How to choose a surgeon

[phoenix633]

Any advice on how to choose a chest surgeon? I may have the opportunity to get my chest surgery covered if I go to Dr. Weiss in NYC but before I knew about this opportunity I was planning on paying out of pocket for surgery with Dr. Medalie in Cleveland. I hear Dr. Medalie is one of the best and I want to have great results. I mostly just want it to be very flat. I hear Dr. Medalie is very good but if I can get it covered then it would make my life much easier. I hear Dr. Weiss has been doing this for about 15 years and is very good too. Any advice on how to choose between surgeons and any experiences from people who have gone to either for them?

[FTMax]

How to find a surgeon:
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,197983.0.html

Red flag words/phrases from potential surgeons:
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,194660.0.html

Surgery prep list/recommendations (which includes some surgeon-specific stuff):
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,186413.0.html

My advice would be to make a list of what matters most to you, and compare how each stacks up. For me, my choices were Dr. Fischer, Dr. Garramone, or Dr. Zinsser. I wanted to be flat, have decent aesthetics, and get it all done as cheaply as possible. All of them I knew could get me flat. I crossed Zinsser off because I didn't like the way his post-op nipples looked. When deciding between Fischer and Garramone, I took into account total cost of the procedure with each plus what it would cost me to travel to them. I went with Fischer because it cost me the price of the procedure, plus $100 for an overnight hotel stay, and a tank of gas to drive to and from Baltimore twice from my house in DC. With Garramone, I would've had to fly to and from Florida and stay there for about a week, which would've tacked on several hundred dollars to my costs.

There are plenty of threads on the board about Medalie if you look through the last few pages. Not much on Weiss that I can recall.