Choosing a Urologist for implant surgery

[alexcoxe]

I'm schedule to have implant surgery in November and researching Urologist. Does anyone have any recommendations of a good Urologist who has an excellent reputation?

Currently, I'm scheduled with Dr Hakim of the Cleveland Clinic. He has been good so far. I was told he does the second most implant surguries in the US. Is that a good thing? I'm leery of the moniker of the "2nd Most."

Thanks for your help, Alex

[radiodec]

Have you met him? Are you comfortable with him? Who will be providing your post-surgey care? These questions should rate up there with his quantity of work. Quantity shows experience and a certain amount of "market" acceptance, but what you are really loking for is the surgeon whom will do the best job for you.

You may wish to do a web search on your doctor and find out what his ratings with sites such as Healthgrades have to say. Once past a certain number, additional practice will contribute little to the skill of a surgeon andmay contribute to fatigue. So, second in count may not be second best. The Cleveland Clinic has a reputation to uphold, so he can't be too bad or he wouldn't be there.

I have surgery scheduled just ahead of you on 10/1. My surgeon doesn't have the highest operations total, rather I opted for one with whom I can talk that has good ratings and still does his own followup checks. I am comfortable with his ratings and his experience level plus he has an outstanding reputation in Prostate Cancer treatment monitoring and recurrence salvage.

Picking your surgeon is like choosing a pair of shoes, they have to fit in more than one place. Re you comfortable with trusting your Sceptre and family jewels to him? If yes, then --- choice made.

Radiodec

[antelope]

Well said, radio. You nailed it. Same would apply to choosing a doc for any procedure or body part.

G

[rlm1818]

Alex,

I agree with several things radiodec says, though I will take issue with one of his points. I say, visit him, see if you're comfortable, and see if you can get references from some of his implant patients. I'm not sure what concerns you about "2nd most". I started reading here a year ago and read almost all the implant accounts in the archives, and have been reading them all ever since. There are a lot of great results, including mine. There are also some with minor complaints, some with major complaints. Almost all the complaints, it seems to me, are the result of judgement issues with the surgeon. I concluded I wanted a surgeon with LOTS of experience and top notch recommendations from a number of patients, especially patients not selected to by the DR to speak for him. I chose Dr Eid, who claims to do the most of anyone, and I was very very pleased.

I don't agree that "additional practice... may contribute to fatigue", though I guess since he says "may", its harder to argue. It takes lots of practice to be expert at anything, and just about everything I have read about any medical procedure also confirms that practice and experience make a big difference. I agree, though, that experience and practice alone don't make a great surgeon. Skill and attentiveness are vital too.

I first considered a lower volume, local surgeon who did "5-10" implants per month. But the local doc, like most surgeons who do implants, did lots of different procedures in addition to implants. Dr Eid does implants almost exclusively. My impression was that the local doc actually did a higher volume of total procedures, was much harder to reach, harder to get to with questions, was less attentive and less willing to spend time with me than Dr Eid. Dr Eid met with me on every visit, did every pre and post op test and followup, visited me in my hotel room for followup, gave me his personal cell phone number for followup issues 24/hrs per day, and always got back to me directly and quickly with any issue I had. Being a high volume implanter did not adversely affect his method nor his personal care.

I have no knowledge of Dr Hakim, but I would personally take the fact that his is a high volume implanter as a possible positive, subject to checking his track record and subject to your own impressions after visiting him and seeing how he and his staff react and treat you.

[alexcoxe]

Thank you for your responses, I like learning from your perspectives and it makes me feel more confident with going through with the procedure. I do have much trepidation, this site/blogs have help me greatly to feel confident in my decision. It is hard enough to accept my condition and even harder to accept the solution. I will keep you all abreast of my results and provide my opinions.