New guy. Considering an Implant

[alibaba]

Also, another thing to consider beyond the selection of a doctor… Since I am federal government employee, the device and procedure ARE NOT covered by federal health insurance. It would be covered if I was a congressman or senator. (I wonder if its covered by Obama care.)

The Congress and Senate super majority are busy making sure we are cock holed with our own health care so we do not exceed their own supreme coverage. I've been hearing the rumor for 6 months that medicare soon will discontinue coverage for implants due to the cost and revisions. Seems every old codger in the doctor's office asks me about it. Sometimes I wonder if the doctors are telling them that to get them off their butt to sign on for a plasticized dick. I have no idea, but if C & S can screw something up, I am sure that is the only damn thing they will accomplish unless they can find a reason to send our kids to slaughter to keep the war machine profitable.

I looked into ACA plans.
1. I did not qualify.
2. None could tell me if it covered penile prosthetic implants until I received the actual policy. Same crap regular brokers told me.

[alibaba]

I had a penile fracture at the age of 19 and suffered with soft erections most of my young life. I sought help early in my life, but I was told by doctors that I was too young to have problems, that it was in my head. Relationships had repeats of cheating, so much so that I lost my faith in women. I saw them as vain and very hypocritical. After my present wife had a near-miss with an affair in 2010, I sought help and, fortunately with her support, I have been able to get the attention of the doctors... its helps when a women tells a doctor "it’s not an anxiety problem". I tried exercises, checked testosterone levels (they were fine), tried oral medications, penile suppositories, and finally injections. Various side effects and inconsistent results led me to finally decide on an implant.

In September of 2014, I had an AMS 700 CX implanted by Dr. Andrew Kramer. His student doctor measured me as 14cm in length with a stretched, flaccid penis prior to surgery. Dr. Kramer implanted a 21cm device with 1cm rear tips. The procedure was uneventful, no infection, no issues. My penis was fairly numb (nerve loss) that took about 10 months to recover. I had 10 cm erection length in October 2014 after I was "activated" following the procedure. Through a daily cycling of the device for about 12 months, it eventually elongated to 12 cm.

Then in February 2016, the pump collapsed after about 10 pumps and the device was not fully erect. Kaiser (my regular medical provider) performed a CT scan in late March 2016. At an appointment with my regular urologist, who reviewed the CT scan, he said the reservoir was out of fluid and speculated it had leaked, or was slowly leaking. As such, he said it would likely require a full replacement, revision surgery. He recommended that I see Dr. Kramer for a second opinion. The Kaiser urologist also recommended that I have a high-volume surgeon do the revision, such as Dr. Kramer.

My only complaint on the result with Kramer is the length, and subsequently on AMS for the premature failure. I understand that you may not get every bit of length you had before due to scarring, but I lost a full 4 cm. I did manage to get 2 cm back, but I’m wondering if the elongation led to the leak. When it worked, I had noticed that my device was “fully pumped” for about the first 5 minutes, then I could pump it couple more times to get more length. Similarly, I wonder if smooth muscle tissue requires a bit more patience during surgery to correctly size a device. If there is anyone from AMS lurking here, contact me. I would love to get involved with research to help fellow men have a more satisfying result.

Also, another thing to consider beyond the selection of a doctor… Since I am federal government employee, the device and procedure ARE NOT covered by federal health insurance. It would be covered if I was a congressman or senator. (I wonder if its covered by Obama care.)

1. Have you been able to get your implant fixed?
2. Great your wife went along. I had an issue going by myself as well. Doctors kept stating that since I had HIV, I must be gay. Wife started going along and straightened the first one out ( who stated "I have an issue with treating men who do not have sex with women") in a heart beat. Next 2 visits they would sit there and eye each other like 2 cats ready for the other to pounce. I finally ditched him. Now she refuses to let me go alone. One doctor in St. Louis, Sheinbein, went as far as telling me to turn around, drop my shorts and bend over the table, then spreads my butt cheeks, looks at my ass and states "this is where you guys with HIV have your problem". Wife was sitting right there and saw the whole thing. A follow-up appointment was no-longer needed at that point, I found another doctor. She screamed at me for the 2 hours all the way home that I am never going to see that man again. She still gets pissed about it and it has been 7 years. Italian women get a little stirred up. No wonder the mafia went out and shot people. They needed the release from time to time.

