My experience with dr Defrancq

[djsbelgium]

I had a 1st appointment with dr Defrancq at his clinic (so in person, not on Skype).

He was running late for a good 25 mins for our appointment. I came in and he read the form i had to fill in beforehand. Most of his time was spent analysing and touching my face. It was hard to talk to him and he just kind of did his thing. Maybe he was in a bad mood or i don't know but it seemed like he didn't take me seriously (maybe because of my age? im in my early 20s). He seemed like a textbook 'boomer', don't know how to say it otherwise. I had a whole list of questions but i couldn't manage to ask even one of them. I also showed a plan another surgeon made me (in terms of jaw advancements etc). I asked him if he agreed with it, he didn't answer.

I have contact with a woman who had sarpe+bimax+cheekbones done with him. She said she had the same impression of his character but she said she found him very friendly but that wasn't the case for me. However her results were VERY impressive. She went from straight up flat faced to a nice forward grown natural looking face.

A week later after the appointment he mailed me after analysing the pictures he took. He said he recommends bimax (even though i told him im 100% sure on bimax already). He also asked to take Cone beam CT scans. 3 weeks later now he hasn't looked at them or replied to my mail even though his secretary promised me a reply. I know he's more than busy but it's taking weeks.

Does anyone else here have experience with dr Defrancq? Did you get the same impression of him? For me it's hard to trust someone i don't feel comfortable with with my health. Also, i'm not sure if i like his bimax results, to me they don't have enough advancement in many cases. Opinions?

[Dogmatix]

Surgeons, especially the better ones who "knows" what to do are not interested in looking at another surgeons plan. I even think it can be considered an insult and the response may very well be to advice you to go to the other surgeon if you're not there to get his opinion. Also that you tell him that YOU are 100% sure you need bimax is probably just ignored, because he will only perform a surgery he is comfortable with and what he will do is to analyze you and tell you what he will offer you. From there you can of course have a discussion if you have some preferences and maybe not want a very strong chin, or if you do etc and make small adjustments.

If you were to consult with a less known surgeon that not consider himself an opinion leader, they may be more humble and even interested in e.g what a Gunson plan looks like and see if they can do something similar.

But yes, I think what you're describing is what many patients who have a lot of questions and have been reading up and studying experience. You come in well prepared for an in-depth discussion, but a discussion at that level rarely happen.

[ben from UK]

That's his character. He's very difficult to talk to and basically draws his own plan. He doesn't like being confronted with other surgeons or other surgeon's plans. Some of his work is good, but if you are dissatisfied, he's difficult. He also takes way too much patients to give individual care. He only did 70 percent of what was promised to me.

[djsbelgium]

That's his character. He's very difficult to talk to and basically draws his own plan. He doesn't like being confronted with other surgeons or other surgeon's plans. Some of his work is good, but if you are dissatisfied, he's difficult. He also takes way too much patients to give individual care. He only did 70 percent of what was promised to me.

I 100% agree with your experience. He takes way too many patients, difficult to talk to etc. 

Why is he popular around here in the first place? I do have to say, the girl i talk to who had surgery with him, had outstanding results (bimax+genio+cheekbones).

What was planned/done in your case? Have u tried other Belgian private surgeons like dr Noorman van der Dussen?

[djsbelgium]

Surgeons, especially the better ones who "knows" what to do are not interested in looking at another surgeons plan. I even think it can be considered an insult and the response may very well be to advice you to go to the other surgeon if you're not there to get his opinion. Also that you tell him that YOU are 100% sure you need bimax is probably just ignored, because he will only perform a surgery he is comfortable with and what he will do is to analyze you and tell you what he will offer you. From there you can of course have a discussion if you have some preferences and maybe not want a very strong chin, or if you do etc and make small adjustments.

If you were to consult with a less known surgeon that not consider himself an opinion leader, they may be more humble and even interested in e.g what a Gunson plan looks like and see if they can do something similar.

