Hello again,

I really don't mean to be a board hog, but I have so many questions. Like many here, I'm still undecided about which surgeon I'd like to perform my FFS. I have joined the FFS Support Yahoo group (I've been obsessed with it), but seeing the post op pictures brings up even more questions for me since there seems to be such a range of results among each surgeon's work.

So anyway, as of now I'm leaning toward these two:

1. Dr. Bart van de Van
2. Dr. Marcelo DiMaggio

My short list is based on their craniofacial and maxillofacial (in the case of Dr. Bart) training. My main concerns are my chin and jaw followed by my forehead. I think I may forego the lip lift (the scar scares me).  Which brings me to my question.

Dr. Bart seems to do pretty consistent jaw work. His foreheads aren't bad, either, but what concerns me are his noses, especially when done in conjunction with the forehead recontouring.  They don't seem like they are changed very much, particularly in height. It also doesn't seem as if he does many alar base reductions/narrowing of the nostrils (although he loves to do the lip lift).  Since I do like his bony work, should I have him do what he does and then have refinements to the nose done with a specialist in soft tissue work? Whenever he has touched the bases of noses (from what I can tell) the nostrils look extremely uneven. Does anyone have any input on this?

Another question I have with Dr. Bart's jaw work is whether he makes much change to the lateral jaw bone. I hear him talk alot about the mandibular angle and the chin, but what about the area in between? I'd certainly like for the height of my jawline to be reduced in height, too. Is this an area he is experienced in? Is this a normal part of this type of surgery, or an optional addition?

These are certainly things I'd like to discuss with him during my consult, but I'd like to see if anyone here has any input first.

Thanks so much, ladies.

Quote from: Michelle33 on April 12, 2014, 12:43:20 AM
Hello again,

I really don't mean to be a board hog, but I have so many questions. Like many here, I'm still undecided about which surgeon I'd like to perform my FFS. I have joined the FFS Support Yahoo group (I've been obsessed with it), but seeing the post op pictures brings up even more questions for me since there seems to be such a range of results among each surgeon's work.

So anyway, as of now I'm leaning toward these two:

1. Dr. Bart van de Van
2. Dr. Marcelo DiMaggio

My short list is based on their craniofacial and maxillofacial (in the case of Dr. Bart) training. My main concerns are my chin and jaw followed by my forehead. I think I may forego the lip lift (the scar scares me).  Which brings me to my question.

Dr. Bart seems to do pretty consistent jaw work. His foreheads aren't bad, either, but what concerns me are his noses, especially when done in conjunction with the forehead recontouring.  They don't seem like they are changed very much, particularly in height. It also doesn't seem as if he does many alar base reductions/narrowing of the nostrils (although he loves to do the lip lift).  Since I do like his bony work, should I have him do what he does and then have refinements to the nose done with a specialist in soft tissue work? Whenever he has touched the bases of noses (from what I can tell) the nostrils look extremely uneven. Does anyone have any input on this?

Another question I have with Dr. Bart's jaw work is whether he makes much change to the lateral jaw bone. I hear him talk alot about the mandibular angle and the chin, but what about the area in between? I'd certainly like for the height of my jawline to be reduced in height, too. Is this an area he is experienced in? Is this a normal part of this type of surgery, or an optional addition?

These are certainly things I'd like to discuss with him during my consult, but I'd like to see if anyone here has any input first.

Thanks so much, ladies.

Oh I see what your concerns are now, to be honest with you, if it's any consolation, his noses aren't always not great, I have seen a few of them when he does shorten them and curve them quite a lot, I know exactly what you mean about him not being aggressive apenough on the nose on many patients but it is a variable and it may depend on certain things, I recently read of a girl who he did the works on, including rhino, but although he did a rhino on her it was a very quick thing on the bridge and threw it in the package for a few hundred euros, other girls require a more lengthy job and that's when it gets more involved.

I've had two rhinoplasties as it is already, so I'm hoping I can get away with a few tweaks to the nose but my priorities are :

Forehead
Hairline roundness
Chin (cleft and height)

In that order of importance.
Then everything else if I can afford the tweaks but I can tell the major impact will be done on the stuff I mentioned above.

Hi there,
I did all of my FFS surgeries with Dr VdV and if you go to his FB group, you will find recent photos showing how it worked out for me. I am reacting here as my nose was a huge challenge, long, wide and dropping at the end. Given this, for me, what he achieved is quite remarkable.

