A top plastic surgeon dubbed the “nose maestro” by the French press has been suspended from practising after patients claimed he “mutilated” them, with several women insisting he turned their noses into “potatoes.”
Olivier Gerbault (58) was handed a two-year ban in November 2023 after a string of patients filed complaints with the medical ethics committee, claiming they were left in worse shape after going under the knife.
But the surgeon, who has continued practising despite the ruling, claims his accusers are in cahoots with an unidentified rival to smear him, Le Parisien reported last week, and is appealing the decision.
Gerbault, who claims to have invented the “ultrasonic” rhinoplasty technique, was adored by his patients and peers and was also respected on the international stage by other fellow surgeons, until the revelations and subsequent banning last year.
A female patient who had received a nose job from Gerbault in August 2020 at his clinic in Paris, had claimed she woke up with a “long, crooked, thick” nose that “looked like a potato”.
She also alleged she couldn’t get any air through her left nostril and was unable to blow her nose, reports New York Post. She – and another patient – filed a complaint against Gerbault with the medical ethics committee, resulting in his two-year ban.
Meanwhile, a string of other patients also filed legal complaints against him.
However, Gerbault is alleged to have continued to operate illegally at a Paris clinic, with the French General Medical Council filing a complaint against him for having flouted the ban.
The charge carries a maximum two-year prison term and the equivalent of a £24 000 fine, reports Mail Online.
He told the media he was being smeared, and “being helped by a colleague”, in reference to a PR battle the surgeon had with rival surgeon Nicolas Lari.
In March 2023, a court found Gerbault guilty of attempted blackmail against Lari, and he was sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €5 000 fine.
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