Surgeon choice: local vs. travel

[markwal6]

I know the next time i need something done ill go see Alex Tatem in Indianapolis. You can find him on YouTube also.

[Franklin_F]

Thank you all for the helpful suggestions. I was wondering if there is any information on the infection rates of doctors other than Eid, specifically, is there anyone else that is in the ballpark of 0.5%?

[October26]

Hi guys. I am a young member (31), suffered from ED since 14 years old. Pills worked for 7-8 years but then failed in 2019, and even if I take 300 mg of Viagra, the outcome is still hit or miss. That was when I found Franktalk. After a few years of self loathing and procrastination, finally decided to go Bionic in 2023 (didn't want injections due to dating needs). Thanks to all members for the invaluable information and kind attitude on this forum.

Here is my question right now:
I had my surgery scheduled with Dr. Eid in mid March, but his office has informed me that he is currently unwell, and the surgery might be postponed indefinitely. I am considering switching to a different surgeon. One obvious choice is Dr. Levine, since I live in Chicago and he is very well respected. My biggest fear is infection, and my understanding is that he has a low infection rate (1.2%), but there are other higher volume surgeons in the country with even lower infection rates. Money is not an issue, and I wonder how much benefit there is for staying local, compared to flying to a higher volume surgeon. A secondary consideration is future revisions. I wonder whether it would be valuable to choose a younger surgeon so that I can stick with the same guy for future revisions.

Sorry for the long post. I understand that ultimately this is a very personal choice. But any input from you would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I am going to respectfully disagree with some of the opinions here—and I am not saying anyone is wrong. Here is another view. This procedure is not a difficult one for an experienced surgeon. I went to the Mayo Clinic and had a very easy surgery and an amazing result. The surgeon used the penoscrotal method and I had very little swelling or bruising, and had the added (and free) ‘lift’ of the scrotum for aesthetic purposes. After the procedure I had some questions about the healing process that were answered by folks here on FT and with two calls into the clinic. Looking back on my experience I think I over-thought a lot of things like size of the flaccid, function, possible complications, etc. At first, I was not all that concerned with the eventual size but got caught up in the FT discussion about that, only to be really pleased with that aspect of the experience. You definitely want a surgeon or surgeons who are trained and experienced in the IPP placement surgery.

[Floridaspeedo]

Hi guys. I am a young member (31), suffered from ED since 14 years old. Pills worked for 7-8 years but then failed in 2019, and even if I take 300 mg of Viagra, the outcome is still hit or miss. That was when I found Franktalk. After a few years of self loathing and procrastination, finally decided to go Bionic in 2023 (didn't want injections due to dating needs). Thanks to all members for the invaluable information and kind attitude on this forum.

Here is my question right now:
I had my surgery scheduled with Dr. Eid in mid March, but his office has informed me that he is currently unwell, and the surgery might be postponed indefinitely. I am considering switching to a different surgeon. One obvious choice is Dr. Levine, since I live in Chicago and he is very well respected. My biggest fear is infection, and my understanding is that he has a low infection rate (1.2%), but there are other higher volume surgeons in the country with even lower infection rates. Money is not an issue, and I wonder how much benefit there is for staying local, compared to flying to a higher volume surgeon. A secondary consideration is future revisions. I wonder whether it would be valuable to choose a younger surgeon so that I can stick with the same guy for future revisions.

Sorry for the long post. I understand that ultimately this is a very personal choice. But any input from you would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I am going to respectfully disagree with some of the opinions here—and I am not saying anyone is wrong. Here is another view. This procedure is not a difficult one for an experienced surgeon. I went to the Mayo Clinic and had a very easy surgery and an amazing result. The surgeon used the penoscrotal method and I had very little swelling or bruising, and had the added (and free) ‘lift’ of the scrotum for aesthetic purposes. After the procedure I had some questions about the healing process that were answered by folks here on FT and with two calls into the clinic. Looking back on my experience I think I over-thought a lot of things like size of the flaccid, function, possible complications, etc. At first, I was not all that concerned with the eventual size but got caught up in the FT discussion about that, only to be really pleased with that aspect of the experience. You definitely want a surgeon or surgeons who are trained and experienced in the IPP placement surgery.

I agree fully. I went with an experienced Urologist who answered all of my questions on the implant, he was trained by a high implanter but he didn't focus on implants and I felt comfortable with him.

I met with a high volume doc and did not feel comfortable for a variety of reasons including speaking with past patients who mentioned urethras punctured, multiple infections, etc.

Use common sense. Everyone has different results/experiences but you need to feel comfortable with your decision and own it.

[Old Guy]

Since the risk of infection is low overall, I'd just stick with a local doctor. Why add all the expense, time and travel? In the slight chance you do end up with an infection, you're probably going to end up with a local doc to fix that.
I knew nothing about implants going in other than it would allow me erections again. Maybe not finding Frank Talk until 5 months after my surgery was for the best so I didn't have all this stuff to worry about.
So, if you're ready stop overthinking of all the possibilities and get it done so you can enjoy it.