I also think he does some of the consistently best chin and jaw work out there, both in terms in how far he is willing to go and in terms of symmetry.

My face was as masculine as they come yet in spite of this and my advanced age compared to many here, today I pass comfortably as a woman. Without what he did, I simply could not have transitioned. Difficult to ask for much more...

Anyway, rather than doing another long post here I suggest you join his FB group where lot's of other people will provide you with feedback. Actually now that I think of it, if you look at my posts from last Dec - Jan you may still find some photos I posted back then. The FB photos are more recent though.

Wishing you all the best no matter what!
Hugs
Donna


   

Quote from: Donna E on April 28, 2014, 02:31:55 PM
I also think he does some of the consistently best chin and jaw work out there, both in terms in how far he is willing to go and in terms of symmetry.

I agree. I recently saw your before and after photos in another thread here and think your lower face is living proof of that.

Quote from: Celia0428 on April 29, 2014, 06:28:29 PM
I agree. I recently saw your before and after photos in another thread here and think your lower face is living proof of that.

I agree with that. Donna, you're living proof that miracles can happen and Dr Bart is the magician.

Best wishes

Caroline
x

Oh and btw, after doing more research and seeing more of Dr. Bart's before and after pictures of work on jaw lines, I can tell you that jaw lines are just as much a strong point for dr bart as foreheads Hun, really really strong aggressive approach with fantastic results, I mean, pictures speak for themselves. I can't find better than his no matter where I look these days.

Quote from: Donna E on April 28, 2014, 02:31:55 PM
Hi there,
I did all of my FFS surgeries with Dr VdV and if you go to his FB group, you will find recent photos showing how it worked out for me. I am reacting here as my nose was a huge challenge, long, wide and dropping at the end. Given this, for me, what he achieved is quite remarkable.

I also think he does some of the consistently best chin and jaw work out there, both in terms in how far he is willing to go and in terms of symmetry.

My face was as masculine as they come yet in spite of this and my advanced age compared to many here, today I pass comfortably as a woman. Without what he did, I simply could not have transitioned. Difficult to ask for much more...

Anyway, rather than doing another long post here I suggest you join his FB group where lot's of other people will provide you with feedback. Actually now that I think of it, if you look at my posts from last Dec - Jan you may still find some photos I posted back then. The FB photos are more recent though.

Wishing you all the best no matter what!
Hugs
Donna

Donna: Thank you so much for all your input! I did see your pictures in the FFS Yahoo group, and I recently joined Dr. Bart's Facebook page. Your transformation has been incredible. I am more and more impressed with his work as well how thorough his information is on his website. If I may ask, what was the reason you decided to have the procedures done in separate sessions? Do you think it made a difference?

Carly: I am inclined to tally aree with you. His foreheads are great. I have noticed that some surgeons seem to make the forehead so flat; Dr. Bart's seem to be reset but with a slightly feminine curve, which I love! I do believe he is the doctor for me.

Quote from: Michelle33 on May 02, 2014, 11:00:51 AM
Donna: Thank you so much for all your input! I did see your pictures in the FFS Yahoo group, and I recently joined Dr. Bart's Facebook page. Your transformation has been incredible. I am more and more impressed with his work as well how thorough his information is on his website. If I may ask, what was the reason you decided to have the procedures done in separate sessions? Do you think it made a difference?

Hi Michelle,
I did my FFS in two sessions for two main reasons:

1. It is was integral to my whole approach to transitioning ie. one step at a time. In 2011 I wasn't yet sure I was going to go all the way, mostly because my face was so masculine that I just didn't think I could pull it off ie. actually be perceived by others as a woman. So I did upper face first to see what could be achieved while at the same time leaving myself the possibility of stopping at that if the results weren't good enough. My nose was the biggest target and at the time I was able to explain the changes to others just on the basis of my wish to have less of a honker.. 

2. Given the amount of work that was required, more than 15 hours of surgery for upper and lower face, there was no way it could all have been done in one session.

I also believe that yes,  the overall result was better having done the surgery in two separate sessions. I did the lower face more than a year after upper face which means that Dr VdV was really able to work on the overall balance of the face. During the second session, he also did a significant (free) revision to my nose. The only downside was having to bear some additional hospital costs plus having to go through a second convalescence with a badly messed up face

Hope that helps and wishing you all the best.
Donna