Dr Mommaerts ruined my face

[newchin]

Ill keep this as concise as possible. A couple of years ago I found a couple of happy patient reviews of Dr mommaerts and was tempted by his reasonable prices and glossy veneer. I wish i found this forum first. Anyway, I initially went for a sliding genioplasty but was talked into jaw angle augmentation using HA paste too. Stupidly trusted and agreed. Fast forward to a couple moths after when the swelling mostly dissipated. My left jaw "angle" was significantly lower and more pronounced than the right. He agreed and offered an in office revision. That was torturous. I literally laid back in a dentist chair while they scraped at my jaw bone. After it healed a couple months later, it was no different whatsoever , only i could feel a small delve in it where he scraped the same spot.

My lower lip never moved the same again, and i was unable to move it downwards to show my bottom teeth, which here now a weird combo of very sensitive but slightly numb? i can't describe it. Its like the feeling of local anaesthetic wearing off. But permanent, Anyway! i booked myself in for a revision with Henri Thuau in London and that was last week. I was in theatre for almost 6 hours and the findings and outcome weren't so great. Id went in to have the HA removed entirely and my sliding genioplasty revised as it was way too high since he'd moved it horizontally up rather than just forward. What Dr Thuau found made me cry. I came around after the anaesthesia wore off to be told they couldn't remove the paste nor could they redo the genioplasty.

The HA paste had been placed in a way that it had "leaked" into and around muscle and soft tissue, leaving it intertwined with everything. Removing it would mean removing pieces of muscle and soft tissue which could have serious adverse affects on facial movement and appearance. He said he'd never seen this kind of material used as an augmentation tool, its just not controllable enough nor can it be placed precisely enough. The only reason MM was able to remove some before, if he even did, was because it hadn't fully set yet.

My genioplasty couldn't be revised as the piece of bone cut before was very thin. MM used more HA paste to cover the gap and also the screws. Dr Thuau said the screws look like they may even be screwed dangerously close to, if not into the roots of my teeth and suggested i see a dentist asap to see what that situation is. The screws for these reasons were unable to be removed leaving me stuck with this chin forever. I also had 2 huge delves either side of my chin as the genioplasty was brought quite far forward, and the HA was placed in a lump at the back of my jaw. This created a huge dip in between. MM also performed lipo on my neck without my permission, and i wasn't supplied with a compression garment after. This gave me loose skin on my neck and weird track marks from the lipo tool.

Please don't make the same mistake i did and research your surgeon inside out. I had to have a neck lift at 29, and will be stuck with this crap in my face for the rest of my life. Luckily my recent surgery improved it on the outside somewhat. and i have high high praise for Dr Thuau. His bedside manor and expertise are second to none and i only wish id went to him first.

[Lazlo]

Ill keep this as concise as possible. A couple of years ago I found a couple of happy patient reviews of Dr mommaerts and was tempted by his reasonable prices and glossy veneer. I wish i found this forum first. Anyway, I initially went for a sliding genioplasty but was talked into jaw angle augmentation using HA paste too. Stupidly trusted and agreed. Fast forward to a couple moths after when the swelling mostly dissipated. My left jaw "angle" was significantly lower and more pronounced than the right. He agreed and offered an in office revision. That was torturous. I literally laid back in a dentist chair while they scraped at my jaw bone. After it healed a couple months later, it was no different whatsoever , only i could feel a small delve in it where he scraped the same spot.

My lower lip never moved the same again, and i was unable to move it downwards to show my bottom teeth, which here now a weird combo of very sensitive but slightly numb? i can't describe it. Its like the feeling of local anaesthetic wearing off. But permanent, Anyway! i booked myself in for a revision with Henri Thuau in London and that was last week. I was in theatre for almost 6 hours and the findings and outcome weren't so great. Id went in to have the HA removed entirely and my sliding genioplasty revised as it was way too high since he'd moved it horizontally up rather than just forward. What Dr Thuau found made me cry. I came around after the anaesthesia wore off to be told they couldn't remove the paste nor could they redo the genioplasty.

