Des Moines, Iowa surgeons - mastectomy and reconstruction

openorclosed

Hello everyone. I found this forum community around the time my wife was diagnosed but until today I didn't really look around and see everything it has to offer... wow, what an amazing resource! I can't believe I haven't been starting here with all of my questions. Well, better late than never...

My wife has been very happy with her caregivers but now it's the "moment of truth" where she needs to decide which surgeon to use for the mastectomy and which surgeon to use for reconstruction. She hasn't made a final decision on procedure yet but it's very likely she will have a bilateral skin-sparing mastectomy (not nipple-sparing or areola-sparing). She also hasn't made a final decision on reconstruction but she is leaning strongly towards tissue expander and silicone. We have already met with two of the general surgeons and one plastic surgeon (meeting with a second one tomorrow). We have also asked others in the community and we hear lots of "they're both great"-type answers. I agree that we have several options that are very good, but hey, we don't want very good, we want the best!

I'm going to list what I think are all of the options for both categories; if there's another option, please let us know. We would really appreciate hearing any experience/opinion/information on these doctors - personal or hearsay, positive or negative.

Mastectomy

• Dr. Susan Beck, Katzmann/Mercy
• Dr. Scott Hamling, Iowa Clinic (also UnityPoint/Stoddard/Methodist)
• Others at Katzmann: Torstenson, Franko, Goldman, Whitmer
• Others at Iowa Clinic: Kollmorgen, Baker, Dietzenbach, Mohan

Reconstruction

• Dr. Samuel Maurice, Katzmann/Mercy
• Dr. Michael Carlisle, Katzmann/Mercy
• Dr. Lester Yen, Iowa Clinic
• Dr. Konstantinos Lekkas, Iowa Clinic
• Dr. Timothy Schurman, Iowa Clinic
• Dr. Mark Reece, Iowa Clinic
• The various cosmetic surgeons in the Des Moines area (Bergman, Folkers, Franks, Cherny, etc.)

Thanks for all your help!