[merrix]

Hundreds of credible sources suggest Kramer is likely #1 in terms of technique- and videotapes himself making it pretty open. Bruno Mars: "don't believe it, just watch."
I saw an objective formula from someone at UC Irvine that gives technical grades to surgeons, I went to Dr. Kramer after seeing he was the only guy with a consistent "A+" rating. It's on technique, scored by guys he's never met, so whether you trust it or not, it's out there. I didn't see what others guys got (I'm sure merrixx and others are going to push this Eid thing to the bitter end, so I'll put this out there preemptively)

I think it is funny how I think myself that I express myself very clear, but still someone once in a while seem to completely misunderstand me. Maybe I'm not as clear as I think, or maybe some people read poorly.

I have never ever said that Eid (or anyone else) is the best.
I have said that I got great results with Eid.
But just because one guy has surgery with one doctor, he cannot say who is the best.
And that is exactly my point. In this case, Kramer, given his reputation he is surely good. But if someone says 'he is the best, it can't go wrong' - I say bullshit.
Maybe he is the best. Or maybe it is Eid or someone else. But nobody here knows.
And for sure, if posts here on FT from lately are true - then it sure can go bad with Kramer as well. Look at PFracture in his post just above for example. Losing that much length is not an ideal outcome.
Personally I lost nothing. Actually gained some.

I will never say that Dr. X or Dr. Y is best. That's what I object to. We don't know.
We can only share our experiences with the docs we used.
But I just think it is silly to say that 'I had perfect results with Dr. X, so he is the best'.

So to repeat myself again:
I had great results eith Eid. Perfect. I think (THINK) he is one of the best. Maybe (MAYBE) the best.
I am sure there are other great docs as well.

Hope I have made my point now

[OttoHS]

Hundreds of credible sources suggest Kramer is likely #1 in terms of technique- and videotapes himself making it pretty open. Bruno Mars: "don't believe it, just watch."
I saw an objective formula from someone at UC Irvine that gives technical grades to surgeons, I went to Dr. Kramer after seeing he was the only guy with a consistent "A+" rating. It's on technique, scored by guys he's never met, so whether you trust it or not, it's out there. I didn't see what others guys got (I'm sure merrixx and others are going to push this Eid thing to the bitter end, so I'll put this out there preemptively)

I think it is funny how I think myself that I express myself very clear, but still someone once in a while seem to completely misunderstand me. Maybe I'm not as clear as I think, or maybe some people read poorly.

I have never ever said that Eid (or anyone else) is the best.
I have said that I got great results with Eid.
But just because one guy has surgery with one doctor, he cannot say who is the best.
And that is exactly my point. In this case, Kramer, given his reputation he is surely good. But if someone says 'he is the best, it can't go wrong' - I say bullshit.
Maybe he is the best. Or maybe it is Eid or someone else. But nobody here knows.
And for sure, if posts here on FT from lately are true - then it sure can go bad with Kramer as well. Look at PFracture in his post just above for example. Losing that much length is not an ideal outcome.
Personally I lost nothing. Actually gained some.

I will never say that Dr. X or Dr. Y is best. That's what I object to. We don't know.
We can only share our experiences with the docs we used.
But I just think it is silly to say that 'I had perfect results with Dr. X, so he is the best'.

So to repeat myself again:
I had great results eith Eid. Perfect. I think (THINK) he is one of the best. Maybe (MAYBE) the best.
I am sure there are other great docs as well.

