I think I finally found my surgeon!

Dr. Lickstein out of Towson--Cosmetic Surgery Center of Maryland. Still have a bit of research to do, but I very much liked him. He answered ALL of my questions--all thousand of them. I got clarity about some of the issues I was confused about and feel very comfortable with his plan. I am going to do the lower body lift without butt auto augmentation. I just don't feel right moving ahead with it given how different the opinions are about the success and appearance of the available procedures are and how difficult I've heard the recovery can be. I am also doing a breast lift with implants. I have researched the implants vs. no implants at the time of lift issue and it is really pretty evenly split as far as what doctors will do. This doctor is a representative for Stratis (sp?), the material they sometimes use to "sling" up the implant. He teaches interns how to properly use it in cadavers so I think he knows his stuff about this issue. He said that he would never recommend Stratis for a first time implant. He said the Stratis is VERY expensive and implants so rarely fail (meaning sag and cause the implant to look so unsightly that a revision is necessary) that there really is no good reason to use it the first time out in most patients. Of course he said there are the exceptions, but he did not feel I was one of them and he felt Stratis was not indicated in my case. The implants will go behind the muscle wall. He said that in most cases, that is more than enough support for the implant. Now it is just the saline v. silicone debate--ugh.

Surgery will likely be October 21st, my birthday. Guess it is my re-birthday now! I am gathering clinical notes from my doctors now about rashes and pulling all my pictures together in hopes of getting some of this covered. I'm looking at 22K without any insurance help. That covers the pain pump, garmets, all follow up care--everything. He did say that if $$$ was an issue that I should talk to him about it. If insurance won't help, I'm going to tell him I have 20K to spend and see if he'll do it for that. Considering my freakin' transmission went out today and I'm about to have to spend 3K on that, I really don't even have all 20, but I'll meet him there.

Of course, I'm still open to hearing any and all feedback/suggestions.

Wish me luck!

Denise

Good for you, Denise!!

Laura