Post by sml on Oct 18, 2003 10:33:08 GMT -5
Hi everyone!
Let me start out by saying that I am (was) a famous entertainer and fitness model and my looks are my career and how I earn a living. Approximately 2 years ago I took a hard blow to my nose and started having edema in my nose along with several broken capillaries. I decided to go get v-beam laser treatments to fix the capillaries and stop the edema..so I was told by the physician and nurse that the v-beam would do. I had some success with reduced swelling with the first treatment but during the 2nd treatment the nurse severely burned my nose black literally along with post op bleeding from where my nose was damaged. The horror story begins here: ...my nose would swell up twice the size of normal virtually all day and after 2 weeks of no relief I went and saw the nurse who performed the v-beam. I told her I was very worried and she told me "you could have internal scarring but don't worry looks aren't everything..I've seen alot worse..you can't always be gorgeous"! I wish I would have known what a nasty woman I was dealing with beforehand but we all know how people can fool us and backstab and after reading stories on here from other members I realize that this happens more frequently and that many doctors will just blow us off and not take responsibility...in my case instead of getting angy I just left and then decided to speak with the doctor about 1 week later with pictures in hand of my burned nose. He told me he had talked with the nurse and staff and they had changed the settings and that she used excessive settings but offered no help to me. I specifically then asked him for help to have this fixed somehow and he finally agreed to pay for 1/2 of the costs of what I needed to do but he wouldn't do it. He should pay for everything but it took me 1/2 an hour to get him to agree to pay 1/2...which of course he never did!!! I read a similar story of a young women on this board where another physician promised to pay and then forgot he said he would pay! LIARS with no morals! At that time I thought perhaps that very low intensity laser treatments with a different laser might help so I contacted some physicians but everyone blew me off in my area...at the time I didn't know why? I found out later the doctors staff had spread the word to avoid me. When I spoke with the doctor before I left the office I had also asked for a letter to confirm what the doctor had agreed to and they said they wouldmail it to me and it was already noted in my records but I never got the letter and when I called the doctor came on the phone and said he changed his mind! I went into a huge depression and became literally suicidal for a while since I was literally deformed and hard to look at since my nose would swell up twice the size of normal daily..being in the career I am in it made it impossible for me to work. I considered sueing the physician but lawyers wouldn't take my case and some even made fun of it and blew me off. I found out quickly that one has to lose a limb or be crippled or disfigured beyond recogniction for life in order to sue a physician or there's always the option of paying for the lawsuit on your own which is a ridiculous and not feasable option for most. That was 2 years ago...approximately 6 months ago my nose edema came to a virtually halt with very little edema only in the mornings upon awakening however after 1 1/2 years of extreme swelling my nose tip is now disfigured, wide and deformed. The outside of my nose is perfect ..the skin is nice. I have sent my pictures to many outstanding surgeons around the world including Dr. Paul and I've been told that I have an overgrowth of scar tissue on my tip cartiledges and it is causing the wide tip. I would have considered traveling to Australia but Dr. Paul said that due to insurance reasons he can no longer do surgery on patients from the USA. At this point I am virtually financially ruined since I became housebound from embarrassment and I couldn't find work even if I wanted to in my career. As I stated I fell into a suicidal depression. I am trying to find the best option to try to fix my nose tip and have been considering a nose tip revision which I would have to borrow the money for. Lately I have been reading about kenalog shots to reduce scar tissue and I am wondering if that is a possibility. I also read about a company on here that uses lasers to treat scar tissue, fibromalgia, etc..I am wondering what might be my best option at this point. I will borrow the money necessary to have this fixed but I need to make the correct decision since I will bury myself financially if I don't. I will travel virtually anwhere to have this fixed as well...I would be glad to submit pictures to any requesting physicians..I currently live in Michigan and it is apparent to me that the physicians staff where I had my laser done has called around to tell everyone about me and to avoid me plus it seems that Michigan doesn't have any great cosmetic facial surgeons so I am prepared to go somewhere else to have this fixed.
The biggest lessons to be learned from this is to not rush into anything and to rather do less than more and also make sure you get whatever you and doctor agree on in writing before you leave his office. Forget all the smiling and sweettalk and concentrate on getting a concise agreement on what you want done..no more and no less...you're not there to make friends..this is a serious operation that will affect you the rest of your life. You can't hide your face as I have learned very well. Get everything in writing and be firm and serious and not a pushover. After all, you're paying big bucks to this doctor and without you and other patients him and his nurses wouldn't have a job! Doctors are not Gods in fact many times from what happened to me and from what I'm reading..they are not such nice people at all because they don't responsibility when they do something wrong..the proof in the pudding are these boards and personal stories from people as well as lawsuits after lawsuits because doctors would rather have their insurance pay then take responsiblity and admit fault. I am now stuck with paying for fixing my nose for the mistake his nurse made and I've been suffering for almost 2 years because of her mistake and I never even received an apology but instead the comment about "you can't always be gorgeous".
I'm hoping that some of you on this board can give me advise or suggestions on kenalog/steroid injections or a scar revision or other options to remove the scar tissue from the cartiledges to reduce my wide nose tip. If anyone knows of any topnotch physicians near Michigan that would help as well but is not a limiting factor..as I stated I will travel anywhere to have this done correctly..passport in hand if necessary. I love my career and my nose tip is the only thing stopping me from continuing my modeling and entertainment career but unfortunately a critical flaw that in my industry is not overlooked. I've been involved in modeling and entertainment since very young and I wouldn't want to do anything else in life..it's my gift...so it's critical for me to get this fixed.
