Surgeons in Arizona?

[biggerboy]

Is there anyone in AZ - specifically Phoenix or Scottsdale who specializes in the procedure? I know this question has been asked in the Forum before but apparently not recently. Seems every plastic surgeon lists EVERY cosmetic procedure on Earth for both genders on their site. I'm looking for someone with lots of experience and skill in male breast reduction a la Dr. Elliott Jacobs in New York. If I can afford Dr. Jacobs, I might just go there, but would prefer locally, of course. 

[George Pope, M.D.]

Call Dr. David Creech in Mesa.  I'm not sure how much gynecomastia surgery he performs, but he's an excellent surgeon who trained with me at Univ. of Louisville.  It's worth a call to see if he does a lot of this surgery.

Dr. Pope, MD

[biggerboy]

Thank you, Dr. Pope. I appreciate you taking the time to reply very much. It is very difficult for those of us considering the surgery to know who to trust and where to go - on this site all signs lead to yourself, Dr. Jacobs, Dr. Delgado who owns the site and previously Dr. Bermant before he retired as true specialists. 

For those of us seeking a surgeon it is near impossible to ascertain who might really be the right choice. While I truly appreciate Dr. Creech's name and will check him out, you don't know if he specializes in the procedure and you know him personally. How would I be able to analyze his skill level in this procedure? The answer is I couldn't. At the risk of being negative, will any doctor tell you whatever you're inquiring about is not a specialty? As I mentioned in my initial post virtually every plastic surgeon in America seems to specialize in EVERYTHING judging by their Web sites and they're all the best according to their own publicity. 

What would be so helpful to all of us who suffer from this humiliating condition is if you doctors could at least identify your colleagues that truly specialize in this field - it appears there are not that many and I would think you gentlemen would know at least some of your colleagues. We wouldn't expect you to rank each other or put yourself in the referral business, but it would be enormously helpful to know who the true specialists are. I realize each of you is in business and wants all the business you can generate and naming other doctors appears counterproductive, but wouldn't it be better if we chose from you elite rather than just pick some local yokel that doesn't specialize and will not have the experience and expertise we all seek? Certainly you are all losing more business to these non-specialists than you are to each other. 

I know I want the best doctor I can find and am willing to travel a great distance if I can't find someone local that is an expert in this field.  WHO ARE THE TOP GYNECOMASTIA SURGEONS NATIONALLY?  That's the one question everybody who comes to this site looking for a surgeon wants to know!

[George Pope, M.D.]

Biggerboy,

You make a valid point, but that's a tough call.  It would be hard to know who takes a special interest in gynecomastia surgery.  It's not as commonly done as so many other things we do.  I have a special interest in gynecomastia and rhinoplasty, and because of that a do a ton of each of those procedures, and because of THAT, I get better and better at both.  But that doesn't mean that I do a bad breast augmentation or bad facelift.  I do a great job at those as well.  Plastic surgeons go through 7 years of surgery training after medical school. That's one of the longest residencies out there.  As a result we are highly skilled and can easily excel at a number of different procedures.  I'm not trying to brag; just trying to explain that we can be very good at many procedures. But if you're trying to get a feel for how often Dr. Creech does gynecomastia surgery, just call his office and ask what his 5 most common procedures are.  If gyne isn't in his top 5, then tell them why you're calling and ask how many he does in a month.  One case a week would be a lot,IMO, so if he does 2 or 3 a month I would say he does them fairly often.  If it's only 3 or 4 a year, you may not be comfortable with that.

I hope this helps you.
Dr. Pope, MD

[biggerboy]

I thank you wholeheartedly for your comments, Dr. Pope.  You offer solid advice.

Drs. Silverman and Jacobs addressed my question re the true specialists in the field in the "Ask The Doctors" Forum section and they both answered that those of you who specialize in this surgery have become connected by this site and there is no medical gynecomastia "club" where all your specialists meet and talk shop. Maybe there should be!