Dr. Lorne K. Rosenfield
Staff
Punctuality
Helpfulness
Knowledge
Mills-Peninsula Health Servs
1783 El Camino Real
Burlingame, CA, United States
94010
1783 El Camino Real
Burlingame, CA, United States
94010
6506965400
No Website Provided
Facility Affiliations
Dr. Lorne K. Rosenfield's Credentials
Education
- Univ Of Manitoba, Fac Of Med, Winnipeg, Man, Canada (Grad. 1980)
This review is tough for me to write; honestly, it is 20.5 years overdue. Yes, you read that correctly — two decades' worth of pain, humiliation, feeling like a freak, an outcast, and ashamed. I'm embarrassed to write this, but if it helps just one person, then it is worth it.
I could write a novel, so I'll get down to the facts. The earliest I remember hating my (very) Italian nose was when I was seven. I would fantasize about it being straight, smaller, less obvious. Every penny I earned from part-time jobs after school, during summers, money stuffed in birthday cards went to my new nose fund.
At 20, it was time to get my new nose. I was referred to a few doctors, Dr. Rosenfield being one of them. My consultation with him went well. He took photos of all the angles and used a program like Photoshop to show how he would remove the bump and reshape the tip. Of course, he would have to break my nose and perform an open rhinoplasty. I was ecstatic with the plan. All. In. He wasn't cheap in 2002; the surgery cost $10,000; no matter what, I would finally eliminate my enormous insecurity.
Fast forward to a month after my 21st birthday - surgery day. I woke up after the procedure to find that there was no stitching; I had a closed rhinoplasty, something I was told wasn't going to happen. No matter. I could see the bump was gone!
We are going to fast forward again to a few years later. The tip of my nose healed horribly. The cartilage Dr. Rosenfield said he would remove was still at the tip and sticking straight out of my thin skin. Obviously, this is ugly, right? Right. I went back to the Dr. as he promised to do any revisions for just $500. I had expressed my discontentment with the tip. He said he had removed all the cartilage from my nose during the original surgery, so what he saw "was odd [but it could be fixed]."
I was alarmed and confused, but I didn't have the money to go elsewhere, and the internet wasn't what it is today for me to have done further research. I still trusted him. I shouldn't have, but I scheduled the revision rhinoplasty.
About two months after the revision rhinoplasty, two bumps emerged at the very tip of my nose. My cartilage was coming through my skin. It was like two little dots. I was scared, terrified, nervous, hurt, and sick.
This is where it gets really good. Buckle up. I went to Dr. Rosenfield and asked him to help me, and he said: "Just hold Q-tips on each and press them towards your face for a few minutes a couple of times a day, and they'll go away." I did what he directed. They didn't go away because **it was my cartilage sticking through**. No, I had never had that problem before. I go back to him AGAIN and ask him for help with tears streaming down my face. His demeanor is cold and distant as he says, "You need to see someone else to fix this. Here are names." Then leaves the room.
I'm now sitting there, a young twenty-something, single girl who already had massive insecurities from my birth nose but now feels deformed and betrayed by a man I paid money to. My mom called a few days later to see if the doctor's office would help pay for what would now be my third rhinoplasty. You know the answer - it was "no."
The two doctors Dr. Rosenfield recommended to me had a starting fee of $20,000. Remember, this is 2005.
I walked around for the next 17 years trying to conceal the tip of my nose through contouring, hiding behind my hair, and holding my head at certain angles to try and trick others' eyes. I could see people looking at it; it was obvious my nose protruded unnaturally with weird shadows being cast due to the way Dr. Rosenfield removed or manipulated the cartilage underneath. I would look in the mirror and think, "You freak; you're so ugly, no one will ever want you." The number of hours I would cry over this deformity was endless.
In 2018 I started to interview doctors who specialize in revision rhinoplasties. They were still $20,000 and up. I found one, but due to my lack of trust in surgeons, I took another two years to do further research and interview references. Truthfully, I wasn't going to do a revision until I noticed my breathing getting worse and worse.
Come to find out; my nose was collapsing on itself. Dr. Rosenfield removed so much cartilage and moved around so weirdly that the sides of my nose were falling straight down. At this point, I had to do something to breathe normally.
I found a trustworthy doctor, and 2022 turned my life around. After a 6.5-hour surgery, my nose isn't perfect, but it's invisible. It is regular, smooth, normal, sort of pretty, and I can finally properly breathe again, something I haven't done in over a decade!
I give Dr. Rosenfield 0/5 stars and avoid him for rhinoplasty!!
I'm happy to share my before and after pictures and the doctor's name who saved my nose, sanity, and life! I can now live without feeling like I should be banished to the tower away from everyone.
Submitted July 24, 2023