What a lovely thread! I've met both of these Dr's, and I was debating the same question in my head after the last SCC, in that, I wondered which one I was leaning closer towards. (Brassard is still in consideration too).
My thoughts then, closely coincide with those already expressed on this thread, but these are the thoughts of someone that really didn't know much about either of the doctors, or SRS for that matter going into the 2008 SCC conference. I attended Dr Bower's lecture, and met with Dr. McGinn privately, and these are postings from my impressions of the two Dr's at that point:
1. I got the distinct impression that Dr Bowers is extremely busy, and I had a bad taste, thinking of "take a number please". From some women I talked to she's operating like 4 days a week, (not confirmed). I guess this raises my concern about getting revisions and attentive individually tailored care if needed.
2. I also got the impression that Dr Bower does extremely good work. That is impressive, and despite point #1, keeps her at the top of the list.
3. Dr McGinn impressed me in our consultation. A) I didn't know she was a trans woman until she told me. B) She is very confident, and super intelligent. Her confidence, despite her relatively "green" status as a SRS (and FFS) surgeon are inspiring enough to believe she would do a good job with the surgery(s). I had already booked FFS with another surgeon, but I talked to her about this, and was surprised that she did facial cosmetic surgery as well. I was tempted to talk more to her about FFS, but I had already agonized over the decision of which FFS surgeon for the better part of 10 months, and just couldn't go back to that state of mind.
4. Dr McGinn was honest with me about her relatively new status as a surgeon, but she's had all of the years of residence training, and her own practice now for 2 years. I would guess by the time I'm ready to go, she will have quite a few more surgery's under her belt, so that makes me a bit more solid towards considering her. I need to go back to my notes, but I thought she did a single stage surgery, maybe she's added the labiaplasty to a single stage technique recently? Don't quote me on that, I'll check my notes from SCC tonight. If she still requires two operations to get to the labiaplasty, that makes it a hard call for going with her.
Sooo, with that said, I'm still out on the fence, not needing to make a decision for a few more months. (I may see who is at Be-ALL) to try to catch them there. I may take a trip to PA too, for a longer consult with Dr McGinn.
Ohh (off topic surgeon), Brassard canceled on my consultation with him at SCC at the last minute, *sticks tongue out at him*. Although my health centre here in TO may be authorized to send their patients to Brassard under public funding soon, so that will definitely push him up the list *giggles*.
Good luck in your decision making! Post back your choice, if you care to!
*huggs*,
Melan
