Best plastic surgeons for reconstruction - Northern California

I live in San Jose and in June 2013 had my bilateral mx and reconstruction with tissue expanders. In Nov 2013, I had my implant exchange with silicone implants and oopherectomy. All my surgeries were done at Stanford Hospital and Clinics (in Palo Alto). During my research phase, I had also consulted/interviewed with the team at UCSF and private surgeons in Los Gatos/Campbell. Stanford is very organized, easy to deal with and the convenience of having everyone 'in-house' because they all work together as a team made everything smooth and peaceful. Their Cancer Center is phenomenal. Everyone from their nurses, schedulers, nurses at the hospital after surgery, etc were outstanding. I loved every one of them and I couldn't ask for any better!!! I am extremely happy with my results. You will know what feels right for you. Trust yourself.

I love LOVE my new implants and the way they look! My plastic surgeon was Dr. Gordon Lee. He is the head of plastic surgery at Stanford. He performs over 400 mastectomy implants a year (silicone, DIEP, etc). You can also look him up on YouTube. Interesting enough, the other two plastic surgeons did their fellowship UNDER him at Stanford.

You're also going to need a breast surgeon as they will perform both surgeries in one day (breast tissue removal and reconstruction). Mine was Dr. Fredrick Dirbas at Stanford. He's in high demand since folks travel as far as Asia for him. He takes his time at his consults and appointments but is worth the wait. He runs late with his appointments so try to get his first appointment in the morning (or be patient waiting for him if he's running 2 hours late). If you can't get him, the other breast surgeons are all great. Stanford is also a teaching hospital so getting an appointment is usually weeks out. 

You didn't specify which implant you were thinking of. For me, I knew I wanted silicone implants. I workout 6x/week with heavy cardio and weight training. So it was important to me that my chest looked even better than before (I was a 36DD and now a small 36C), no nipple sparing (I'm BRCA 2 positive so I wanted everything off!) and look and feel good. I will get 3D nipple tattoos this summer either in SF or with Vinnie Myers (he's in the east coast but supposedly does hundreds of these a year!). My husband still can't take his eyes off my chest. Funny.

Today, I'm almost 4 months out from my final implant surgery and back to lifting heavier weights than before. Another component to recovery and healing is taking baby steps and not over doing it. When they told me not to lift anything more than 5lbs for 4 weeks, I followed that and made my husband and 10 year old son do the work for me. Easier to do that than accidently distort my implant and having to go back into surgery. The other component is doing the range of motion exercises a few times a day and being diligent about it. That plus being fit before my surgeries helped with recovery.

My friends are jealous that I can rock a string bikini top without support! But I was never tied to my original breasts and was ok with having to do the surgery. That's something you have to think about. I did develop anxiety before my surgeries. That is very normal. Let your doctors know. They gave me the lightest dose of Xanax to take off the edge. It didn't interfere with my daily routines whatsoever.

I have Blue Shield PPO and it was all covered with Stanford (minus my deductible). 

Happy to answer any questions or if you just want to chat! You'll get through this. I remember everything BEFORE surgery was harder than the surgery itself! Hang in there. 

I'm also a Dr Dirbas and Dr Lee patient at Stanford.  Just got my BMX with TEs on Wed and I'm already feeling pretty good, walking around and doing minor chores.  Got a peek at the chest when I removed bandages and am happy so far.  Another option to look into is Nina Grissom at CPMC in SF.

Hi Cancerkillerx2-

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Dr. Prasad Kilaru hands down love him! He's in Fremont affiliated with Washington Hospital.