A top French plastic surgeon has been suspended from practicing after patients claimed he "mutilated" them -- including several women insisting he turned their noses into "potatoes."
Oliver 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.
Gerbault -- who has continued practicing despite the ruling -- claims his accusers are in cahoots with an unidentified rival to smear him, Le Parisien reported Friday.
The surgeon is appealing the decision.
One woman, who used the alias Elisa in court documents, stated she had high hopes that Gerbault -- renowned for his claim to have "invented ultrasonic rhinoplasty" -- could straighten her "hooked" nose in 2020.
Instead, she woke up from the surgery in shock.
"My nose was long, crooked, thick and looked like a potato," she told Le Parisien. "My left nostril was collapsing and I couldn't get any air through."
Gerbault allegedly hailed the surgery a success -- even as Elisa cried in front of a mirror.
"When I drank water, my nose touched the glass. I couldn't blow my nose, so I had to use cotton buds," she said.
That same year, another woman, who used the name Chloé in court filings, suffered the same fate.
"I had a lump [in place of my nose], a big potato," she told the outlet, adding that over time, her new nose became infected and her nostrils collapsed. Eventually, she lost her job and was diagnosed with depression.
"From then on, I lost all taste for life," Chloé said.
The desperate woman returned to Gerbault with hopes he could reverse his hack job, but her appearance only worsened. "I had a strange white button on my nose. In fact, it was a piece of cartilage sticking out," she said. "He massacred me."
Gerbault was also accused of giving patients surgeries they didn't want: victim Alix woke up from her rhinoplasty surgery to discover the doctor had fitted her with a chin prosthesis she had protested before going under.
"I feel like I've been mutilated," said Alix. "When I woke up, I was vomiting liters 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."
The doctor has maintained his innocence in spite of his conviction and has claimed the patients were pressured to produce false claims by an unnamed rival surgeon.
"These patients are all connected and the complaints are strictly the same, sometimes down to the last word. It's obvious that they are being helped by a colleague, which is particularly serious and unprofessional," he said, according to Le Parisien.
Despite his ban, Gerbault was granted permission from the Hauts-de-Seine département, west of his Paris clinic, to continue practicing -- though the nose doctor told the newspaper he has "ceased all surgical activity since the start of the year."
The French General Medical Council has appealed that decision in a legal complaint for "illegal medical practice."
If overturned, the charge could carry a two-year prison sentence and a $19,100 fine.