Thanks and God bless!
Let me start out by saying that I am (was) a famous entertainer and fitness model and my looks are my career and how I earn a living. Approximately 2 years ago I took a hard blow to my nose and started having edema in my nose along with several broken capillaries. I decided to go get v-beam laser treatments to fix the capillaries and stop the edema..so I was told by the physician and nurse that the v-beam would do. I had some success with reduced swelling with the first treatment but during the 2nd treatment the nurse severely burned my nose black literally along with post op bleeding from where my nose was damaged. The horror story begins here: ...my nose would swell up twice the size of normal virtually all day and after 2 weeks of no relief I went and saw the nurse who performed the v-beam. I told her I was very worried and she told me "you could have internal scarring but don't worry looks aren't everything..I've seen alot worse..you can't always be gorgeous"! I wish I would have known what a nasty woman I was dealing with beforehand but we all know how people can fool us and backstab and after reading stories on here from other members I realize that this happens more frequently and that many doctors will just blow us off and not take responsibility...in my case instead of getting angy I just left and then decided to speak with the doctor about 1 week later with pictures in hand of my burned nose. He told me he had talked with the nurse and staff and they had changed the settings and that she used excessive settings but offered no help to me. I specifically then asked him for help to have this fixed somehow and he finally agreed to pay for 1/2 of the costs of what I needed to do but he wouldn't do it. He should pay for everything but it took me 1/2 an hour to get him to agree to pay 1/2...which of course he never did!!! I read a similar story of a young women on this board where another physician promised to pay and then forgot he said he would pay! LIARS with no morals! At that time I thought perhaps that very low intensity laser treatments with a different laser might help so I contacted some physicians but everyone blew me off in my area...at the time I didn't know why? I found out later the doctors staff had spread the word to avoid me. When I spoke with the doctor before I left the office I had also asked for a letter to confirm what the doctor had agreed to and they said they wouldmail it to me and it was already noted in my records but I never got the letter and when I called the doctor came on the phone and said he changed his mind! I went into a huge depression and became literally suicidal for a while since I was literally deformed and hard to look at since my nose would swell up twice the size of normal daily..being in the career I am in it made it impossible for me to work. I considered sueing the physician but lawyers wouldn't take my case and some even made fun of it and blew me off. I found out quickly that one has to lose a limb or be crippled or disfigured beyond recogniction for life in order to sue a physician or there's always the option of paying for the lawsuit on your own which is a ridiculous and not feasable option for most. That was 2 years ago...approximately 6 months ago my nose edema came to a virtually halt with very little edema only in the mornings upon awakening however after 1 1/2 years of extreme swelling my nose tip is now disfigured, wide and deformed. The outside of my nose is perfect ..the skin is nice. I have sent my pictures to many outstanding surgeons around the world including Dr. Paul and I've been told that I have an overgrowth of scar tissue on my tip cartiledges and it is causing the wide tip. I would have considered traveling to Australia but Dr. Paul said that due to insurance reasons he can no longer do surgery on patients from the USA. At this point I am virtually financially ruined since I became housebound from embarrassment and I couldn't find work even if I wanted to in my career. As I stated I fell into a suicidal depression. I am trying to find the best option to try to fix my nose tip and have been considering a nose tip revision which I would have to borrow the money for. Lately I have been reading about kenalog shots to reduce scar tissue and I am wondering if that is a possibility. I also read about a company on here that uses lasers to treat scar tissue, fibromalgia, etc..I am wondering what might be my best option at this point. I will borrow the money necessary to have this fixed but I need to make the correct decision since I will bury myself financially if I don't. I will travel virtually anwhere to have this fixed as well...I would be glad to submit pictures to any requesting physicians..I currently live in Michigan and it is apparent to me that the physicians staff where I had my laser done has called around to tell everyone about me and to avoid me plus it seems that Michigan doesn't have any great cosmetic facial surgeons so I am prepared to go somewhere else to have this fixed.
The biggest lessons to be learned from this is to not rush into anything and to rather do less than more and also make sure you get whatever you and doctor agree on in writing before you leave his office. Forget all the smiling and sweettalk and concentrate on getting a concise agreement on what you want done..no more and no less...you're not there to make friends..this is a serious operation that will affect you the rest of your life. You can't hide your face as I have learned very well. Get everything in writing and be firm and serious and not a pushover. After all, you're paying big bucks to this doctor and without you and other patients him and his nurses wouldn't have a job! Doctors are not Gods in fact many times from what happened to me and from what I'm reading..they are not such nice people at all because they don't responsibility when they do something wrong..the proof in the pudding are these boards and personal stories from people as well as lawsuits after lawsuits because doctors would rather have their insurance pay then take responsiblity and admit fault. I am now stuck with paying for fixing my nose for the mistake his nurse made and I've been suffering for almost 2 years because of her mistake and I never even received an apology but instead the comment about "you can't always be gorgeous".
I'm hoping that some of you on this board can give me advise or suggestions on kenalog/steroid injections or a scar revision or other options to remove the scar tissue from the cartiledges to reduce my wide nose tip. If anyone knows of any topnotch physicians near Michigan that would help as well but is not a limiting factor..as I stated I will travel anywhere to have this done correctly..passport in hand if necessary. I love my career and my nose tip is the only thing stopping me from continuing my modeling and entertainment career but unfortunately a critical flaw that in my industry is not overlooked. I've been involved in modeling and entertainment since very young and I wouldn't want to do anything else in life..it's my gift...so it's critical for me to get this fixed.
Thanks and God bless!