Dr. Raffi der-Sarkissian - His patients call him an “angel” and even “GOD”. Certainly he has been a life saver to many, including giving selflessly of his time and skill to disfigured patients in other countries as well as home. I have said many times that he was the only surgeon who made me feel he would not let me down after I first consulted with him in April 2002. I trusted him from that first meeting for many reasons, not the least of which was his proposing a corrective surgical option which I have always known would be the ONLY possible means of improving my worsening difficulty with breathing, swallowing, severe ear pain and pressure, jaw closure, neck extension. He asked only that I try rigorous neck stretching exercise, which I did, in spite of this actually making things worse (I could feel the support to the floor of my mouth getting weaker and weaker the more I forced this stretching. The only relief I got was from manually relieving the inappropriate tension which had been literally “cut & sewn” into the tissue which prevented jaw closure, and displaced the internal anatomy to a degree that totally obstructed my airway with my head in a normal posture). He also suggested acupuncture, which I could not afford.
I was all the more disheartened when I did return to Dr. D. in January 2003 to be met with an entirely different Dr. D who now claimed there was nothing he could do for me. Please remember I was not seeking any sort of improvement in APPEARANCE.
My condition is so debilitating now that I cannot leave home and am grateful I stocked my freezer and cupboards full when I was able to get out, so I have plenty of food to last for a while. For weeks I have only been able to remain sitting for brief periods as gravity pulling on the inner structures in my neck makes it impossible to breathe and the damage is so severe now that no matter how hard I press a piece of wood into my neck it is not enough to allow me to draw in sufficient breath.
I contacted Dr. D last year after seeing this video and begged him to see me again. I was so deeply moved by his SINCERE caring for these fortunate patients and what appeared to me to be his gratitude for being able to help these people.. I just KNEW his heart had to be big enough to HELP ME THIS TIME. He did agree to see and for the first time since 2001 I felt I might truly have a chance at restoring my LIFE. I didn’t care about appearance and was willing to sacrifice in that area if only I could be given the CHANCE TO BREATHE NORMALLY. I will never forget the HOPE I held as week by week I was lost more function because the very things I had to use to CONTINUE breathing were causing further injury.. a vicious cycle that would have no other end but total destruction of the supporting musculature which holds the system of the upper airway “in place”.
In setting up this appointment, I received a call from his office manager, Tanya, who mentioned something about my posting online an email exchange between Dr. D and myself in which I brought to his attention the fact that he did not perform the airway fluoroscopy for the HBO film which he promised the filmmakers, and which was the REASON I agreed to see him again after he crushed my hope the first time. I posted email from the HBO researcher who was Dr. D’s contact in which she related what he told her.. that he was certain something was definitely wrong with my throat/neck and he was even willing to show a “normal” fluoroscopy to contrast with what he knew mine would show. At this point I had already sent him the 2nd MSB study ordered by Dr. Mucci in December 2003 which showed the platysma muscle involvement in my inability to swallow. I never heard from Dr. D after sending him this video or a series of other video and photos with a note begging him to please look at this new evidence. Only after I gave HBO filmmakers his name and they asked him to participate in the film, did he actually acknowledge receipt of these videos and the MBS study (sent in March 2004) He evidently had not planned on reviewing them at all until he was contacted by HBO (at MY request) because a check for $100 dated in March 2004 which I enclosed for his time in reviewing the material, was cashed AFTER October 2004, which was shortly before HBO scheduled the appointment they filmed, which I had every reason to believe would be the promised fluoroscopy, but was not.
After the betrayal of what he said in the HBO film about me that I did not know until the film was aired in June 2006, I wrote to him and he prevaricated to the point where anyone could see I had, indeed, been betrayed. Tanya said that patients had brought print outs of the email exchange which I had posted on my website into the office and asked him about it. I posted the email because I wanted people to know what I was faced with in seeking help for a very real PHYSICAL problem which has literally turned me into a housebound cripple. I wanted people to know why I said doctors were deliberately AVOIDING proper physical exams and diagnostics and how they couch their words to make it appear they are trying to help you when they are not. There is an “art” to this kind of patient blacklisting. She very kindly suggested I remove this email and anything critical I had written about my experience with Dr. D, in spite of its ACCURACY. I was more than happy to do this, because I was so GRATEFUL that he was finally going to offer me a chance to SAVE MY LIFE before it was to late.