But yes, I think what you're describing is what many patients who have a lot of questions and have been reading up and studying experience. You come in well prepared for an in-depth discussion, but a discussion at that level rarely happen.

How/why did he gain his popularity in the first place around here?

[ben from UK]

I 100% agree with your experience. He takes way too many patients, difficult to talk to etc. 

Why is he popular around here in the first place? I do have to say, the girl i talk to who had surgery with him, had outstanding results (bimax+genio+cheekbones).

What was planned/done in your case? Have u tried other Belgian private surgeons like dr Noorman van der Dussen?

I think he has become more popular lately due to increasing popularity of PEEK, and he's one of the few that does PEEK. In other words, PEEK is being hyped, and most people on this board follow hypes cause they're extremely insecure. Same was the case with cw a couple of years ago.

I don't think he's a bad surgeon, but he has too much patients and when you have too much patients, chances are the quality of an individual case diminishes. The quality of a procedure highly depends on the time that is put into a procedure and the finishing touch. Defranq is probably thinking too much about money, he should focus more on the quality. If he does that and he's willing to be open towards critique and a patient's opinion, he could be one of the best. He still has some passion and perfectionism in him, but too little time for each patient. The procedure and office are very chaotic with so much patients.

All in all I have to admit that he didn't do a very bad job with me. The outcome was better than before. The only thing is, he did only 80 percent of the plan.

Dr. Van der dussen is a nice guy but he's mainly focused on female feminization. Also, I don't think he does all his procedures himself (that's just my intuition). He should take a better assistent, cause his assistent is probably only at 50 percent of van der dussens level.

I don't think there's alot of choice when it comes to implants. You also have a dr. In Rotterdam. His in office results were the best I have ever seen, but he's very grumpy as well and only works with silicone.

Advantage of PEEK is that it can be taken out like silicone (unless it's porous peek, then it will be more difficult). Other advantage might be that infection is easier to treat. Well, at least it seems like that. I think I had an infection, but the infection went away. Maybe I didn't have an infection or I had a very mild infection, but defrancq was sure all infections with PEEK were treatable with antibiotics or went away by themselves. He probably spoke the truth about that. Van der dussen said infecions with PEEK were different than with silicone. But maybe there are different levels of infection, with the more dangerous category when you have fever etc. If you want to avoid infections with implants, you can do the external aproach. But you will have scars, which for a man is not super annoying if it's not very visible (some scars even add to attractivenes with men), but for a woman it is I guess.

[djsbelgium]

I think he has become more popular lately due to increasing popularity of PEEK, and he's one of the few that does PEEK. In other words, PEEK is being hyped, and most people on this board follow hypes cause they're extremely insecure. Same was the case with cw a couple of years ago.

I don't think he's a bad surgeon, but he has too much patients and when you have too much patients, chances are the quality of an individual case diminishes. The quality of a procedure highly depends on the time that is put into a procedure and the finishing touch. Defranq is probably thinking too much about money, he should focus more on the quality. If he does that and he's willing to be open towards critique and a patient's opinion, he could be one of the best. He still has some passion and perfectionism in him, but too little time for each patient. The procedure and office are very chaotic with so much patients.

All in all I have to admit that he didn't do a very bad job with me. The outcome was better than before. The only thing is, he did only 80 percent of the plan.

Dr. Van der dussen is a nice guy but he's mainly focused on female feminization. Also, I don't think he does all his procedures himself (that's just my intuition). He should take a better assistent, cause his assistent is probably only at 50 percent of van der dussens level.

I don't think there's alot of choice when it comes to implants. You also have a dr. In Rotterdam. His in office results were the best I have ever seen, but he's very grumpy as well and only works with silicone.