Hope I have made my point now

As you know from other posts, I feel the same way about Dr. Kramer as you do about Dr. Eid. But, I agree 100% with your analysis. We can only share our experiences. We are not in a position to evaluate the work of doctors with whom we have not dealt. I also think that there is an element of personal chemistry in how one forms a relationship with any doctor in any specialty. Each of us has different expectations and different ways of relating to professionals with whom we deal. I felt very at ease the first time that I met Dr. Kramer and our personal styles of communicating work well together. I would suggest that anyone who is considering an implant contact one or more of the high volume doctors. This is the kind of surgery where you want a doctor who can relate to your needs and you can communicate with in a way that is satisfactory to you. Send a few emails, make a few calls. Until you are comfortable with a particular doctor, keep searching.

[OttoHS]

Went to Dr. Kramer since he is both the academic/teaching urologist who isn't in it for financial incentives, AND he's one of the highest volume in the world. Couldn't be happier.

He's not in it for financial incentives?
Oh. Great guy doing voluntary unpaid surgical work.
And rejecting the money ('marketing support') from AMS and Coloplast as well.
Poor bastard. Hope he has another job so that he can buy his milk and cookies.

This is the first time that FrankTalk has made me laugh.

I'm as big a fan of Dr. Kramer as you will find here (even if I do not post as frequently as some others do). But, he hardly is a mendicant friar begging on the streets of Baltimore so that he can provide free penile implants to impotent men.

I have no idea to what degree the number of implants that Dr. Kramer performs impacts his compensation from the University of Maryland or the fees he receives from AMS or Coloplast. From my perspective, the plus of an academic affiliation is not the financial incentives or lack thereof that an academic physician receives for a procedure, but that it has been my experience in dealing with another academic medical center that incompetent or unethical doctors (and other health care providers) do not last long. Dr. Kramer has been at the University of Maryland for his entire post-residency career. To me that says something very positive about him.

[KMeister]

...Also, another thing to consider beyond the selection of a doctor… Since I am federal government employee, the device and procedure ARE NOT covered by federal health insurance. It would be covered if I was a congressman or senator. (I wonder if its covered by Obama care.)

Not to go too far off topic but many employer generated health plans include a range of options, with higher coverage requiring higher premiums. From what I could tell doing an internet inquiry, there are a variety of plans from which the federal employee can choose. I wonder if it's possible there are options that will include this coverage?

KMeister

[merrix]

I have no idea to what degree the number of implants that Dr. Kramer performs impacts his compensation from the University of Maryland or the fees he receives from AMS or Coloplast. From my perspective, the plus of an academic affiliation is not the financial incentives or lack thereof that an academic physician receives for a procedure, but that it has been my experience in dealing with another academic medical center that incompetent or unethical doctors (and other health care providers) do not last long. Dr. Kramer has been at the University of Maryland for his entire post-residency career. To me that says something very positive about him.

The money all these guys receive from AMS and Coloplast is apparently publicly available information in US. Someone (Alibaba?) posted it recently.
Don't remember now, and don't bother to find his post, but the frequently mentioned top guys, including Kramer all received several hundred thousand dollars per year from AMS and/or Coloplast.
So there is financial interest and incentive in this game even for the University-employed doctors.
That doesn't mean that they don't care about their patients.
It perhaps means that financial incentives and genuine care for patients are compatible?

[alibaba]

It only means the financial incentives are helping sell their product. No more, no less. No company is going to give wads of kickback cash to someone who does not use/buy/promote their product in a way that generates sales. End of story.

The link to the cash has been bandied about here for some time. The first I had ever seen this particular link was here on Ft. Perito is the one who really hauls in the cash.

https://projects.propublica.org/docdoll ... id/1165571

[KMeister]

Hundreds of credible sources suggest Kramer is likely #1 in terms of technique- and videotapes himself making it pretty open.

Hundreds of credible sources? Hundreds? Total nonsense.

KMeister