But that is NOT what happened that June day last year when my friend drove me to his office. I AM DYING. I don’t know anyone who could have held on as long as I did and survived this long. I have written the details of that meeting and the “non-examination” of that day. He was my LAST HOPE… and he threw away that final hope .. my final chance to LIVE. It is very hard for me to believe he is the same man in this video.. I am a human being, Dr. D, just like these “worthy” patients.. but what made me “unworthy”? That I refused Botox and a sleep study when you did not even EXAMINE me to feel why I had to keep a piece of wood pressed so hard against my neck all the time just to breathe? If you think things “can’t” be as bad as I say because it’s impossible for anyone to live with the damage I claim to have, you are WRONG. You called me a “survivor” but even *I* cannot do anything else to continue functioning.. breathing.. LIVING.. left the way I am and getting worse every day. How will you feel when I am dead? Yes, I remember your promise to examine my face and neck post mortem. But I want to LIVE! and you could give me that chance. Instead you chose to turn a blind eye to what was right before you on that day last June when my hope was raised so high only to have you crush it again. You could have examined me in a way that would have left no doubt about the unbelievable effort I have had to make to survive. But you did not.
Dr. X has already sold out whatever integrity he may have had, which was very little, through blatant lies and worse in an attempt to label me “suicidal”, yet I have survived by having to MUTILATE my own flesh to do so. I begged you to HELP me with no strings attached. Why couldn’t you just really OPEN YOUR EYES to what was right before you that day? You looked in my mouth, but for what? I COULD NOT BREATHE. Had you actually LOOKED with a light, you would have been able to SEE my soft palate pull down.. Had you actually TAKEN YOUR HANDS AND FELT WITH YOUR OWN HANDS THE FUNCTION THAT PIECE OF WOOD SERVES in making it possible for me to breathe, you might have realized just how **URGENT** AND PRECARIOUS MY HOLD ON LIFE WAS THEN. I am much closer to death’s door NOW. I do not need a sleep study.. I needed you to do a SIMPLE EXAM.. and simple films or fluoroscopy, as Dr. Herrick recommended in 2004.
I cannot and will not consult another doctor. I do not have the strength or extravagance of time for pointless diagnostics like sleep studies when a simple physical exam should have been the first line taken. I am ALONE. I cannot depend on the very few friends I have left to take me to appointments or support me as members of my family should have done. I am alone and the only thing I can physically manage to do is sit in one spot and type.. and I can barely do that now.. not without continual agony with every breath. You could have EASILY felt and seen that the way you left me to survive is IMPOSSIBLE. How do you think I feel when I see these people you *chose* to save, while you left me to die in this horrible way?
This is a story about Dr. Raffi der-Sarkissian, who appeared in HBO’s documentary ‘Plastic Disasters’ with me. The filmmakers wanted doctors I consulted to participate in the film. I asked my ENT doc, who said he was camera shy, but agreed to give a phone interview, but that isn’t what they wanted. They wanted a doctor willing to go on camera. My ENT suggested Dr. D.. because, to use his exact words “Dr. D. likes the camera”.
I am posting this story, which appeared in the Patriot Ledger in 2005 because I want readers to think about why a surgeon who performed these near miraculous reconstructive surgeries claims he cannot identify the VERY REAL PHYSICAL ABNORMALITIES which force me to mutilate my own flesh in order to continue breathing and swallowing. I saw Dr. D in June 2008 in the presence of my friend and his secretary. I had the traction hooks in my ears and the wooden back scratcher pressed to my neck to breathe. I will not repeat the details of my condition as that information is on this website . Dr. D knows very well that he has been playing a game of ambiguities with me for years.
I am tired of people asking me WHY I have not sought treatment for my condition. I have. Why don’t you ask the doctor whom I once trusted enough to beg him to operate on me with a guarantee that I would never hold him accountable if I became worse or even died for his trying to help me.
