We modify Pogorelov’s classic construction to demonstrate the absence of a priori \(C^2\) estimates for the equations \(\det (D^2 u \pm Du \otimes Du) = f(x)\) in dimension \(n \ge 3\) . We construct a sequence of solutions \(z_\varepsilon \) with second derivatives blowing up at the origin as \(\varepsilon \rightarrow 0\) , while the corresponding right-hand sides \(f_\varepsilon \) admit uniform \(C^2\) estimates. Specifically, the counterexamples are given by \(z_\varepsilon (x_1, \dots , x_n) = (1+x_1^2)(1+x_2^2)(\varepsilon ^2 + \eta ^2)^{\alpha /2},\) where \(\eta = \sqrt{x_3^2 + \dots + x_n^2}\) and \(\alpha = 2 - \frac{2}{n}\) .