Top plastic surgeon suspended after turning patients’ noses into ‘potatoes’

An internationally renowned plastic surgeon’s career has nosedived after accusations that his surgeries ‘mutilated’ woman and turned their noses into ‘potatoes’.

Olivier Gerbault, 58, dubbed the ‘nose maestro’ in France, was handed a two-year ban in November 2023 after patients complained to the country’s medical ethics committee that their noses were ‘massacred’.

Allegations have since piled up that the plastic surgeon left women’s sniffers looking like ‘potatoes’, all while the frenchman continues to practice in Paris.

One woman, with the alias Elisa, went under the knife in August 2020 excited for her ‘hooked’ nose to be straightened by the eminent surgeon.

When she woke up from the procedure, however, she confronted a ‘long, crooked, thick’ nose in the mirror that ‘looked like a potato’.

The spud-like appendage had a collapsing left nostril and Elisa could not get air through, she told Le Parisien.

Gerbault allegedly praised his own knife-work as his patient was crying in front of a mirror.

The woman filed a complaint against Gerbault alongside another patient with the medical ethics committee, which saw he doctor receive a two-year ban.

Gerbault claims that he is the victim of a smear campaign by a rival plastic surgeon and has appealed the ban.

Other patients have come since come forward with claims that their faces were ‘mutilated’ by the French surgeon.

One woman ended up with a ‘big potato’ for a nose, which became infected, saw her lose her job and be diagnosed with depreesion.

She even even returned to Gerbault in hopes of saving her face, but the second procedure produced an even worse outcome.

The patient said: ‘I had a strange white button on my nose. In fact, it was a piece of cartilage sticking out.

‘He massacred me.’

The surgeon also stands accused of conducing hack jobs on other facial parts, including performing procedures that patients did not want.

One victim came round after surgery to discover a chin prosthesis, despite the fact they have refused that surgery beforehand.

The victim said: ‘I feel like I’ve been mutilated.

‘When I woke up, I was vomiting litres of blood.

‘The doctor must have used a trowel.

‘Since then, I’ve had a horrible burning sensation, air rushes in too strong and gets on my nerves. Gerbault has ruined my life.’

Gerbault is allegedly still now operating illegally at a Paris clinic, according to Le Parisien, with the French General Medical Council filing a complaint against the surgeon for having flouted the ban.

The nose doctor fell foul of the law in ‘attempted blackmail’ against rival surgeon Nicolas Lari.

Found guilty by a Marseille court in March 2023, he was sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence and a 5,000 euro fine. 

His son Nicolas also received a one-year suspended sentence and a 8,000 euro fine for seeking to smear Lari with negative fictitious Google reviews. 

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