Dr. Minas Constantinides
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http://www.newyorkfacialplastics.com/meet-doctor
I had an horrendous revision Rhinoplasty (actually two) by Dr Constantinides.
I went to see Dr Minas Constantinides in May 2013 on the advice of a doctor I had seen for another procedure.
The consultation went well, I thought he was a nice man, polite and seemed to know what he was talking about. His staff were also very nice and accommodating. I had a Rhinoplasty when I was about twenty years old. I had no problems with it and the only issue with my resulting nose over the years was that it was quite runny a lot of the time. I went to see Dr Constantinides because over the years the cartilage seemed to have moved a bit, it was quite sharp and pointed on the tip and if I had a cold and rubbed my nose a lot it would feel like it was going to break through. One side of my nose looked a bit more flat than the other more bulbous side. I wanted it evened up a bit and the cartilage in the tip fixed. I had no breathing problems and my nose was straight. He said he could correct my concerns.
At the same time, I'd started to see some hollowness around my eyes and asked if there was anything he could do about that. He said a mid-face lift would help. I decided to go for the two procedures.
I googled him, there were good and bad reviews but then every doctor seemed to have the same. I went ahead with the surgery and paid $26,400.00, in advance, as requested for a revision Rhinoplasty and a mid-face lift.
The surgery, went fine as did my recovery. When the cast came off my nose looked huge, this enormous bulbous, crooked looking mess. He assured me that it was swelling and it would all come down. After weeks and then months of visits, steroid injections and waiting, it settled a bit but was still very, very big and on top of that I couldn't breathe properly through either nostril. I was very patient with Dr Constantinides, I never got angry or frustrated with him, just trusted what he said to me that it was healing as it should, and he never said to me or indicated that there was a problem.
I was devastated and found myself crying virtually every day, I couldn't look in a mirror and not tear up. I did my makeup as fast as I could in the mornings and wouldn't look at myself again until the next day. I grew my fringe out and hid behind my hair and became very self conscious. I avoided cameras at all costs. I cried myself to sleep many, nights.
I went back to Dr Constantinides in January of 2014. He admitted that the result wasn't what we had hoped for so we scheduled another surgery for the next month (with additional costs of about $5,000). When I gave Dr Constantinides the benefit of the doubt and allowed him to do the second surgery, he made a point of saying he was 'happy to do it and he wanted me to know that'. He generated a computer image that he said would be attainable and he told me how he was going to do it. I didn't expect my nose to look exactly like that picture, but at that point something close would have been fine.
The surgery went fine as did my recovery. From the moment the cast came off after the second revision and I looked in the hand mirror he gave me I could see my nose was not straight, it was very obvious. It was horribly crooked. After a couple of days the deviation got worse and I still couldn't breathe. I also had a bump now running down my nose that I didn't have before. Again weeks and months of visits and steroid injections but the damage is done and then came a lot of excuses that doctor from 23 years ago was responsible for my problems.
Dr Constantinides certainly didn't lead me to believe it would be a difficult or problematic surgery on either occasion. And I understand that when he got in there things may have been different than he was anticipating, but he NEVER said at any time to me after the first surgery what he wrote in a later email response that - 'the scar that formed was so massive', the cartilaginous structure was so weakened and devastated, my nose was too scarred' - there was NOTHING said after the first surgery about my nose having been in such a horribly bad state. Going into the second surgery, if it were in fact true, it appears he knew that. It certainly would have made me ask more questions and think twice about how to proceed with another surgery had I known.
In May 2014 we began to discuss options and compensation which initially he was cagey about but then agreed to pay me $15,000.00 so I could see another doctor to have surgery.
Obviously not at all the outcome I expected. It has been the worst cosmetic surgery experience I have ever had. Something I thought would be a little tidying up has turned into an almost two year nightmare for me. I wish I had never done it.
I have paid Dr Constantinides over $30,000 in total. So far he has made excuse after excuse not to pay me the money he promised he would saying his practice has been very slow – TAKE THAT AS AN ADDITIONAL WARNING.
Submitted March 1, 2015