Hi everyone, I am looking at various FFS surgeons and it was suggested that I consider Dr. Leis, who is local to me in Philadelphia along with Dr. Rumor. I am having a hard time finding first hand accounts of this surgeon, good or bad - does anyone here have any experiences they would be willing to share either on the forum on in PM? Right now I am 90% on Facial Team, but if I can find someone good who I don't need to travel half way around the world that would be even better and allow me to have my support network with me along the way.
Thanks much!
Jill
There's a YouTube video of Dr Leis visiting Facial Team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vy185IQPrs
Quote from: AnonyMs on January 03, 2018, 11:14:19 AM
There's a YouTube video of Dr Leis visiting Facial Team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vy185IQPrs
Yes I have met the surgeon a few times and understand he thinks very highly of himself. Really looking for first hand experiences with him as the only photos I can find are folks at least twenty years older than me and I wasn't overly impressed with his attitude. Trying to give the benefit of the doubt as my wife REALLY does not want me to go outside the country for this. I also talked to dr Z, Spiegel, and Meltzer/Ley and rules out most of them.
I don't really understand not wanting to travel. The only issue I'm concerned with, and its very unlikely, is what happens if you for any reason you end up spending more time on hospital that you're supposed to. A complication in surgery or even a car accident. Travel insurance doesn't usually cover medical tourism.
It puts me off going to the USA for surgery as that would be an utter disaster. I believe such things are covered in Spain though. Thailand is cheap, so I could probably afford it.
Quote from: AnonyMs on January 04, 2018, 05:39:37 AM
I don't really understand not wanting to travel. The only issue I'm concerned with, and its very unlikely, is what happens if you for any reason you end up spending more time on hospital that you're supposed to. A complication in surgery or even a car accident. Travel insurance doesn't usually cover medical tourism.
It puts me off going to the USA for surgery as that would be an utter disaster. I believe such things are covered in Spain though. Thailand is cheap, so I could probably afford it.
I live in the US, and since education and skill vary so widely outside the US where it's fairly consistent, insurance does not cover anything non emergency. I do worry about the logistics of a complication that would require a revision, where that would be pretty simple here.
Also, and I think this is where my wife is coming from, if I'm going to be laid up for two weeks, I think personally I would much prefer that to be someplace where I speak the language and have more people I know around me. To go from philly to Spain is about $1k usd not including hotel and food, whereas we have three well known surgeons here in Philly, with more in NYC and Boston, which are short 2-3 hour drive or train rides away. Much more convenient and cheaper for everything other than the surgery itself.
So trying to figure out if this guy is good or if it's a pass. If I go with a US based surgeon, my employer is also going to try and get coverage with our carrier whereas if I go outside the US that would be an automatic denial. The difference between $500 (my out of pocket max) and $50,000 out of pocket is nothing to sneeze at, but of course that would only be after so many appeals.
I always forget about insurance. There's no insurance coverage in Australia for this kind of thing, so I never think of it being a factor. Given that, the travel costs relatively are small compared to variation in prices among surgeons, and also compare to how safe I feel with the different ones. I still can't figure out who I like for FFS, but I'm definitely ruling out anyone who's not easy to research.
I have looked at Dr. Leis's presentations at the PTHC several times. I was not impressed with the before and after pictures. I saw two persons that I wondered why he put the pics in the presentation. One was a BA and the nipple area were not symmetrical. Comparing that to Dr. Bowers presentations and emphatic symmetry statements and pictures showed a huge difference in surgeon.
I went to Dr. Spiegel and he was expensive. I had a face lift but my jowl buccal fat was the #1 thing I wanted taken care of and although it is better it is still there. Dr. Spiegel looked at my brows and said I did not need a lift. I had a far head reduction and assumed it would be ok.
If I did not need bone work I would have gone to Dr. McGinn. I am looking to go to her for a brow lift in April. I want the jowl buccal fat removed but that will need to wait a bit longer.
You may want to consider doing FFS and a face lift a year later. I know you probably want it all done now but it is really a good way to do it. It you have a lot of work needed you may want to think about doing it in upper then lower face then face lift.
I will do one facial thing at a time now and wished I had done upper then lower then face lift.
I had a tip plasty (refined the tip-no bone work) and chin implant orobably back in 04/05. I was pleased with his work and his wife was then office manager and she is great to deal with. Back then, his prices were very good, I don't know about currently. He is pretty conservative in approach. Like all Dr.s Leis is a bit of a character. A decade later I needed more serious corrections and I went with Dr. Z in Chicago. I'm planning on going back to Dr. Z for a "tune up" this summer. I agree with Rachel, this is less of a "one and done" and more of a life long managed process.
Following, Also I was looking into Rumar as well but found a note so good post on her and few others and am trying to find out more about her.