(TL;DR: First my experience with Mommaerts a while ago and then some questions about possible future interactions or alternatives.)
This is so strange. A year ago, there were many raving reviews about Mommaerts all over the internet and he was regarded as somewhat of a miracle worker. It was then (late 2012) that I went for a consultation with him. I can say right off the bat that his department is completely disorganized and was annoying to work with. Like with everything, how I felt about that depends entirely on the context and has multiple sides as on the other hand a disorganized department may indicate that he is one of those people who focus entirely on the actual work with not much regard for organization (these can be the miracle workers).
When I went, I was on the one hand put off by the hospital setting (in contrast to many aesthetic surgeons' settings which are often more inspiring), but on the other hand it inspired confidence as it was a "real hospital". The rest of the consultation was pretty much by the book and as has been described a number of times (told M about my wishes and concerns, made a morph and then talked some more). Overall, I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. I don't really remember why, it was just intuition. I think it was mostly down to the university setting, because I know how medicine in university hospitals works (big chance you get some rookie working on your case with "guidance" from the prof, by the way I think he likes being addressed as professor, or at least I got that vibe from his staff). I also personally didn't get a great vibe from him, but that is totally subjective and not something I let into my decision making too much (after all I'm there for his cutting skills not his people skills. In fact people skills can be deceiving if you are not careful!).
As I felt unsure, I wanted to schedule another consult to go over things again. It took a while to even have them respond to my email and after that, it would take about half a year for the second consult to take place. My patience has limits, so I sent him a list of questions, which on second thought may have been a little forward but on the other hand were things I deserved to know. They contained questions about the approval rates of patients with regards to the surgeries I was considering and whether or not I would be operated on by anyone I hadn't explicitly signed off on. In response to this, he replied via mail he was unsure he could meet my expectations and had decided to drop my case. Upon pressing further (and insisting my expectations were realistic, which they mostly were), he replied within a few minutes that "a patient should have a certain confidence in his surgeon". He then decided to still do one aspect (sliding genioplasty) but not the rest (seemed flip-floppy to me). I replied that it was not a lack of confidence (and that I found it bothersome he thought so) but rather just caution on my part. I never received a reply about that.
I think this story corresponds well to everything people have been placing in this thread. But I also have to say I have never seen pictures of an actually bad result from MM. I have seen some mediocre ones, but for all of them the starting point was bad and I doubt much more could have been achieved realistically (without taking much more risk).
Fast-forward to present day, I had part of my surgeries with another surgeon. The results were not immediately 100% satisfactory but the surgeon understood my concerns and there will be anotehr surgery very soon. I'm not going to bother you with the story about how this situation came to be, but some deliberation and emotional rollercoastering went into it. Regardless I already look better, I just think it can look even better (and my surgeon agrees and doesn't charge much for the second round so I'm confident).
Anyhow, I've recently renewed my interest in Mommaerts because of his Zygoma Sandwhich Osteotomy. It seems like the perfect fit for me because I need some (very little 0.5-1.5mm) frontal projection, a little lateral projection (1-5mm it depends, maybe I Need more than I think) but especially I need the whole arch to move up my face vertically (i.e. the broadest point of my face needs to move up significantly). I asked them for a consult again (explaining I'd had my surgery and was considering one probably final item with MM) and they actually replied pretty quick and said I was welcome for another consultation.
Obviously I'm going to go, but I would also like to know if anyone knows any alternatives for zygoma work? It seems a specialized field that not many operate in.
P.s. I want to re-iterate that I have not once seen a "bad" result from MM and everybody who is crying wolf in this thread just seems silly. I don't think he is particularly courteous or customer-friendly and I wouldn't want to have worked with him for the things my other surgeon did (who is all those things), but for a single well-defined surgery I will still consider him. I also still think it is strange that 1-2 years ago everybody was raving about him, and suddenly everybody is very negative. That seems suspicious to me. Maybe people just had way too high expactations.