The HA paste had been placed in a way that it had "leaked" into and around muscle and soft tissue, leaving it intertwined with everything. Removing it would mean removing pieces of muscle and soft tissue which could have serious adverse affects on facial movement and appearance. He said he'd never seen this kind of material used as an augmentation tool, its just not controllable enough nor can it be placed precisely enough. The only reason MM was able to remove some before, if he even did, was because it hadn't fully set yet.

My genioplasty couldn't be revised as the piece of bone cut before was very thin. MM used more HA paste to cover the gap and also the screws. Dr Thuau said the screws look like they may even be screwed dangerously close to, if not into the roots of my teeth and suggested i see a dentist asap to see what that situation is. The screws for these reasons were unable to be removed leaving me stuck with this chin forever. I also had 2 huge delves either side of my chin as the genioplasty was brought quite far forward, and the HA was placed in a lump at the back of my jaw. This created a huge dip in between. MM also performed lipo on my neck without my permission, and i wasn't supplied with a compression garment after. This gave me loose skin on my neck and weird track marks from the lipo tool.

Please don't make the same mistake i did and research your surgeon inside out. I had to have a neck lift at 29, and will be stuck with this crap in my face for the rest of my life. Luckily my recent surgery improved it on the outside somewhat. and i have high high praise for Dr Thuau. His bedside manor and expertise are second to none and i only wish id went to him first.

Oh man so sorry to hear this. Yes Mommaerts seems to produce a lot of s**t results. I'm glad you were able to get at least some improvement. ugh....

A neck lift is probably a great idea. Does it leave any scars and where? Who did you go to have the neck lift done cause I think i need one, i have a naturally kind of droopy fat neck/double chin situation even when I am fit and lost weight.

I can't believe Mommaerts put HA paste all over the screws and stuff. At least it's not dangerous for your health.

What are your future plants? Do you think you could get a chin wing? Are you relatively satisfied with your appreance now? I wish you the best.

[ditterbo]

Wow that was horrifying to read   I feel so sorry for you... hopefully the screws can be taken out.  That sort of s**t would make me so paranoid.   Has your lower lip movement improved with the revision?
 I think I know what you mean by the chin delves.  I have them too from a chin implant but I know HA is (rarely) used to sort of add a more natural taper and offset the dips in soft tissue around the area of chin augmentation.

[kjohnt]

Damn I'm sorry to read this.  I really am anti-anything related to HA paste.  It just feels like there isn't enough research regarding both long-term health effects and proper placement/application and doctors are kind of using patients as test subjects.  I personally don't want anything to do with it.

[trojans101]

I've spoken to a few surgeons and they have no negatives when it comes to ha paste. I just think it should be used conservatively. For instance smoothing out a genioplasty. Jaw angles could be pushing it.

[girl]

Newchin, I'm sorry about what you've been through. No surgeon in their right mind would ever consider 'dental chair' bone shaving.

I too had a botched sliding genioplasty (a huge, grotesque advancement) a couple of years ago. I went to Thuau for a revision, but - when all was said and done - there was no discernible improvement. In my case, he wasn't honest about that fact and I was given the run around for a year prior to my surgery date.

IMO, you need to see someone who is well-versed in complex facial bone revisions.

The good news is that four months after my failed revision, I underwent surgery with a different doctor who reversed the genioplasty by 5-6mm and moved it upwards. Admittedly, my chin is still a (significantly smaller) mess, but prior to that I looked totally disfigured and was in constant pain.

I've managed to improve the situation further with Botox injections into the mentalis muscle as well as injections of phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate to remove botched fat grafting, which was shoved all over my face by some other incompetent sociopath.

