Firstly, I would like to set the scene as my case is rather unique/complex but by virtue of that, I had consultations with at least 5 different surgeons privately and 4 on the NHS before I came across Mr Ahmad, so I feel well placed to write a review. I was born with a cleft lip and palate and a resulting cleft nose deformity. Growing up I was treated by a cleft-specialist team on the NHS but after 3 cleft-rhinoplasties and despite their best efforts, they were unable to help me further due to the specific nuances of my case. As my surgeon at the time wasn’t wholly satisfied with the outcome, he referred me to several of his colleagues in the NHS for a second opinion and unfortunately they also felt they couldn’t help. This is when my quest for a private surgeon began and sadly, it turned into a much longer search than I anticipated, as I found myself turned away by multiple other renowned specialist rhinoplasty surgeons (most of whom had specialist cleft experience too). When I was ultimately referred to surgeons in Germany and the USA, I regrettably resigned myself to not being able to further restore my nose without travelling abroad, which I wasn’t sure I was prepared to do. This is when I stumbled across Mr Ahmad’s name on the internet and from the initial phone call to his PA Nikki, through to the consultations, on to the surgery itself and aftercare, I have only had an exemplary experience. Consultation Experience: Every single consultation I had with Mr Ahmad was extremely unhurried and he was most generous with his time, giving me all the time I needed. Additionally, I was always reassured that I could email in at any point with questions and indeed, all my questions were very well received and promptly and willingly responded to. Furthermore, after each consultation, Mr Ahmad would send a very detailed letter summarising what was discussed, which again, instilled me with confidence. In my opinion, if he’s prepared to commit the discussion to paper, he’s sincere in what was discussed. Surgery Itself: Once I decided to go ahead with surgery, Mr Ahmad was very kindly able to accommodate my preferred timings. The surgery itself was very smooth and in line with what I had come to expect from Mr Ahmad, he was also most generous with his time during the operation and took all the time needed to help achieve the best possible outcome. Being put under Anaesthetic and waking up from the Anaesthetic was also extremely smooth and pain-free. In fact, this was by far the smoothest wakeup I have ever had from Anaesthetic and was surprised at how alert and normal I felt, so hats off to Mr Ahmad’s anaesthetist too! The following day Mr Ahmad came to check on me on a Saturday, which was a very kind gesture. He also took this opportunity to show me his hand-drawn operation notes. In fact, it’s his hand-drawn operation notes that I stumbled across randomly on social media (on what turned out to be one of his patient’s accounts) that initially caught my eye and drew my attention to Mr Ahmad. I’ve had a lot of surgeries myself and can safely say that none of my other operation notes look anything like Mr Ahmad’s so in my opinion, these clearly show the perfectionist in him!! Aftercare: I’m currently on my aftercare journey and so far it has also been smooth and recovery has been pain-free. In addition to coming to check on me the day after surgery, Mr Ahmad is always on hand to answer questions and concerns and is indeed very responsive, as he has always been. Results: Whilst I’m still very much healing, the initial results look promising with a significant improvement and I look forward to seeing the more definitive results as the swelling settles down. I understand Mr Ahmad enjoys art and sculpture in his spare time and a few days after my cast was removed, my mum unknowingly asked me whether Mr Ahmad was a sculptor, so his artistic skills evidently show through in his results. In summary, my understanding is that cleft rhinoplasties are amongst the most complex type of rhinoplasty operations and by the sounds of it, my case was a particularly challenging cleft case, that many of his colleagues and peers turned away, so the fact that Mr Ahmad was able to deliver what seems like a significant improvement for me, speaks volumes. I live in London and focused my search in London, as I naively assumed the best would practise in London but I couldn’t have been proven more wrong; the short trip to Cambridge is well worth it. There’s no doubt that he’s amongst the very elite in his field, arguably the best rhinoplasty surgeon in the UK in my opinion, and I only wish I had found him sooner. He’s the most consummate professional and the embodiment of your perfect surgeon; extremely gifted, caring and humble. I cannot thank him and his team enough and I would not hesitate for a second to recommend him both from his unparalleled technical ability and his exceptional bedside manner.
20/02/2021