to be rushed because of previous reviewers but I didn’t think it would be THAT rushed. He also had not even looked at my blood work until then and almost forgot to do my computer imaging. I guess someone else at the office reviewed it and told me it was normal three weeks prior. Luckily I didn’t have too many questions.
I checked in at the Surgery Center the next day at 7:00 AM and my surgery was scheduled for 8:30 AM, but Dr. Grigoryants didn’t come to do my liposuction markings until 8:57 AM and he appeared rushed. He spent 2 minutes with me, took photos and did markings and said he’d “see me in there”. Nurses told me he had a surgery before mine, and started the surgery at 7:15. She was wheeled out at 9:06 with a bandage on her face, so it seems like the surgery is pretty fast. What made me most uncomfortable was knowing he literally does these surgeries back to back and as close to each other as possible. I worried this could leave more room for error. But perhaps if you’ve been doing these surgeries for 20 years like Dr. G, you have developed your own routine to get it done faster without complications.
Unfortunately I did have minor complications at first, and ended up developing uvula necrosis, which is when the breathing tube restricts blood flow to the uvula at the back of the throat causing some white patches and the tissue to die. By day three post op, this was causing me more pain than my nose.
Post-Op
When I got out of surgery, which took only 2 hours for both the rhinoplasty and chin liposuction, I was in an incredible amount of pain. I had previously told the Doctor I am highly sensitive to pain, and basically I remember hyperventilating and my body was spasming in the recovery room because the pain was so overwhelming. The doctor asked if I was cold because I kept clawing at the blanket and I said “no I am in pain!”. They gave me Fentanyl and small doses of Dilaudid and I kept having to say that Fentanyl doesn’t do much for me (I had it years ago at an ER for stomach ulcers and it didn’t work). So after moaning and crying for a bit the nurse squirted some lidocaine up into my nose and that made a huge difference. With that said, the post-op recovery experience was rushed as well and I was back in the car with my boyfriend just one hour after surgery was finished. I think the nurses wanted me out of there as fast as possible because I was making so much noise because of my pain, and I was probably making other patients uncomfortable.
I really think they could have done a better job with my immediate post-op pain management because I wasn’t expecting such an extreme situation, but it’s okay. I just feel like I wasn’t listened to thoroughly about my pain sensitivity during the pre-op appt, but Dr. Grigoryants did make sure I had plenty of pain medicine for my recovery and I am very grateful for that. I think he is overall understanding and a lovely person, he just works fast and is very efficient. This efficiency is what likely gives him the reputation for rushing appointments.
Another thing that bugged me is I was not sent home with a compression garment for my chin liposuction. I was just wrapped with gauze pads and an ace bandage. This worried me because all my research made me believe if I didn’t wear a compression garment for 3-4 weeks, the skin would not attach to the muscle. But Dr. Grigoryants told me later that day that there is basically no compression garment that can tighten skin, and that often times compression garments cause a bad outcome leaving indentations or unevenness and they are uncomfortable and unnecessary (his words). I was very impressed with the liposuction even just a day or two after surgery and because he did not use tumescent fluid, there wasn’t much swelling, however I did have a lot more bruising than I thought I would and both of my eyes were black and blue. Other than that, my recovery went smoothly, I wasn’t in much pain, just uncomfortable from not being able to breathe.
My cast appt removal was scheduled for 2:00pm on Jan 16th and by the time I was brought back it was 2:45PM. Dr. Grigoryants did not remove my cast, a medical assistant did. And then she starts pulling the splint out but it hurt too bad and I asked for Dr. Grigroryants to come do it. She gave me a sample breast implant to squeeze for the pain. Dr. Grigoryants finally came to see me at 3:10.!
6 months later…
The thing that bugs me the most right now is how uneven my nostrils are at 6 months. In my most recent photo you can see the left nostril lays flat while the right one comes to a point. It is most obvious when I take photos and that’s when I get self-conscious about it. I also believe if Dr. Grigoryants had me wear a compression garment like most other surgeons, I would not be dealing with the skin laxity issues I have now. When I’ve asked him about the nostrils, he just says as the tip swelling goes away, the nostrils will be changing as well. I don’t anticipate much more changes to my nostrils at this point, especially since he has a history of making asymmetrical nostrils in his other patients, even years after their surgery. But I don’t want to be one of those people who “chase” the perfect rhinoplasty, so I am trying to accept the changes as they are, as the side profile is very cute, and my breathing issues are markably improved. If I see very noticeable changes in the nostrils at 12 months, I will update this review to 4 stars. Thank you.
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