Regarding the bone paste that's intertwined with the muscle: dilute kenalog injections may melt the scar tissue that's formed around it (most permanent fillers become encapsulated) and reduce the bulk somewhat. However, the kenalog MUST be reconstituted first. The surgeon who massacred my chin used 40% kenalog in my upper lip, which atrophied and dented it.w

HA is regularly used in facial bone augmentation - it's definitely not an oddity, but permanent fillers (or 'semi-permanent') are - on the whole - bad news. My hunch is that a face lift approach would be needed to extract the HA paste - this is what I was told about my fat grafting. Since your area of concern is a relatively isolated one, I'd opt for dilute steroid injections and camouflage the remainder with hyaluronic acid.

Again, sorry to hear about your situation. How long has it been since you saw Mommaerts? I was told that nerve injuries can take up to two years to recover. If possible, see a neurologist and get checked out.

[PloskoPlus]

Neurologists are worthless, or at least the one I saw (did not know basic anatomy, the worthless prick).  Once the nerves are damaged, there is nothing that can be done - they either recover or they don't.  Anti-convulsants to stop the burning, but that's about it (I tried a small dose, didn't help).  A doctor friend of mine suggested a TENS machine and smoking pot.  He told me to stay away from mega-doses of anti-convulsants, which is what most GPs or neurologist would suggest "they are safe, epileptics take them for decades!".  Great, just great.  Your nerves could be impinged, but a neurologist won't help here, only a surgeon.

[newchin]

Sorry for the late reply, been keeping to myself whilst I heal. The good news is my neck lift improved upon my appearance a lot and my neck now looks great. I have a scar under my chin which is similar to that of an external chin implant scar. I had medlar placed into the delves either side of my chin too, however, they seem to have slipped down a bit causing a noticeable step off. The one on my right side is also too low and I think too large. The void on that side was much smaller than on my other, and if the same sized implant was used for both sides, that may be the cause of my right side looking big and rounded whereas my left is a straighter line minus the small step off. Im going back in January for a revision (all going to plan) to have the medpor moved back up and hopefully reshaped on the right side. Im also opting for a small implant under my chin to give me some vertical height since they weren't able to revise the genioplasty which decreased the height of my chin previously making my face looks squashed up. My bottom lip now only moves down on one side, further adding to my asymmetry and strange looking lower face.

Tbh if I could go back in time I wouldn't have done any of it. I love my new nose and the neck lift was fantastic (ill post pics of it soon). Just the jaw/chin/bone stuff has completely ruined my self confidence. Every picture thats taken of me my eyes go straight to my asymmetric jaw and chin. My left side and right side look completely different. To anyone looking to undergo such big procedures like sliding genioplasty, opt for an implant instead. I know that comes with its own set of possible side effects but at least they're much more easily reversible. Im f**ked up for life now. Ive already spent $30,000 of my life savings on this journey and truth be told, I've never been more insecure.

[ditterbo]

Are you referring to the neck lipo done by MM or did Thau do a revision neck surgery while he was in there for 6 hours?  Your lower lip function got worse after Thaus revision?  You already said your lower lip doesn't pull down correctly since the MM surgery.

[falcao]

The man is a f**king psychopath and he has ruined many faces/lives.

My surgery to remove the HA paste which he applied extremely dangerously took over 4 hours and it wasn't completely removed in the end. The screws also could not be removed and my surgeon said he had not seen anything like it.

The butcher belongs to jail and should not be operating in a public hospital (or any hospital).

I've had numerous revisions since. My life was never the same after that surgery. I was ruined financially and emotionally by his negligence. No surgeon could believe what he had done to my face and occlusion.

There are so many people who have contacted me throughout the years whose lives have been destroyed by him.

I just wanted to say that you're not alone.

[Lazlo]

Sorry for the late reply, been keeping to myself whilst I heal. The good news is my neck lift improved upon my appearance a lot and my neck now looks great. I have a scar under my chin which is similar to that of an external chin implant scar. I had medlar placed into the delves either side of my chin too, however, they seem to have slipped down a bit causing a noticeable step off. The one on my right side is also too low and I think too large. The void on that side was much smaller than on my other, and if the same sized implant was used for both sides, that may be the cause of my right side looking big and rounded whereas my left is a straighter line minus the small step off. Im going back in January for a revision (all going to plan) to have the medpor moved back up and hopefully reshaped on the right side. Im also opting for a small implant under my chin to give me some vertical height since they weren't able to revise the genioplasty which decreased the height of my chin previously making my face looks squashed up. My bottom lip now only moves down on one side, further adding to my asymmetry and strange looking lower face.

