4/23/09 Yes, it's my second appointment of the day. After work, I went back uptown to Dr.Howard Bellin's office. Another man who is famous for rhinoplasty in NYC. I didn't do extensive research on him, as I'm a bit exhausted at this point, but I will say that I like how long he's been in the business, and his site's before & after photos are great. I sat in the waiting room of his office with 2 patients ahead of me. First, I met with Patti, his assistant. She told me about what I'd have to do before the procedure and after, how the doctor doesn't pack the nose anymore, how to prevent bruising (she told me that taking vitamin C for a week before the surgery makes a huge difference), where to get photos taken, where to get blood work done, etc. She was very sweet, and warm. She took me up to see Dr.Bellin in his "office"...Um...
It's more like you'd expect of Sherlock Holmes' study. There are what appears to be African artifacts & antiques, and books galore. There are stacks of papers completely crowding the desk and surrounding the computer behind the desk. And yes, the man is aging. Is this a deterrant for me? NO. He's been at the game a long time, if he doesn't know, then who does? He came around from his desk and sat across from me, and asked me what I was looking for (better than Rosenblatt, I'd say). He showed me that I don't need my tip lifted, bc the look of "droopiness" is actually an illusion (my cartilage alaris major, or the thing between my nostrils touching my upper lip, is a little low. If it's tweaked upward a bit, it lifts the appearance of the tip without having to actually move the tip up and give me a pig nose). Well, Bellin, thank you for being the only doctor who noticed that. I will certainly bring that to the attention of whomever I chose because I think you're right.
Now, time out. The man picked a spec up off the mirror on his desk and stuck it in my nose. They've all done this, but all the other surgeons took the tool out of a package. Did you just stick a dirty spec up my nose? Seriously? Whose nose was that just in? You didn't use alcohol on it or anything?! Eek! Bad sign. Then, I asked to see some before and after photos on his computer, since the ones on his site seemed a bit outdated, though great. His after work was not "cookie cutter" and looked great, consistently; every patient he showed me looked awesome after, and he wasn't just chosing the "best of the best" like you'll see on Dr's sites, he literally randomly chose one, and clicked "next" time and time again. Patient after patient looked great. I went back downstairs, and talked to Patti again w/ Dr.Bellin by her side. After assessing my deviated septum, and telling me the next step in arranging this, I was quoted $3,500 if my insurance covers the facility, anesthesia and septoplasty. Amazing! How could I not be happy about that?
