alberta

I always had Big ears that stuck out since I was a child and was although as time went on I began to accept it It was an ad I saw for Dr. Jugenburg that made me curious about Otoplasty surgery. I went in did the consultation the nurse Kim was very nice, answered all my questions. The surgery itself went well, the needles were the most painful part however once the actual surgery started it wasn't bad at all. Recovery was super easy, first night barely slept but soon after was back into my regular routine and within two weeks I could work out again at full capacity.

I received an ear pinning surgery on January 19, 2015.
My ears have been an extreme insecurity for me since I was roughly three years old. I own over 20 hats for the express purpose of hiding my ears. In fact, I will rarely ever be caught outside in public or even my own house without some kind of hat on to hide my ears.
I originally found Dr. Jugenburg online on this very website. I was so impressed by the overwhelming support he had, that despite any reluctance to have a procedure done I decided to book a consultation.
When I arrived at the consultation meeting I expected to meet with Dr. Jugenburg himself to talk about the procedure. Instead I met with Kim the resident RN on staff. I didn't mind meeting with her instead of the doctor as she was extremely pleasant and answered all of my questions. However I was still slightly put off by the fact I had yet to meet the actual surgeon. Finally at the very end of my consultation, after waiting roughly half an hour just to see him, he found time to squeeze me in.
At first I was put off by his cold, emotionless and intimidating posture, but Kim had made such a fantastic impression on me and she seemed to have the utmost confidence in him that I gave him the benefit of the doubt against my better judgment. He examined me for less than 15 seconds in a mirror. I physically moved my ears into the position that I considered ideal. Without any hesitation and without taking a single note, he coldly asserted that he could do it for me.
Needless to say the consultation was a resolute success. I was sold, and convinced by the speed which he determined he could fix my issue that he must have seen the same problem thousands of times and attained a successful result. This fact combined with the overwhelmingly positive feedback I read off this website I saved up for months then finally decided to book the surgery.
On the day of the surgery I was extremely nervous. When I was finally called to wait in the pre-surgery room, I ended up sitting, agonizingly waiting there for what felt like hours before the Doctor came. When he did come in, it was as if he had never seen me before. He actually asked me “what can I do for your ears?” I was shocked but too nervous and embarrassed to protest. Against my better judgment I recounted the exact same details that I had given him during the consultation in that those brief 15 seconds when I met him first.
The surgery itself was uneventful. The needles obviously hurt but pale in comparison to the 17-year insecurity of having big deformed ears, so I thought it would be more than worth it.
There was not much as far as postoperative care. I figured this was standard since the surgery itself was done with only local anesthesia. Therefore it was reasonable that there would be a lesser duty of care imposed on the Doctor to take postoperative precautionary measures. The healing process was fine and I was back to work within 3 weeks. At first when I took the bandages off I was not satisfied at all. I decided that I would wait the sufficient healing time, as the instructions on this website indicated, before I brought complaints to Dr. Jugenburg.
I waited patiently for an entire year and the result became worse and worse. The top third of my ear sticks out and the same prominence is present as it was before the surgery. I decided to book a revision surgery with Dr. Jugenburg. I booked off an entire week at work and had taken many steps to facilitate an easy recover after my revision surgery.
On the day of my revision I stood there in the pre-surgery room clad in the paper surgical gown listening while he told me that it was not possible to fix my ears any further. He gave me options for revision but told me that they were not worth it because the risk was too high and it would be too much work. The news was devastating I had come all this way, taken time off work and still there was nothing that could be done.
So I put my hat back on, hung my head in shame and walked out of the clinic, defeated.
I don't necessarily fault him for this. If it’s true that there is simply nothing that could be done to fix my ear problem then I appreciate his candor and I can live with that. However I do believe that his candor might have been too late.
The issues he identified with my ears were present on the day I came in for my consultation. As a decorated surgeon of the highest order I feel he would have definitely identified those issues on consultation day and could have reasonably foreseen that they would impede the success of any surgical improvement. At this point if he told me “Look I cannot do anything for you” I would have been disappointed but at least I would not have to pay $4000 then wait a year just to hear the exact same thing.
So here I am one year later, humiliated, $4000 poorer, and I own even more hats, to cover up by ears. My ears are not only a physical flaw, but also a constant reminder that I let my insecurities cloud my better judgment.
So, friends of the community I have lost more than just $4000. This traumatizing experience has left me humiliated and empty. My insecurities were used as an expedient instrument to leverage a sale. If you are thinking about surgery please take care and be weary of any suspicious signs that alarms your intuition. I cannot speak for everyone but for me personally my intuition was right, and would have saved me a lot of hardship and money.