E!’s Botched Patient Jenn Shares Her Deviated Septum Story
If you are a patient considering revision rhinoplasty, your choice of surgeon is extremely important. Having a previous rhinoplasty corrected takes precise skill and extensive training. A surgeon who specializes not only in general rhinoplasty but also revision rhinoplasty will be your best option.
This is something that Jennifer Farinet discovered on the July 6th episode of “Botched”, E! network’s newest television series. This show stars our very own Dr. Paul Nassif and Dr. Terry Dubrow as plastic surgeons who work together to correct previous cosmetic surgeries that have had disastrous results. Jennifer came on the show hoping to fix her nose after having two previous rhinoplasties.
Jennifer had the first rhinoplasty to correct a deviated septum that had resulted from falling down as a child and getting numerous soccer balls to the face in her years as a goalie. In addition to causing her physical problems with breathing, her nose was the subject of teasing and bullying while she was growing up. When she made it to the first doctor, he told her she had one of the worst deviated septums he had ever seen.
After her first surgery, Jennifer noticed a large bump on the right side of her nose. Her doctor told her that it was just swelling from the procedure, but the bump stuck around after her nose had healed. It turned out that her septum had not been fixed at all. The first rhinoplasty had caused the left side of her nose to collapse and her septum to stick out in her right nasal passage, causing the bump.
Jennifer saw the same doctor for her second rhinoplasty, which was supposed to revise the original surgery and fix her septum for good. Unfortunately, the second procedure did nothing to correct the bump on her nose and Jennifer spent the next four years continuing to suffer physically and emotionally.
When Dr. Nassif had the opportunity to examine Jennifer, he confirmed that her septum was horribly mangled and one of the ten worst he’d ever seen. It was broken, pieces were missing, and it was basically shaped like an “L”. There was even a wire leftover from the second procedure poking out into the nasal passage!
Dr. Nassif was able to use cartilage from Jennifer’s ear to fix her septum and tissue from her scalp to even out her nasal passages and improve the function of her nose. When Jennifer took her first breath with all the bandages off, her response was so emotional that even Dr. Nassif couldn’t help getting emotional, too. “I’ve never been able to breathe like that before,” she said tearfully.
Now Jennifer is thriving and has never been in a better physical and emotional state. When asked in a post-surgery interview why she had returned to the same doctor for her revision rhinoplasty, she said that it was because her doctor was supposed to be one of the best in town and that she didn’t know any better. “I automatically assumed it was my anatomy that had caused the botched result. It wasn’t until after the revision that I realized maybe I hadn’t seen the right doctor for my condition.” She also said that she and her mother had actually talked about going to see Dr. Nassif for the second procedure, but couldn’t come up with the money for the trip.
Jennifer also commented on her experience with Dr. Nassif: “If you think Dr. Nassif looks like a wonderful doctor on TV, I can tell you first hand it is not because of editing. Dr. Nassif is truly one of the most genuine, caring, and professional people in the world. Even when the cameras weren’t rolling, I knew I was Dr. Nassif’s top priority when I was with him…The talent and the precision that Dr. Nassif works with is beyond remarkable. While we all look beautiful after the surgery, the real beauty is in how skillful these doctors really are and how much effort they put into each individual case to ensure the safety of their patients.”
You can read Jennifer’s entire post-surgery interview here and watch Dr. Nassif on E!’s “Botched” every Sunday at 10 PM ET/PT.