Dr. John F Reinisch, MD

Amazing surgeon!

This doctor did the revision of the cleft lip surgery for my child, and really made it worse than it was before - leaving little to no room for further improvement. The original surgery made by dr. Salomonson resulted in mismatched lip border, and a blob of extra tissue under my daughters lip. Originally, I didn't plan to do a revision so soon, but dr. Reinisch convinced me that it would be better to do it sooner, and he claimed he is the most experienced doctor to do that. I dutifully came for a number of repeat visits, asking lots of questions, during which he always said that all she needs is a small lip border correction and tissue reduction under her lip, and there is no need for a full revision. At the same time, he didn't give me a detailed plan on how he is going to fix the problem and sometimes drastically changed some of his opinions (like "I don't see that extra tissue - she just has a fat lip" - when her lip was obviously turned inside out which anyone with eyes would… notice), so I began to hesitate. He also dismissed my concerns about the effects of repeated anesthesia on young children - "they tolerate it better, we do it all the time...". I almost canceled the surgery, but my mother in law talked me into coming over for another consultation - and suddenly he delivered a surgery plan that made sense, and was super confident about the expected result. Finally I gave in, and I regret it every day and night of my life. Just 5 minutes before the surgery started, he came in and said "I thought about it, and decided it's better to do a complete revision". I started expressing concerns about the distortions that could introduce - he dismissed them all with his impressive overconfidence "trust me, it all gonna work out, I have all the experience in the world". Finally, I asked "could you guarantee it wouldn't get worse?" - he said "trust me, it could only get better". I gave in... As a result, all my concerns about distortions played out: he cut out a big chunk of tissue so now that pulls lip to one side, one of the 2 high points of the lip went down and the lip became asymmetrical... He didn't address the extra tissue/ inverted lip problem properly - just tightened it, without removing much, so it became immobile, and the lip is still inverted and covers my daughter's teeth when she smiles... And the anesthesia did have very noticeable effects on her development - I was very surprised that she stopped repeating words and her language development and learning stalled for almost 6 months after the surgery. I thought her hearing was effected by a light ear infection she had, took her to the doctors who said "her ears are fine, it might be just extra wax", so we kept cleaning it... Later I saw a recent scientific study that showed exact same developmental effects in children who had repeated anesthesia under 2 year old... The total costs of this surgery performed at Cedars outpatient center were much higher than the doctors advised us originally (at first he promised to do it at a less expensive independent surgery center, but then scheduled us with Cedars anyway) - $20000 was just the facility payment for a 3-hour surgery, covered mostly by insurance - but if you have high deductible and copayment, it's still unexpectedly expensive... plus there are surgeon and anesthesiologist fees. Anyway, now the doctor says - "so what that her lip is crooked - she is still a pretty girl..." it's just the way it healed", "it was the first surgery that made it so bad", etc... which is far from a reasonable explanation of why the results are so far from his original assessment and promises. If you don't want your heart to ache for what was done to your child l- don't trust this doctor, trust your own instincts. I wish I did...

dr R is truly an artist and the most talented Dr that has ever lived! Honestly he made my baby girl look beautiful and I know that the next surgery will be even better. He is great with facial paralysis and is not afraid to fix any problem!

How many doctors will return a phone call personally within a couple of minutes of receiving an e-mail? Dr. Reinisch will. His level of responsiveness is unprecedented. He is very dedicated to his work and patients and skilled at his craft. There should be more doctors like him.

I dont know what my life what have been like if he did not operate on my face. I owe soooo much to him. My cleft lip dosen't even look like one and nobody ever notices.

Dr. Reinisch:I need to send him a recent pic of myself 10 years after rhinoplasty and chin implant. I continue to be VERY HAPPY with the results!! No one believes that I've had plastic surgery to this day! The thing is that he fixed something that I believed was impossible since I had rhinoplasty done elsewhere before going to Dr. Reinisch and he did such a great job that I (till' this day) don't know how to thank him enough!!

ES EL MEJOR DOCTOR DEL MUNDO, NOSOTROS VIVIMOS EN VENEZUELA ME FUI PARA LOS ANGELES A OPERARLA TODO SALIO PERFECTO Y NOS DEJO PAGAR NI UN DOLLAR, LA OPERACION ERA UN HEMANGIOMA....AL DOCTOR REINISH , LA CALIDAD HUMANA QUE EL TIENE, COMO PERSONA , COMO DOCTOR :::YA TIENE UN PUESTO ASEGURADO EN EL CIELO POR QUE EL ES UN ANGEL EN LA TIERRA