Dr’s experience

[steven1]

When I ask my Surgeon What his success rate was for implant surgery he told me 80 percent , is this acceptable?

[bldoink]

I have no idea but that sounds low to me. Maybe if you combine mechanical failures, medical failures and longer term satisfaction failures into one failure rate it would make sense.

[steven1]

Thanks it sounds low to me also.
I have a problem after I use injection no matter the amount of mix ,my erection won’t go down 6 to8 hrs and my Dr feels I should have the implant, I would like to have better odds , especially when once done I can’t go back.Thanks for listening

[Gt1956]

You might want to have him explain his definition of success & failure. 80% seems lower than the published numbers that I've seen.

[newbie443]

First thing I do now with any new doctor or one who is talking about surgery is to check them out on Health Grades. You can check your doctors ratings and experience to see how many implant surgeries he does compared to others in the US. I usually check all the doctors in my area. In my case for penile implants all the results said may perform ask doctor. That means really low and my Uro said all the doctors in the practice did 2-3 a year. If you click on the button that says "Average" or "High" or "Very High" next to the procedure it will take you to another page that will give the exact percentage. Then you can make a list of any that you would consider based on patient ratings and experience. You can also check to see if the doctor has any awards or has written or co-written any papers. If you or anyone else needs help wit this just let me know.

[Waynetho]

First thing I do now with any new doctor or one who is talking about surgery is to check them out on Health Grades. You can check your doctors ratings and experience to see how many implant surgeries he does compared to others in the US. I usually check all the doctors in my area. In my case for penile implants all the results said may perform ask doctor. That means really low and my Uro said all the doctors in the practice did 2-3 a year. If you click on the button that says "Average" or "High" or "Very High" next to the procedure it will take you to another page that will give the exact percentage. Then you can make a list of any that you would consider based on patient ratings and experience. You can also check to see if the doctor has any awards or has written or co-written any papers. If you or anyone else needs help wit this just let me know.

So newbie443, Healthgrades shows my doctor listed as "VERY HIGH" for Erectile Dysfunction treatment frequency and upon drilling down, it says that "Dr. Allen treats Erectile Dysfunction more than 99% of his peers". For Penile Implants, it shows "NORMAL" treatment frequency and says "Dr. Allen performs Penile Implants more than 71% of his peers". It also shows no malpractice complaints, no disciplinary actions and no board actions.

His rating on Healthgrades is 3.5 of 5, with the lower score being primarily due to patients who weren't happy with his "matter of fact" approach that was seen as rudeness by him and his staff.

In your opinion, would this tell you that he has a high success rate? He is a fully practicing urologist and not just specializing in ED treatments and surgeries. I can't find any data about how many implants he has performed, but Boston Scientific (AMS) has him listed on their list as "Specialist" in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

[Gt1956]

I'm kind of a skeptical type of guy. I would be careful on ratings made by a medical company until I knew how they did their ratings.
The AMS rating could possibly just mean that they know that he uses their products. Medical companies walk a fine line to not show preference to 1 doctor over another. So please be very careful using their rating until you know what it means in the real world. Protect yourself, no one else will do it for you. Just my opinion based upon nothing.

[Waynetho]

I'm kind of a skeptical type of guy. I would be careful on ratings made by a medical company until I knew how they did their ratings.
The AMS rating could possibly just mean that they know that he uses their products. Medical companies walk a fine line to not show preference to 1 doctor over another. So please be very careful using their rating until you know what it means in the real world. Protect yourself, no one else will do it for you. Just my opinion based upon nothing.

Well, I was implanted by this doctor out of sheer blind faith since he was the first URO that I have ever seen and he was nearby in the affluent city of Plano TX and he had some high praise from all of his patients that weren't off-put by his "RUDENESS" ("Matter-of-Fact" attitude).

I have one concern right now about the perceived shortness of the implant that I received but it may be that it was all that my anatomy could take. I will be discussing with the AMS Patient Liaison and probably with the doctor on my 3 month followup (or sooner if it bugs me too much or penetration hurts too much). I can see the possibility of anatomical differences possibly making the "1/3 IN : 2/3 OUT" ratio not possible. After my post regarding my concerns on Friday afternoon, I did a test, pumped up and tried to PUSH my penis into my pubic bone and it feels like the rear tips are actually against the bone rather than under it. If that's how my cavernosa are designed, that would mean i would require an abnormally smaller implant for the same outer length. It also means that my angle is totally dependent on suspensory ligaments and that would explain why I hang at about 3:30-4:00 instead of 3:00 or above.

