Hi,
None of you know me, but I started a posted about either choosing Dr. Spiegel in Boston or Dr. Z. in Illinois. I live in Vancouver, Canada and do not know the states at all. I have chosen to go with Dr. Spiegel as I do not need much chin work and he seems to be the choice for less and refinement.
Has anyone gone to Dr. Spiegel? Where is a good place to stay? Any advice about going to Boston (I've never been and live on the West coast)? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank-you
Rhi.
Hi Rhi!
I'm sorry I can't help you as I am not familiar with Boston. I did want to say that I hope you post on your experience with Dr. Spiegel. Do you have a surgery date set? I am in the early stages of researching FFS for myself, possibly getting it sometime next year. Dr. Spiegel is one of the doctors I'd like to get more information about.
Best of luck!
Kim :)
I'm also from Vancouver, and I went to see Dr. Spiegel a few months back! I'd actually recommend you get as much done with him in terms of procedures, as he's really good at making your face seem cohesive, ie not just a great nose or chin or forehead, but blend everything together so you look totally normal female. So if you could benefit from a procedure but you're on the fence, I'd recommend doing it anyways because he'll just smooth out those areas to fit the rest of your face. I stayed at the Boston Park Plaza, which was pretty ok, but the WIFI is not included and they charge alot for it (on a daily basis). Staying in the downtown core is kind of nice, near the hospital. Lots of good places to eat, and cute places to walk around to when you're feeling better.
Hope that helps!
I had some work done with Dr Spiegel in January. In general, I'm really pleased with my result. Like you, I wasn't looking to have a tremendous amount done. I wanted to look like me, but more feminine. This is exactly the result that I got.
Once in a while I wonder if I may have benefited from telling him to be more aggressive, but since I was always very weary of falling down the plastic surgery rabbit hole, I think that changing only what was truly necessary was the right choice for me.
I actually live in Boston, and in fact rode my bike to his office for my first couple of visits. It may be worth mentioning that his office is not actually in Boston proper, so you don't have to bother with a fancy downtown hotel--especially if you're only coming for a consultation at this point.
I went with Spiegel as well. As Spooky points out, he is no longer in Boston itself rather out in Chestnut Hill. You can get out to his office from the city (or the airport of course) using the T and walking 5 minutes so you can stay just about anywhere. It was very convenient and just a few dollars round trip. If you are going to take some time to visit Boston, stay in town and close to the sights and near a T station. I didn't stay over night for my consultations and I recovered at someone's house so I don't know much about the hotels.
If you don't need much done, he is probably an excellent choice. I do think that if you feel you need a LOT of work, and aggressively (such as really reducing your chin and nose), he may not be the best choice, but I would certainly say consider him. He is careful. I had almost no scarring and almost all of the numbness went away within a year or so. I have a little residual inside my lower lip to the gum, but that's fading.
In general, I'm pleased, but I did not feel he was "aggressive" enough for me or perhaps there wasn't as much that could really be done for me in the end as I hoped for (there are limits to what any of them can cut and file, the skull being hollow). I still feel I have far too masculine a face, and I did everything from brow and lift to chin and nose. He does try to keep your faced unified, and "you", and many swear by him. Those who see me know I'm related to mother (recently someone asked if I was her child), so he preserved the family resemblance. I did go back for minor revisions. I am a more feminine version of me, but I don't think I look very feminine. I have decided to simply accept that I am a strong featured woman and try to work with that. It just looks very exaggerated to me.
I seem to pass well enough, as I never get bothered or challenged on the basis of appearance. I am sure I get clocked time to time, but it's not obvious to me. I may just live in an accepting area. I've been hit on once or twice. I've never been asked out, although that can be for any number of reasons.
All that said, I think some of us who have gone through FFS probably still see the old versions of us through whatever has been done. I created a set of comparison photos of my pre and post results, in the poses Spiegel wanted pre-surgery and at various times post surgery. He made a huge positive difference, and I am grateful for that (especially as I look much younger than I am), but I guess I feel it wasn't enough for me in terms of softening.
edit:
I overlooked that you are seeing Dr Z. as well. You didn't ask about him but I used to live in the Chicago area and I did see him. He is less easy to get to by public transportation. He's in Wilmette, IL and just off the exit from 94/41. I found it far easier to get there by car. I suppose you can take a Metra train and a cab as well.
I just had a consultation with Dr. Z on Friday and had no trouble getting there via public transit (aside from a creep sexually harassing me). Take the red train as far north as it goes, then take the purple train as far north as it goes, then take the 422 bus to Lake and Skokie. Both of the trains are CTA and the bus is PACE. (I'm just mentioning this because the Ventra card day pass doesn't cover PACE buses, so you'd still need to put the ~$2.50 fare on it. The cheapest pass that covers both CTA and PACE is the weeklong pass for $33. If you're only there for a day or two just get a regular Ventra card and put ten bucks or so on it.) From there it was only about a .7 mile walk to his clinic.