Yes, I refused to have a sleep study he suggested because it is UNNECESSARY, particularly in light of his not performing an adequate physical exam coordinated with simple x-rays and/or fluoroscopy which would be more appropriate and ACCURATE in determining the progressive loss of support to inner structures in the neck which are necessary for breathing and swallowing, to name only two of the severely compromised functions from which I suffer and have taken me closer to death’s door than Dr. D wants to recognize, let alone admit.
In the HBO film, he said he would perform a postmortem exam on me “to see if something had been done improperly or pulled too tightly”. Why not operate on me while I am still ALIVE AND TRY TO **SAVE** MY LIFE INSTEAD? I begged him to do this with no strings attached… no risk to him professionally. Why? Because I deserve the chance to live. I did not get in a terrible car accident or have two tons of dry wall mangle my face, as some of his “miracle patients” have. My injuries occurred because I trusted a surgeon who lied to me about what he was going to do- then executed my surgery in a fashion so negligent and bizarre that serious consequences were inevitable .. The cause of MY injury makes me “unworthy” of Dr. D’s life saving skills.
To readers who write to me asking why don’t I “just get it fixed”… please direct that question to Dr. Raffi der-Sarksissian. I ‘d like to know why he refused to help me more than you do.
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SAVING FACE: Facial reconstruction specialty is more than skin deep for Quincy plastic surgeon
By TERI BORSETI
For The Patriot Ledger
Kristen Vanick calls the surgeon who rebuilt her face an ‘‘angel.” In 2002, Vanick, now 22, suffered serious injuries when a dump truck hit head-on the car she was driving on Route 18 in Abington.
‘‘Every bone in my face was broken,” Vanick said. ‘‘They say it was like a pile of confetti. None of the doctors would touch me.”
Vanick was taken by medical helicopter to Boston Medical Center. That is where Dr. Raffi der Sarkissian was called in. Der Sarkissian, a cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon, was the only doctor who offered hope to Vanick’s parents.
‘‘He told them that he fixes faces and that he knew he could put me back together,” Vanick said.
So deft at his craft is der Sarkissian that he has been featured on ‘‘Dateline NBC” and will be the spotlight of an episode of HBO’s ‘‘America Undercover” documentary series on the realities of plastic surgery and botched procedures. It will air in the spring.
A camera crew has been following der Sarkissian and filming him in the operating room. Der Sarkissian said much of his work is repairing damage resulting from prior surgery. He said the documentary will educate the public about the risks and complications of facial plastic surgery, something mainstream makeover shows gloss over.
‘‘These reality shows have minimized the risks of cosmetic procedures and that just drives me crazy. I’ve built a reputation by fixing other people’s mistakes, and these were things that didn’t have to happen,” he said.
The ‘‘Dateline” segment der Sarkissian was featured on was a story called ‘‘Sudden Impact,” which looked the ramifications of drunk driving accidents.
‘‘It focused on the number of lives that are affected, the cost of care of injured individuals, the legal issues, how many drunk drivers are given minimal punishment and are repeat offenders, and how the news headlines don’t really address the trail of destruction that is left after the initial incident,” he said. ‘‘The headlines might read ‘two dead and three injured, alcohol suspected,’ but few realize the anguish and suffering experienced by the families of the deceased or the long road to recovery for the injured.”
Der Sarkissian’s patient who was featured spent 2½ years rehabilitating after her accident. When she first came in from the accident scene she had fractured facial bones, eye sockets, jaw bone, and blindness in one eye. She required a tracheotomy to stop the blood flow through her carotid artery. Der Sarkissian wired her jaw shut and repaired the facial bones with plates and screws. He reconstructed the eye sockets and the affected eye required a high dose of steriods to restore vision.
‘‘Today she is a beautiful, robust young woman who has finished college and is just the picture of perseverance and thankfulness,” der Sarkissian said.
Der Sarkissian is affiliated with Quincy Medical Center and Boston Medical Center. He spends most of his clinical time in his office in Quincy and operates at both QMC and BMC.
