What should you do if you get a bad rhinoplasty --- I Don't recommend going to Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, known among many of his peers as "Dick Ellenbogus" -- unless you want your nose chopped off to a stump and rotated up like Micheal Jackson's. Unless you want a giant ugly space between your nose and your lip or you are a fan of blunt almost tipless, flat, unprojected noses with complete nostril retraction -- I don't recommend going to Ellenbogen (Ellenbogus). Ellenbogen's style of super short, crooked, ugly pig snout looking noses are referred to among his peers as the "Ellenbogus pig snout". That's what several top reconstructive doctors told me.
ALSO BEWARE OF Dr. BABAK DADVAND WHO ASSISTED RICHARED ELLENBOGEN IN REMOVING THE INTERNAL TIPS OF MANY PEOPLES' NOSES AND ASSISTED RICHARD ELLENBOGEN WITH LEAVING PEOPLE WITH OPEN WOUNDS. PLEASE BEWARE OF RICHARD ELLENBOGEN AND Dr. BABAK DADVAND.
What people don't realize is that any quack can get in magazines such as People, Cosmo, etc and on TV shows such as Oprah, Dr. Phil, CNN, Discovery Health, etc. including Jan Adams, Michael Evan Sachs and Brad Jacobs --all addicts who have finally lost their medical licences. Bad doctors often hire publicists to get them on TV and to get fame b/c that is really the only way for them to get patients.
Below is what one lady wrote on ripoffreport.com -- she is one of many who was deformed by Richard Ellenbogen & her photos of her collapsed nose is posted above:
"I am a 22 year old female that wanted a slight cosmetic improvement on my nose. Richard Ellenbogen completely destroyed my nose and face. Because of what he did, I had to endure an expensive and difficult revision.
I found Richard Ellenbogen of Beverly Hills Body while he was featured on Dr. 90210. Thinking he was a renowned Rhinoplasty specialist, I went to consult with him. I was blinded by his self-proclaimed fame and supposed reputation / experience of being the best rhinoplasty surgeon.
I was told that he only operated on the tip of my nose. The days after the surgery, my family and I were in complete and utter shock. My face was deformed and my nose was MUTILATED and chopped off.
I questioned Richard Ellenbogen and his assistant Babak Dadvand and was instead ignored and rushed out of the office.
Feeling betrayed and helpless, I consulted with several other rhinoplasty specialists only to find out that Richard Ellenbogen had completely lied about the entire procedure. Every surgeon that I went to was shocked at my awful results from him. They all told me, according to my surgery report, Ellenbogen did MAJOR work, breaking my bridge bone and bone under my eyes. He did this WITHOUT my permission. My bridge was left twisted and very jagged. My entire nose was completely upturned and flattened. My tip was crooked, collapsing, and over shortened.
There was nothing supporting my tip so it was deflated / flat. Richard Ellenbogen also left a large piece of random plastic on one side of my tip which was about to POP OUT of my skin!!! I have scars left on my nose from the plastic pushing out."
Check out Ellenbogen's many horrific ratings from ratemds.com -- Ellenbogen continually has his lawyers threaten to delete and remove his ratings.
Dr. Richard Ellenbogen
Los Angeles, California
Gender: M
Specialty: Cosmetic/Plastic Surgery
Average Punctuality: 2.0
Average Helpfulness: 1.4
Average Knowledge: 1.4
Overall Quality: 1.4
Averages range: 1 - 5
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Date Comments
11/21/07 1 1 1 1 my wife went to him for a very minor change -- the tip of her nose was a little pinched on one side. ellenbogen removed 90% of the tip of her nose and made her nose look like 2 holes with almost no tip and no projection. she just paid over $30,000 for a reconstructive surgery using her rib to rebuild the tip. she needs another intense reconstructive surgery in a year because ellenbogen basically amputated the tip of her nose -- since going to him, she is unrecognizeable. she used to be gorgeous. many people think that he has an alcohol addiction. in any case, he seems to have no conscience.
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10/19/07 1 3 1 1 I went in to have my tip redone and add fat to my face. I explained to him what I wanted done to my nose and he said he knew exactly what to do. He seemed so confident so I wasn't worried. OMG when the splint came off I was shocked. My nose is too short and slightly crooked. The fat he added makes me look totally different and not in a good way. I would definitely NOT recommend him. Now I have to find another surgeon and pay more money I don't have.