[newbie443]

First thing I do now with any new doctor or one who is talking about surgery is to check them out on Health Grades. You can check your doctors ratings and experience to see how many implant surgeries he does compared to others in the US. I usually check all the doctors in my area. In my case for penile implants all the results said may perform ask doctor. That means really low and my Uro said all the doctors in the practice did 2-3 a year. If you click on the button that says "Average" or "High" or "Very High" next to the procedure it will take you to another page that will give the exact percentage. Then you can make a list of any that you would consider based on patient ratings and experience. You can also check to see if the doctor has any awards or has written or co-written any papers. If you or anyone else needs help wit this just let me know.

So newbie443, Healthgrades shows my doctor listed as "VERY HIGH" for Erectile Dysfunction treatment frequency and upon drilling down, it says that "Dr. Allen treats Erectile Dysfunction more than 99% of his peers". For Penile Implants, it shows "NORMAL" treatment frequency and says "Dr. Allen performs Penile Implants more than 71% of his peers". It also shows no malpractice complaints, no disciplinary actions and no board actions.

His rating on Healthgrades is 3.5 of 5, with the lower score being primarily due to patients who weren't happy with his "matter of fact" approach that was seen as rudeness by him and his staff.

In your opinion, would this tell you that he has a high success rate? He is a fully practicing urologist and not just specializing in ED treatments and surgeries. I can't find any data about how many implants he has performed, but Boston Scientific (AMS) has him listed on their list as "Specialist" in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

HG is just a starting point. Where you check out doctor(s) in your area looking for the best one. Or more important try to avoid a not so good one. If you are lucky you will find more than one who is very good. Had your doctor been in my area he would have been leaps and bounds above my current local doctors. But I would still have a lot of questions to ask. What is his infection rate, 71% seems to be a good number for me in experience but I would ask how many and ask to talk to one of his patients that had an implant. Then how long after surgery would I be left inflated. How long with catheter. Would I have a drain. How long until activation. How long before sex. Dose he use both brands of implants. Does he do revisions. You can also change your search to Complex Penile Surgery. In my case I did not find any in my area. My local doctors all did 2-3 a year and do not do revisions. This is just tool for us to use to help us make the best choice for us. A check that may find a much better doctor in our area for us. As far a single product user that is something that may or may not raise a concern. AMS has about 75% of the market. Coloplast 25%. So I would at least want to see a very good doctor that does both to determine which is the best choice for me and why. I feel that local follow up care to be best but only if you have a very good doctor for that care.

I cannot really say what your doctor's success rate is. All I can say is if I was looking for a doctor that the info on HG would put him on my list to check out. I am sure you could check doctors in your area and find many who are much lower than your doctors 71%. So he would be above them on my list or most likely the others would not be on my list. And there might be other doctors in your area that are above that 71%.

Best of luck to all of us going forward with this.

[Waynetho]

But I would still have a lot of questions to ask. What is his infection rate, 71% seems to be a good number for me in experience but I would ask how many and ask to talk to one of his patients that had an implant. Then how long after surgery would I be left inflated. How long with catheter. Would I have a drain. How long until activation. How long before sex. Dose he use both brands of implants. Does he do revisions.

Oh I had all those questions.

1. I suggested an LGX because it expands length as well - He told me that I wouldn't benefit from that and the CX would be the best in my case. He said my anatomy will actually determine which brand and size he implants and he will always use the best choice for each patient.
2. He give me the choice of 2-piece, 3-piece or malleable and said he would *TRY* to honor my request for the type, but it was ultimately determined by my anatomy if one type wasn't going to work.
3. I asked if he provided both brands - He does AMS and Coloplast 3-piece models as well as 2-piece inflatables and malleable.
4. I asked if the surgery would be via penoscrotal or infrapubic incision - he said penoscrotal - As I understand, penoscrotal rarely has a drain (mine didn't)
5. I asked if he used the "no-touch" procedure and he said - No, because he hasn't had any patients get an implant infection yet
6. He told me up front that activation would be at the 2-week followup and sex would be prohibited until after the first six weeks, primarily due to my Peyronie's plaques that he had to crack during remodeling that required the tunica albuginea to heal a bit.
7. He said up front that there would be an overnight stay with the catheter and it would likely be removed before releasing me the next day.
8. He also told me up front that I would wake up inflated and he would deflate me before I go home as long as things went well.
9. I did NOT ask if he did revisions. I really regret that now but we'll cross that bridge IF we come to it

One more thing, I entered "Complex Penile Surgery" into the Healthgrades search and got "HIGH" for treatment frequency and "Dr. Allen performs Complex Penile Surgery more than 85% of his peers". Not too shabby!