Advantage of PEEK is that it can be taken out like silicone (unless it's porous peek, then it will be more difficult). Other advantage might be that infection is easier to treat. Well, at least it seems like that. I think I had an infection, but the infection went away. Maybe I didn't have an infection or I had a very mild infection, but defrancq was sure all infections with PEEK were treatable with antibiotics or went away by themselves. He probably spoke the truth about that. Van der dussen said infecions with PEEK were different than with silicone. But maybe there are different levels of infection, with the more dangerous category when you have fever etc. If you want to avoid infections with implants, you can do the external aproach. But you will have scars, which for a man is not super annoying if it's not very visible (some scars even add to attractivenes with men), but for a woman it is I guess.

I 100% agree with Defrancq. Passionate but grumpy and takes too many patients for his own good, greedy probably.

What was the plan for you personally (besides PEEK (?)) and what wasn't done properly?

Who's that doctor in Rotterdam you mentioned?

I'm getting bimax done in a public hospital (way cheaper, and as skilled surgeons as the private ones). I can't trust Defrancq with a bimax, plus i think his movements are on the lower side of what i'd like. He said that he doesn't work with analyses like Arnett/Gunnson or Steiner analysis but moves the jaws based on his feel/experience with does sound sketchy to me.

I might get cheekbones done in a 2nd surgery (preferably with HA paste). Do you think dr Defrancq or Noorman vd Dussen is a good option if i want only cheekbones done? I know they both use HA paste. If Noorman van der Dussen can do female cheekbones, then he knows what male cheekbones are like, no?

Besides that i have mild mandibular asymmetry but i don't think thats worth getting a PEEK implant for.

[ben from UK]

I 100% agree with Defrancq. Passionate but grumpy and takes too many patients for his own good, greedy probably.

What was the plan for you personally (besides PEEK (?)) and what wasn't done properly?

Who's that doctor in Rotterdam you mentioned?

I'm getting bimax done in a public hospital (way cheaper, and as skilled surgeons as the private ones). I can't trust Defrancq with a bimax, plus i think his movements are on the lower side of what i'd like. He said that he doesn't work with analyses like Arnett/Gunnson or Steiner analysis but moves the jaws based on his feel/experience with does sound sketchy to me.

I might get cheekbones done in a 2nd surgery (preferably with HA paste). Do you think dr Defrancq or Noorman vd Dussen is a good option if i want only cheekbones done? I know they both use HA paste. If Noorman van der Dussen can do female cheekbones, then he knows what male cheekbones are like, no?

Besides that i have mild mandibular asymmetry but i don't think thats worth getting a PEEK implant for.

Van der dussen has alot of knowledge about facial proportions and he knows what to do on paper, but he seems to lack the technical ability to produce good outcomes. Maybe it's because he lets his assistant do the major part of the procedures, I don't know. He also doesn't seem to have the technical experience when it comes to augmantation procedures. He's mainly a boneshaver for females (most of his patients are females), and also conservative when it comes to boneshaving with females it seems. I think he might have had bad experiences in the past, doing too much, and now he's being cautious. I think defrancq is a better surgeon. Defrancq also has way more experience with procedures on males. You need to have alot of experience to do these kind of procedures. Defrancqs calculation of the implant design were right in my case. It's extremely difficult to calculate the right dimensions. You deal with a 2d design and a 3d face. You need to have aestethic eye and you need to have the intuition of an artist. Most of the time an implant has to be shaved during the procedure.

I'd rather not go into too much detail about my own procedure with defrancq. I don't think defrancq is a bad guy. He told me he had sleepless nights when a surgery goes wrong. I do believe him, but he's extremely difficult to talk with.  I wouldn't want to have his job by the way.

The fact that he has so many patients is probably because he's a decent surgeon. It's also a business. If you have success, you're not going to decline patients. I do understand the business side of it. In the end, it doesn't really matter if a surgeon is grumpy or nice. I know nice surgeons that are completely worthless. The only positive thing with a nice and social surgeon is that it's probably easier to get a revision with him. The best surgeon when it comes to implants that I know is s very grumpy guy by the way.

[Leen]

. The best surgeon when it comes to implants that I know is s very grumpy guy by the way.

I had surgeries with nice doctors, when results is not good you will see the other face..
If may I ask, who would you recommend for custom implants?