A labor of love
Vanick was in a coma for a month while doctors operated to repair broken bones in her arms, legs and hips. Her face was shattered - broken cheekbones, eye sockets and jawbones. Most of her teeth were knocked out. A week after the accident, the swelling had subsided enough for der Sarkissian to begin the reconstruction. Twenty-three hours and 200 Titanium screws later, he was finished. Numerous implants and bone taken from her skull were used to repair some damage.
‘‘The surgery was long but I enjoyed seeing the form of Kristen’s face gradually take shape. She had absolutely no facial structure left when she came into the hospital but I knew I could put her back together because this is what I do,” he said.
Growing up the child of an architect and fashion designer in New York, der Sarkissian said rebuilding faces is a blend of both disciplines - art and science. Art is something der Sarkissian never let go of.
‘‘I can go into a museum or gallery and look at a painting for hours. I also sculpt in my spare time and working to recreate the face of a person who has been disfigured is really a blend of art and science,” he said. Der Sarkissian got his bachelor’s of arts degree from Columbia College and his medical degree from State University of New York/Buffalo. He is also fluent in Spanish, French and Armenian.
Miracle worker
In practice for 15 years, der Sarkissian has seen his share of severe facial trauma. A year ago 9,600 pounds of granite fell on and crushed the face Michael Wologevicz. Wologevicz, a kitchen designer, was not expected to live, never mind look like himself again. The accident occurred while he was unloading the granite for countertops. His neck and collar bone were broken and his face was compressed to just 3 inches wide. Later, his head swelled to the size of a basketball.
‘‘I looked like Quasimodo. My jaw and palate were ripped off and one of my eyes was hanging out of a crushed socket,” he said.
Der Sarkissian operated for 14 hours. He took tissue from Wologevicz’s stomach to rebuild the deep depression under his eye. He also used a zigzag stitch pattern on Wologevicz’s head to avoid leaving him with a bald spot. Wologevicz’s hair has grown back in a way that covers the scar.
‘‘My face was a pile of mush and it’s nothing short of a miracle that today I look almost the way I did before the accident. No one can believe it. An X-ray of my face looks like the Terminator,” he said.
Der Sarkissian has traveled the world teaching his craft and repairing faces and other defects. He has worked pro-bono in Southeast Asia and South American and will be traveling to Ecuador in March to construct ears out of rib cartilage for children born without an ear or ears.
Der Sarkissian has taught at Boston and Tufts universities and lectures worldwide. He’ll sometimes have students create a nose from a lump of clay or an ear from a potato.
‘‘You only get one chance to fix someone’s face so you have to be well practiced,” he said of his teaching methods.
Cosmetically, der Sarkissian performs the all the familiar nips, tucks and lifts. He applies standard techniques complemented with the most recent ‘‘high-tech” innovations.
‘‘Plastic surgery is a great opportunity for me to improve someone’s appearance whether they were born with a deformity, disfigured in an accident, or just want to look younger. When I’m working to reconstruct a face, I apply cosmetic surgical principles, and when I am doing purely cosmetic work, my experience in reconstructing faces helps me get the best results possible. Once again, it’s about blending science with art,” der Sarkissian said.
He recently rebuilt the face of John Gatti who suffered amyloidosis, a rare condition similar to Bell’s palsy, which causes facial muscles to freeze. Gatti’s appearance began to change when he was 52. From that point on there was rapid deterioration. Gatti had one successful surgery to correct drooping eyelids that affected his vision.
Another more drastic surgery was needed, but initially, it was put off a few times because of insurance problems. Gatti said der Sarkissian got so frustrated watching his face get worse, that he said he would do the surgery and waive his fee. The 13-hour reconstructive surgery included a brow lift, upper and lower eye lift, face and neck lift and screws inserted into his forehead.
‘‘It is incredible that he got my face just about back to normal. He said he liked the challenge. He just really cares about people, his humanity is unreal,” Gatti said.
Der Sarkissian saw Gatti for a followup appointment yesterday. He came to the office dressed up in a jacket and tie and told der Sarkissian he feels like his old self. ‘‘He looks even better than his last visit,” der Sarkissian said.
Vanick said she owes her life to der Sarkissian.
‘‘There are just no words I can use to thank him or let him know how much I appreciate what he did for me. That man is my angel,” Vanick said.
Stumble It!
