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Written by a patient
13th April 2018


I had a chin Augmentation operation called a genioplasty, this is a cosmetic surgery procedure used in my case for the purpose of enhancing my profile, this was performed by Dr Martin Cope. I went to Dr Martin Cope’s clinic held at Bupa Anlaby Hull where I informed him that I felt my nose was to large, he informed me that in many cases this could be my chin that needs to be bigger to keep the face in balance, he also brought to my attention that he was extremely good at performing the reattachment of the chin muscle and that there where many surgeons that wasn’t, they fasten them incorrectly and it produces a bizarre mottling effect, but they get away with it. My chin has a dimple, it remained faintly there after surgery, I mention this to reflect how the mentalis muscle sat on my chin. I had the genioplasty 21 years ago, after the operation, the right hand side muscle’s felt like they had been pushed to the right and attached further back than they were originally sat and for that matter the whole mentalis muscle twisted to the right, and slid down, the muscle felt like it went under my physical chin bone and it constantly felt like it needed to be pushed up and back into place, this also resulted in my speech being slurred. I could not whistle or say words that used an 'S', a bit like having a lisp. I had a bizarre corner impression angular shape and mottling of the right hand side of my chin externally, if I tried to move my lip upward my mouth on the right side moved to the right, I could not move my mouth to the left when I moved my mouth to the left it actually went right, all the space inside my mouth was taken away, this was called the sulcus depth and it had gone, that's the bit of flesh lower than your teeth, the depth of this was my teeth so it was just like the base of my lip being attached to the bottom of my teeth, I felt like a ventriloquist dummy having to move my jaw to be able to move my lips rather than being able to physically move my lips also when I attempted to move my lips my mouth used to suck into my face and make me feel claustrophobic. I told Dr Cope I was unable to move my mouth from side to side and showed him, he replied with why do you want to do that? I said before the operation you informed me that lots of surgeons attach the mentalis muscle incorrectly and it creates an unusual mottling effect, the sort of effect I have on the right-hand side of my chin, he replied let’s see and then said, that could be a trick of the light. I still to this day 21 years later have this mottling effect on the right-hand side of my chin albeit lessened in its abruptness after 21 years of internal muscle remodelling, pulling tugging and pushing. To describe this would be like taking a piece of paper, bending it like a letter D and fasten the two ends together then twist it to the right and then stitch it down like that, sort of like when you get some Sellotape stuck to itself and you have to pull both sides of the tape apart to unstick itself from itself, this is how I have observed my muscle remodelling on the right hand side of my chin for 21 years and it is still remodelling right now as I type this. my chin movement was 7mm I asked for 1cm, on the day of surgery he said he had wrote 5mm in his notes, where did that come from ?, I said that’s not right he said 5mm was more than what I thought, and he told me he knew what he was talking about, I came out of surgery and he said he had done 7mm. I did not consent to anything other than what I had agreed, and he decided to do whatever whilst I was under Anaesthetic. Before the operation Dr Cope informed me that he would build my new chin and fasten it together with wires that bone would grow over and they would be hidden inside me, but I had to pay £500 for some dissolvable plates if it proved that the wires could not be used, a cost that could not be re-in burst if they wasn’t used as they had to be purchased. I said I didn’t like the Idea of wires, I’d rather have something that dissolved and left nothing inside me, so since I was purchasing the plates I want them to be used. When I woke up after surgery, I had wires inside my chin, and to this day bone hasn’t grown over them, I can still feel the ends and wiggle them around which since I know the bone has a membrane that keeps the bone healthy and this obviously goes through that which means there is a constant hole in mine, this has left me feeling further worried, once again he had done exactly what he wanted against my consent. It has taken my 21 years to physically grow a new mouth and it is still not there totally yet. I can now move my mouth from side to side and its only been the last year my mouth has stopped sucking into my face when I move my lips upward, it still goes in the direction, but the sulcus depth has become enough to no longer hit my gums. The surgeon boasts this is the best work he has ever done, his name is Dr Martin Cope of Hull Royal Infirmary in Kingston Upon Hull, although the surgery was performed at Bupa which is now called the Spire. He did however after my documentation said I had unlimited aftercare with my private hospital say that he could spend much more time with me if he transferred me into the NHS. He did just that and then I was hit with can only spend government allotted time slices and he tried to rattle me to make me annoyed so that I would shout or something, he fetched female witnesses into the room as witnesses before the consultation began and told me that he had performed the best surgery he had ever done one me and if my brain thought different he would refer me to a physiatrist and he could put me on some mind altering drugs to stop me from thinking there was anything wrong, he did make an appointment with a psychiatrist as well which is totally WOW OMG can you believe this man. I'm wondering how long my operation takes to recover as I feel I have had my total life destroyed my having this operation. The surgeon cut through a nerve to my lower left lip whilst taking out my stitches, he for some reason decided to dig deep with some sharp scissors and snip even though I asked him to stop, he had one further lunge and sniped, an immediate electric shock felt like it paralysed my face running to the left-hand side now and even today I have deferred feeling in my lip after that. i.e. when you touch the outside of my lip I feel like your touching the inside of my mouth. I suffered loss of feeling to my right leg where he harvested the bone for the augmentation, over the years this is now not noticeable also within the first week of being released from surgery a whole ripped in my mouth where the muscle was joined but this time on the left-hand side. I contacted the hospital, they called me in, Dr Cope came in, he said it was fine and went mad at me, he said he was playing golf and I had interrupted his game. I have felt in a similar way as best to describe for those who cannot experience this, if you were placed in a very tight seat, strapped in and wrapped in a rubber bandage, you can move but there is so much pressure it pulls you back and you start to feel like you just need to be able to escape it after so long and this so long hasn't just been days weeks moths years it’s been over two decades. I was 30 when I had this operation I'm now 51, the main core of my life lost to this thing, doctors refused to help or do anything about it, they didn't want to get involved, go back and see the original surgeon is what I was told, he wanted to send me to a psychiatrist, after a while I went to one as I realised if I refused I'd be refusing help from a doctor and then he could dismiss my case, but when I went, it was like what if what if what if and all the what if's where wrong, it was so bad I attempted to cut the muscle down inside my mouth with a Stanley knife but failing every time due to the pain. I did ask the psychiatrist, what reason was given for me being there, she replied Depression, well don’t you just have to laugh at that, I wasn’t depressed I was stuck without help and I needed an avenue to attain it, but I was told by my GP that I would be given the run around. My mouth was immobilised by this procedure and no one would help but they were willing to send me to see a psychiatrist to try and make out there was something different wrong with me. Over the years it has felt similar to, taking a roll of sticky tape and accidently getting the sticky sides stuck to one another, and you need to pull them apart. My mouth is still asymmetrical although I do have the ability to whistle now and my speech is back to normal. To anyone out there who is thinking about having this procedure I would say implants yes genioplasty No. it’s a one-way street and you only have one life, getting over it take’s all your life which sort of negates the reason for doing it in the first place.

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