Tbh if I could go back in time I wouldn't have done any of it. I love my new nose and the neck lift was fantastic (ill post pics of it soon). Just the jaw/chin/bone stuff has completely ruined my self confidence. Every picture thats taken of me my eyes go straight to my asymmetric jaw and chin. My left side and right side look completely different. To anyone looking to undergo such big procedures like sliding genioplasty, opt for an implant instead. I know that comes with its own set of possible side effects but at least they're much more easily reversible. Im f**ked up for life now. Ive already spent $30,000 of my life savings on this journey and truth be told, I've never been more insecure.

hey dude, would love to see a picture story of your changes from beginning to end. Sounds like despite all the travails you are finally in a really good place. Very glad to heard it. Your confidence will grow soon I'm sure of it.

[girl]

Sorry for the late reply, been keeping to myself whilst I heal. The good news is my neck lift improved upon my appearance a lot and my neck now looks great. I have a scar under my chin which is similar to that of an external chin implant scar. I had medlar placed into the delves either side of my chin too, however, they seem to have slipped down a bit causing a noticeable step off. The one on my right side is also too low and I think too large. The void on that side was much smaller than on my other, and if the same sized implant was used for both sides, that may be the cause of my right side looking big and rounded whereas my left is a straighter line minus the small step off. Im going back in January for a revision (all going to plan) to have the medpor moved back up and hopefully reshaped on the right side. Im also opting for a small implant under my chin to give me some vertical height since they weren't able to revise the genioplasty which decreased the height of my chin previously making my face looks squashed up. My bottom lip now only moves down on one side, further adding to my asymmetry and strange looking lower face.

Tbh if I could go back in time I wouldn't have done any of it. I love my new nose and the neck lift was fantastic (ill post pics of it soon). Just the jaw/chin/bone stuff has completely ruined my self confidence. Every picture thats taken of me my eyes go straight to my asymmetric jaw and chin. My left side and right side look completely different. To anyone looking to undergo such big procedures like sliding genioplasty, opt for an implant instead. I know that comes with its own set of possible side effects but at least they're much more easily reversible. Im f**ked up for life now. Ive already spent $30,000 of my life savings on this journey and truth be told, I've never been more insecure.

Revising the vertical height of the genioplasty (making it longer) is 100% do-able. Placing an implant UNDER the chin sounds like a disaster waiting to happen - I speak as someone who once had a chin implant slide underneath my chin.

You could consider David Dunaway. He uses custom implants and has treated many people in a similar predicament.

As I mentioned before, my revision with Thuau did more harm than good. As it sounds like you require custom implant work and/or a vertical lengthening genioplasty, you still have the opportunity to go elsewhere rather than throw good money after bad.

[mary-ann]

OMG that was really horrifying to read, but glad I read it because i was strongly consdering going to him to do an overbite surgery fix, he is the same Mommaerts that does overbite surgeries too right?

[justme]

I know what your talking about. I have same issue - some nasty paste/bone granules or whatever placed on top of my right jaw. All that goodness overgrew by my own bone in time and just like in your case - the results not stable, cannot be removed, huge solid bump on the right side that makes the cheek look big. Most importantly it cannot be removed. Well, it can be removed, but the risk of damaging the nerve is huge so noone wantS to do anything. After some research I found out that is procedure is experimental in nature and almost never performed. My surgeon never told me that this s**t is unstable when it comes to results and cannot be removed. So, this is where saying i know how you feel means just that - i do know. Sorry you have to deal with that for the rest of your life.

[Lestat]

I consider doing jaw angle augmentation through HA with Prof. M.M.

It is my only possibility for a better jaw.

I don't know what else to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVNcKLMyu9k