I know this thread is very old but every now and then I still receive PMs asking about my progress and results from surgery with Dr. Baker of Coral Gables.
Overall I was
extremely dissatisfied and cannot recommend Dr. Stephan Baker. The only positive results are the truly invisible scars, but overall I was back to feeling self-conscious about my chest within four weeks of surgery, despite following his instructions regarding compression garments to a T.
My consultations with him gave me confidence, but in hindsight I was probably blinded by the fact that
Dr. Pope, the nearest expert at the time, was a 4 hour drive away, while Dr. Baker's office is practically in my backyard.
My consultations with Dr. Baker were very candid, even though he expressed that I had very minor gynecomastia. I intentionally did not mention tissue excision, to see if he mentioned it on his own--as I did with the other three local surgeons I visited. Of the locals, he was the only one who brought up excision on his own and he mentioned I probably needed some minor excision in addition to liposuction. As mentioned, however, he continued to comment that my condition was extremely minor. He even tried to dissuade me by showing me photos of his most severe cases.
Flash forward to the day before surgery and I was in his office to take my before photos with him. When I removed my outer shirt to expose my undershirt, he then said "wow, now I see what you mean, your condition is very pronounced when you're wearing just one shirt," despite having fully examined me with my shirt off twice by this time. This actually bolstered my confidence in him.
The day of surgery went very smoothly. Of course, I spent the night before glued to this site and began noticing that some people had photos of the excised tissue from their surgeries. When Dr. Baker visited me just prior to administering anesthesia, I asked if he would photograph the results. He said something like "I didn't bring a camera but I'll try."
Surgery was very smooth. The one thing I will say: he continually warned me that during post-op I would feel like my chest was on fire and someone was dancing on it. He may have been exaggerating or I may have a high pain threshold, but I literally just felt groggy from the anesthetic without any localized pain. That night, no pain. I never even touched the painkillers he prescribed.
The next day he removed the bandages and a weight I'd experienced for nearly a decade had been lifted. I was elated, but also very cautious. I'd read stories of people looking great immediately after surgery, only to return to their original state shortly thereafter. When I asked him if he took and photos during the surgery he either said "no" or "yes, but you don't want to see those!" I asked him if he kept specimens of the excised tissue and his only reply was that "they were very minor.'
My hopes of putting this embarrassing condition behind me slowly faded as time went on. I wore the compression undergarments all day every day and at night. I wore them at school, work, family functions, you name it. I had not just spent $3,000 to leave any possibility for anyone to point a finger at my post-op cooperation.
My follow up appointments with Dr. Baker literally brought me to tears. With each follow up I grew more and more frustrated and insulted. A
huge problem is that Dr. Baker's office is kept extremely cold. Since I was never there at any time other than for my appointments, I cannot say whether this was done intentionally or not. Frankly, I'm finished giving him the benefit of the doubt.
So I sat in his arctic-cold office while he literally tried to convince me that I looked great so I should feel great. I told him about the cold and I told him that under normal circumstances nothing had changed. He simply said that if I was unhappy that he would gladly perform the operation again at a reduced cost of $1,000. But why would I ask someone who did a poor job on an operation to perform that operation again? "Excuse me sir, this milk is sour, may I have some more please?!"
I still feel embarrassed if I only wear one shirt without an undershirt because my nipples still look puffy through clothing, even though I'm tall and slender.
Dr. Baker would not accept the fact that there was any possible flaw in his performance. In my mind, there is reasonable doubt as to how thorough his performance was. He could have taken steps to assuage my doubts but he did not. His insensitive handling of the post-op situation was so degrading that I cancelled one of my last follow ups and never went back.
I want to be clear here, because Dr. Baker made this into a big deal: I was not expecting to recover looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I am naturally slender and simply wanted a flat chest like all the other slender guys I see walking around. In fact, about a year later I dropped down to very low body fat through diet and an exercise regimen and, despite seeing all six abs, my chest was still very embarrassing.
The best thing about Dr. Baker is that my chest looks like I never had the surgery. There are no scars and no irregularities. But I'm still embarrassed by my chest every single day.
Topic: Dr. Baker, South FL (Coral Gables)-any experiences? (Read 6363 times)
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