Insurance: none
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10/11/07 1 1 1 1 Dr. Ellenbogen is evil!!! money hungry and talentless. I find it funny that his staff wrote the only positive comment on him below. His staff is just as responsible for the pain he has caused in so many ppls lives. I had surgery with him 7 months ago. My nose is deformed and short. He also injected different amounts of fat in my face...making my face lopsided and fat. He will continuously lie to your face and ignore any problems you might have. In fact, once you pay him...you might as well forget trying to get him to talk with you. He will spend less than 5 mins seeing you before and after your surgery. Its pathetic that he is still praticing. He is so old!! almost 65+! PLEASE....do NOT bother seeing this so called "doctor"...you will save yourself from suffering his mutilating work. It will cost me almost $18000+ to fix what he has done to me. This man does not deserve to be called a doctor. SHAME ON HIM and HIS STAFF!!!
Insurance: none
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9/29/07 1 1 1 1 This doctor is notorious for treating patient care casually and without respect. His techniques are outdated, and his approach to rhinoplasty is to remove significant portions of your nose. His style is very 80's nose job - small and turned up. My sister had rhinoplasty with him and he destroyed her nose and then kicked her out of his office when she went back crying and asking what happened. Do NOT enter this surgeon's office. He does not even adhere to the lowest standard of care.
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7/27/07 1 1 1 1 My sister went to Richard Ellenbogen b/c she thought he had a great website and he is famous. It turns out he pays for a lot of advertisements and has publicist -- so he is able to scam the public. He really destroyed my sister's nose. She's been crying and extrememly depressed ever since. He did not return her phone calls, and he told her that if she didn't want to look different, then she should not have had surgery. He told her that he's been doing noses for over 35 years -- clearly his techniques are completely out dated. He is a terrible man. My sister is suicidal. She has to undergo at least one 8 hour surgery that requires using part of her rib to reconstruct her nose. She found out that many of Ellenbogen's patients have to get their noses completely reconstructed. My sister used to be such a healthy, happy, outgoing person. Now, she won't leave her house because she looks so terrible thanks to Ellenbogen.
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7/19/07 1 1 1 1 i spent 8000 on dr. ellenbgen to just adjust minor thing on my nose and he has completely changed the way i look. now not only do i look deformed i have completly lost my identity. the best revisionist in the world cannot even help me to revise his mess...i just dont understand how he can still be practicing out there. after me i saw so many other victims of dr. ellenbogens trying to repair their damages as well. words cannot describe what i went through and is going through... not knowing there is a light at the end of a tunnel. Beware of this doctor or do research and go to rhinoplasty forum to see if anyone have opinions of him. you will hear plenty!!! even old members can tell you that they havent heard anything good about him again and again. just pick any rhino forum and go in and type in his name . you will see...
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7/9/07 1 5 2 1 17 years ago I had breast implants in France, they were very natural (nobody never knew I had implants ) and I never capsulated with them(silicone with polyuretan on top). 8 years ago a bubble I felt. He told me that I probably had a leak and said to replace them with salines. I didn't want to look big busted, I begged him several time until the date of surgery to make me the same size I was (full b- 90 in french). He agreed but when I woke up I was a DD! I was horrified! He lied to me saying that I was not more than a regular C and the swelling was going to go down. He had to re-operate because of bad capsulation and blackmailed me to not operate if I didn't sign additional papers. I had to be drained 3 times after the surgery, my breast was disfigured because he played with the tissue and he opened pocket under my arms. It's been 8 years and I am still suffering, can't cross my arms, and my breast starts under my armpit! He is a ****! My life changed for the worse. hate my breast!
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6/18/07 1 1 1 didn't listen to what i wanted -- said he knew what would look good -- i assumed he knew since he is famous -- i made sure to ask for very minor changes my nose has serious scarring and hurts to breath. i am now ugly looking because of him. i just looked him up on rhino4you, and realized he's done this to at least 20 other people just on that forum.
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6/13/07 1 1 2 Dr. Ellenbogen is careless, greedy, ****, and a liar. Unless you're extrememly rich and white. He won't pay very much attention to you. He's like a bad car salesman trying to squeeze as much money out of you. Service was very poor and rushed. Doesn't listen to what you want and spends less than 5 mins with patients. Is not up to date with technology. i had my surgery in may. did a good amount of research. he seemed experienced with 33 years of practice. later i found out that he's getting old and has been doing very poor jobs on ppl. Also found out that he has several lawsuits against him. by then it was too late. I went to get my nose tip thinned and has facial fat grafting in my cheeks + chin. This was supposedly a pretty simple procedure that he ended up messing up. The tip of my nose is now crooked and upturned. My face is very fat. I look like a cabbage patch doll. very sad and disappointed. Will be getting revision surgery in 6 months with another doctor. HE IS THE WORST DOCTOR
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4/26/07 3 1 1 I just had to have revisional surgery from the botched job that this doctor did to me. Not only did he do a terrible job, he injected free floating silicone into my face which is very dangerous and as it can cause cysts which can ultimately casue cancer. The doctor who performed the revision was shocked and had never seen anything like it before
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