Currently I am a FTM that is pre everything. Right now, I am looking for Surgeons for the Top surgery and frankly do not know where to begin. I have no idea which surgeon is 'good' as in who will do a 'good' job. Also, I want a surgeon who will allow me to keep some sensitivity up there. So, I was wondering if anyone could help me out on figureing out which surgeons to check out, or where to go to. I live in Michigan, USA so probably anything about the UK would be out of my hands because the flight tickets would in general be very costly.

Any help will be greatly appreciated 

The big names I've heard of are Dr. Fischer, Brownstein, and Garramone.  Personally I'm looking at Fischer, as I'm small enough for peri and she gives good results.  Fischer is in Maryland, and I'm not sure about the others.

Garramone's in Florida, Brownstein is in California (San Francisco I think?).  Personally I think Fischer's great for peri but I'm not such a fan of her results for double incision mastectomies, but it's personal preference.  Brownstein's probably the best for double incision, but Garramone's also good and one of the cheapest.  Those are probably the big three, but you might also consider Christine McGinn in Pennsylvania--it's somewhat close to Michigan, and she is trans herself, although fairly new on the scene.  I've heard good things about Perry Johnson in Omaha, Nebraska as well.  All of that is for double incision though; if you qualify for peri that's a big difference!  Here are the normal costs of each surgeon according to transbucket, but this does not include whether they charge for consultations and/or revisions (I know Garramone doesn't charge for either):

Fischer double incision=normally $6800
Fischer peri=approx. $7400, but varies between $7000 and $8000
Garramone double incision=$5700 always
Brownstein double incision=approx. $7500
McGinn double incision=$6800 (from website)
Johnson double incision=$5350, $6300 (only two results listed on transbucket)

There's also a Dr. William Kuzon in Michigan whom I'm not familiar with who has one result listed on transbucket.  No cost was listed and I couldn't find his website, but he might be worth looking into!

Definitely check out transbucket when you get a chance, it has before/after pictures of a lot of surgeons and has been really helpful for me!

One major consideration in who you choose: will they write the vaguely worded letter that will allow you to change your gender marker?  Maybe that's not so important now that they've changed the regs for passports, but that used to be a big one.  Some surgeons would not write a letter at all (Melissa Johnson in Springfield, Ma, for one) and others would only write that they performed a bilateral mastectomy.

After that, there are a lot of good surgeons and pics over on Transbucket. 

Good Luck.


Jay

Transbucket is a great resource for surgery results. There are also some Yahoo groups out there.

America is the best place to get top surgery in my opinion. I live in the UK and our surgeons are not good.

The best surgeons in my opinion are Dr Garramone for the double incision method, and Dr Fischer for peri-areola. I think Brownstein puts the nipples too high. Medalie is quite underrated in my opinion too.

Dr Garramone's website is a fantastic source of information about both surgeries: http://www.drgarramone.com/procedures-transgender2.html

Since you are in Michigan, you might want to look into the University of Michigan's Comprehensive Gender Services Program. I don't know anything about it, but I think it would be good to look into. This is where Dr. William Kuzon is based.

The link for the Gender Services Progam: http://www.med.umich.edu/transgender/index.htm

Dr. Kuzon's profile at U of M: http://www2.med.umich.edu/healthcenters/provider_profile.cfm?individual_id=35891

I've seen and heard of good results from Dr Daniel Medalie. He's in Cleveland, OH. The guy I want to go to cause he's less than 2 hours away from me and has good results. My next pick would be Garramone. His results are amazing.

I personally love Garramone's results.  He's far away from me, as I am in Canada, but... It would be worth it.  Anyone have any experience flying after top surgery?  I'd have to take a plane.

Im personally looking into Brownstein for double incision.
Mostly because he's somewhat closest to me.
I think Garramone is most popular, word of mouth. The more you hear about someone, the more ppl will want to experience them, the more practice they get.
But im not sure if he's most heard about because of his costs, results, or just talk.

Quote from: V on July 20, 2010, 05:47:02 PM
I personally love Garramone's results.  He's far away from me, as I am in Canada, but... It would be worth it.  Anyone have any experience flying after top surgery?  I'd have to take a plane.

Not a problem, just make sure you have a travel companion so you don't have to lift or carry anything.  I did find plane travel painful; by the end of my trip my chest was BURNING!!  You don't realize how much you use your upper body, even when you're not lifting anything.

I flew clear across the country for top surgery.

Jay

Quote from: sneakersjay on July 21, 2010, 01:27:00 PM
Not a problem, just make sure you have a travel companion so you don't have to lift or carry anything.  I did find plane travel painful; by the end of my trip my chest was BURNING!!  You don't realize how much you use your upper body, even when you're not lifting anything.

I flew clear across the country for top surgery.

Jay

What Jay has said here is so true.

You REALLY do not know how much you use your chest area until you have the surgery, even just walking upstairs.

You can all go as far as you want as long as you have someone with you. Distance does not matter as long as you have a person who "does" after surgery. The world is your oyster 

I went with Dr. Brownstein (double incision) and it's been a great experience so far. Cost with him can vary slightly depending on your needs (if you cannot meet him in person, he can give you an estimate if you take good photos of your chest and provide some asked for data).

A double incision will not leave much sensitivity, unfortunately, so that is something to keep in mind.

Quote from: M.Grimm on July 24, 2010, 02:07:54 PM
A double incision will not leave much sensitivity, unfortunately, so that is something to keep in mind.

Not necessarily.  I have sensation in both nipples and I had DI.



Jay

Quote from: zombiesarepeaceful on July 20, 2010, 02:00:08 PM
I've seen and heard of good results from Dr Daniel Medalie. He's in Cleveland, OH. The guy I want to go to cause he's less than 2 hours away from me and has good results. My next pick would be Garramone. His results are amazing.

If you're in Michigan (especially the lower peninsula), Dr. Medalie would be a good choice.  He's a reputable surgeon with good results for both double incision and periaereolar surgery.  Traveling long distances after surgery is do-able, but painful... I felt every bump in the road driving back after surgery.  My chest was on fire by the end of the 12 hour drive.

I don't think any surgeon can guarantee that you will retain sensation.  Your best bet for that would be either a peri (B-cup or smaller, no sagging) or a DI where the nipples are still attached to a nerve pedicle (it can be done in some cases, if you are small-chested enough).  But even then--there are no guarantees.  I had a peri, and I don't have nipple sensation.  Of course, I never had sensation before surgery, so... I kind of expected that.