Dr. Zukowski phone consult, feeling blah from it

[josie76]

Have you checked your email? I to was waiting for that letter but it was emailed to me.

Yes Cole did finally get me the email with the quote. Since then I did get a CT of my head done by my regular doctor. I have had bad congestion for decades. Now I know why. The CT shows that my deviated septum actually goes all the way back and is really bad to one side in my nasal cavity. Not sure yet what they will suggest can be done. Waiting for them to schedule a follow up appointment. This did however give me the opportunity to see my skull directly which is pretty cool.

Having seen this now though, I think I might want to consult a FFS surgeon who does do type 3 forehead work. My sinus cavities are directly behind a thin bone of the supraorbital arches so regular burring isn't going to get far.

skull and sinus cavity 4 view by Josie H, on Flickr


skull left high res by Josie H, on Flickr

skull left 45 high res by Josie H, on Flickr


skull front high res by Josie H, on Flickr

skull lower front angle by Josie H, on Flickr


skull right 45 high res by Josie H, on Flickr


skull right high res by Josie H, on Flickr

[Danni98]

That's creepy and cool at the same time. That's good, you'll like Cole, he's up on his game and usually responds with in a couple hours.

[Becca Kay]

Cole is great!  He continues to have great follow up with me and has helped me all the way through. 

I also had a badly deviated septum.  Dr Z did a lot of work to fix it.  So far it's been dramatic.  I don't snore anymore.  I can breathe through both nostrils.  My sense of smell is better.  And I nolonger have issues with my ears equalizing (on planes).

[josie76]

Cole is great!  He continues to have great follow up with me and has helped me all the way through. 

I also had a badly deviated septum.  Dr Z did a lot of work to fix it.  So far it's been dramatic.  I don't snore anymore.  I can breathe through both nostrils.  My sense of smell is better.  And I nolonger have issues with my ears equalizing (on planes).

WOW breathing and not snoring would be great!  My ears like choke up when I'm outside in the heat or very active at all and I have that constant post nasal drip thing going on. I see from the CT that while my septum is to the left on the outside, it goes all the way to the right inside my nasal cavity.

I can see in the scan where Dr. Z thought he might work on my rear jaw portion. Toward the chin is the worst where my mandible bone flares out so wide.
My big concern is what would he do with my supraorbital arches since the bone looks so thin there.

I am going to email these pictures and see if Cole can tell me what the doctor thinks he can do with my head.

[Katie]

Having gone to DR. Z I can clearly suggest NOT picking him because of his personality..................

He also suggested most everything and knowing how crappy the recovery is I would agree with him. I have seen a lot of girls go back again and again for this and that and recovery sucks....

With all that said I got lucky and had him do the work during the recession when I was able to get him off his price by 10000. Today I doubt you can do that............

[josie76]

So I sent pictures to Belgium. The doctor did some virtual FFS on my face and sent me back these.
Top is original, bottom is virtual, type3 forehead, browlift, rhinoplasty, shaving chin bone, fat transfers
With everything and the 5 day room and board it is less than $30k. Something to consider I suppose.

Screenshot_20181104-144758~2 by Josie H, on Flickr


Screenshot_20181104-144801~2 by Josie H, on Flickr

[Sonja]

@josie76

Hey Josie,

Thats a cool ffs preview pic - and 30K sounds pretty good for all that work and stay?  Are the fat transfers purely face or other areas too?    What are you thinking?

Sonja.

[reborn]

Which doctor in Belgium are you talking about?

[josie76]

@josie76

Hey Josie,

Thats a cool ffs preview pic - and 30K sounds pretty good for all that work and stay?  Are the fat transfers purely face or other areas too?    What are you thinking?

Sonja.

I don't know yet Sonja. I have consults/quotes from 5 surgeons now.

Dr. Zukowski in Chicago
Dr. Patel in Chicago
Dr. Chernoff in Indianapolis
Dr. (can't say his name anymore appearently) from Belgium
Dr. Telang through PriyaMed in Mumbia (I hope it's OK to talk about PriyaMed still?)

Honestly these mostly are all top end surgeons.
Dr. Zukowski APBS certified
Dr. Patel is Cranialfacial and Maxiofacial trained. APBS certified
Dr. Chernoff is ABFPRS, ABOHNS, and one board in Canada.
Dr. Telang has multiple trainings in general surgery and plastic from around the world.
The Belgian Dr. went dentistry, medical school, maxillofacial degree.

Dr. Zukowski and the Belgian Dr. do it in one surgery. The others all work with half of the face at a time.

[josie76]

Which doctor in Belgium are you talking about?

Susan left a sticky message and erased every single post about him and his clinic. So appearently we can't speak of him now.

[Becca Kay]

why can't you mention him?  Wha?

[Kendra]

This announcement from Susan provides an explanation.

[TaylorLeigh]

Hi Josie -

I too was strongly considering Dr. Z, given his reputation for soft tissue work. In fact, I had 2 in-person consultations. However, as I felt that I needed Type III forehead work, I looked elsewhere.

I had in-person meetings with Dr. Simon (FacialTeam) and Dr. DiMaggio (MDM Surgery) when both were attending the WPATH conference in L.A. last year.
In the end, I chose Dr. Rossi at T-Change. I mention all this, as it appears you are also considering going abroad for surgery.

If you're interested, here is a link to a Real Self review of my experience with Dr. Rossi, including before & after photos: https://www.realself.com/review/argentina-great-experience-dr-rossi

If you'd like to know more about experiences with Dr. Rossi, you might check out posts on Susans from RubyAliza. Regarding Dr. DiMaggio, there is a really good thread started by Karmagirl.

- Taylor 

[Sonja]

@TaylorLeigh

Taylor - WOW!!, what an amazing change in your before and after! and you look fantastic!

Nice one girl!

Sonja

[josie76]

Taylor, wow you look SO different!

Yes I've come to realize I need a type 3 forehead to level out the sinus over the eyes. My bone is too thin for Dr Z from everything I have heard. I have read that some surgeons will thin the bone until it flexes, then level it with filler but seems like that has potential drawbacks.

I will need to talk with Dr Patel and Dr Chernoff again. The Belgiun Doctor and Dr. Telang do type 3 procedures. Honestly if I were just me, I'd go to Dr. Telang but 21 days in Mumbia with leaving my kids and spouse behind I don't think I could do.

Now I've had a really bad flare up of my back injury so until I can get that taken care of I'm not going to be going anywhere. Plus getting to the end of this who work comp process was my one way to pay for it all. If my back stays like it is now I could loose another year waiting. It was 10 months after the first injury before the insurance company would let the doctor do surgery on my back. Now I have permanent nerve damage but it's feeling like its reherniated partly again. Been waiting 6 weeks for approval for an MRI. I'm so sick of waiting to be alive.