Hi everyone. I had my initial consultation with Dr. Lista last Friday, and thought I would keep a running log on how my experience has been with him right from the start. If anyone here is thinking of contacting him for surgery, you may find this useful in making your decision.
I live about 3 hrs away, and my appointment was set for 12:00 noon. So I left home at about 8:30am figuring I would have plenty of time to get there. The Plastic Surgery Clinic is right in downtown Toronto on Scollard St. and it's a little tough to find if you aren't from the area. I would suggest making sure you have lots of time to find the place. I had to park out on the road and go inside a building to ask if I had the right place! It is a grey building right on the corner, and looks like a cosmetic make up store. But just inside and to the right, is a door leading to the surgery clinic. Anyhow, parking is a whole other thing too (and one way streets...ughh!), but it IS downtown Toronto, so you can expect all that.
So I go to the front desk, and I'm greeted by a very nice receptionist (who was speaking with Dr. Lista as I came in). She mentioned that he was a tad bit behind, which worked out great for me, because I was a tad bit late!
I sat in the waiting area for about 1/2 hour or so, and I was called in. I thought for sure I would be waiting there till after lunch, so I was pleasantly surprised to be called in so quickly.
I was accompanied by my wife and daughter to the appointment, so the three of us went into the small office to wait Dr. Lista's arrival. Within minutes, he was there and greeted all of us pleasantly. He sat down, and asked what I was looking for. I mentioned I was there for a gynecomastia consult. He explained in detail how the procedure was carried out, and went on to ask other normal questions regarding my health such as heart issues, medications I may be on etc. After that, he asked me to take off my shirt so he could examine my chest. I was told I had a typical case, and the only additional thing I needed would be to lipo out the sides of my chest toward the under arm to make the final contouring look more natural. I was going to ask him about that if he didn't mention it first, so I was glad to see that I didn't even have to.
After I put my shirt back on, he asked if my wife or I had any questions at all about the procedure. Nice! I was worried that he would be rushed for lunch, but he actually didn't seem to care about taking all the time we needed to ask questions. We had a few, but for the most part, I (like everyone here) have researched, read and watched all available information regarding this condition, and its surgery, so I had a pretty good grasp on everything.
I was told that the surgery would last about an hour, and after that, I would be in recovery for perhaps a couple of hours while the general anesthesia wore off. I would wake up wearing the compression vest already. He would give me a prescription for pain meds, and send me on my way. He told my wife that she would need to stay with me for 24 hrs following the surgery to make sure I had no issues. But if we needed them for any reason at all, they are on call 24 hrs a day, SO DON'T BE AFRAID TO CALL IF WE ARE WORRIED ABOUT ANYTHING. That was re assuring. He would need to see me one week after surgery, then again 3 weeks later. If all goes well after that, I'm all set.
I was REALLY pleased to hear him say that I could shower anytime I wanted. I did not have to wait a full week (with compression vest on) before showering. I can take the vest off, wash it while I'm in the shower, and put it back on then it's done drying. SWEET! I'll probably try to keep the vest on as long as I can between showers anyways just to be safe. I can sponge bath in between, and we have a walk in shower so my wife can wash my hair for me easily without having to take off the vest.
Any revisions required that can be surgically corrected, will be done at no charge. He did mention however, that he had a recent patient who had some lumps or something under the arm that were only noticeable when he raised his arms above his head. For some reason, he could not correct this, but he said the patient was still very pleased overall, and was not worried about it. He went on to explain that gynecomastia surgery is not perfect, and we should never expect perfect results. He figures that there is about an 80% improvement compared to what's there now. 80% is pretty good in my opinion. I told him I don't want a perfectly flat chest. That would look silly on me. I want a normal looking chest, which will have a natural contour to it. It will be nice to finally see if I have any pecs under these things! LOL.
One thing we did not speak about interestingly enough, was cost. Not that it wouldn't have eventually come up, but I approached the subject first. When I initially contacted his office for a consultation, I asked at that point what the cost for gynecomastia surgery is. I was told $4900 (plus HST). When I asked him about cost, he said the same, but it would be $1000 more for the additional lipo that had to be done on the sides of the chest. So anyone who is going for a consultation with Dr. Lista (or any other surgeon for that matter), keep this in mind when you are comparing your surgery quote to anyone else's. It all depends on what he has to do to make your case look proper. I have read in other posts that people paid less, but I know now it is because they did not have to get anything else done...just straight up gyne surgery. Anything more WILL BE EXTRA. The total cost for my surgery including tax is going to be $6667.00. Not cheap, but worth every penny to feel normal again.
He said that one of the ladies in the office would be in to give me an information package, with a written quote outlining the cost etc. She came in a couple of minutes later, and went over all of the details with us. We never discussed financing, or other payment options. In our case, none of this was necessary anyways, but I would assume she would have been the one to go over all of these options. I had pretty much made up my mind already, so needless to say, I put a $1000 deposit down, and have booked my surgery for mid January. He usually can get people in for surgery in about a 4 week period, but I didn't want to be laid up during the Christmas and New Year's hustle bustle. They are very accommodating there to book around your schedule I found (within reason of course). If I recall correctly, they do surgeries on Monday's and Thursday's. Upon booking the surgery, she went behind the front counter and gave me a small bottle of special soap. I was told to use this soap the night before surgery (wash entire body, including hair), and again the morning of surgery. Do not put on any deodorant, or hair product at all (if you use any).
Overall, I'd have to say my experience so far with Dr. Lista and his staff have been A 1. They were all super to deal with, very polite and accomodating. The front desk receptionist even printed out a Google Maps page for us to get better directions home from there. (Note: there ARE no better directions home from there!!
) But her help was certainly appreciated.
So, that's it for now. I stand here waiting for my time to be on the other side, and will share my experience with you all the way. I have never been part of a forum before, and have no idea on how to post pictures. I'll work on that though so I can provide some before and after pictures for everyone.
I'm on my way, wish me luck!
Topic: My experience so far with Dr. Lista (updated with pics) (Read 11527 times)
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