Is this doctor good enough for implant surgery?

[Valdekio]

Hi guys,

So I talked to a doctor and he's able to secure my surgery for free with my current insurance. Now, he told me he's done 50 - 60 implants a year; and has been doing implants for the past 8 years. I asked him how much does he charge for surgery and he said $37k. He said that it takes a month and a half to recover from postop surgery.

My previous doctor who's a high volume surgeon recommended him. That previous doctor is moving to another clinic and can't perform surgery on me, sadly. Thats why he recommended this doctor.

I can afford to pay $30k out of pocket for surgery elsewhere, but its still very expensive. And as I said, this surgery is free with my insurance. So do you think this doctor is good enough to perform surgery?

.

What is his name?

[lasthope2.0]

I would also contact the insurance company to check if these CPT codes are covered by your plan.

54405 (inflatable)
54400 (semirigid)
(CPT - Current Procedural Terminology)

If they are, any high-volume in-network surgeon should get you covered. Insurance billing is done using CPT codes, regardless of which in-network surgeon you choose.

[Ephi82]

He’s not what I consider high volume, but he’s been doing them for eight years, so he has a lot of experience. If he has a good reputation overall, I would go with him if he’s your only choice in terms of insurance coverage.

[Asdefxx]

I would also contact the insurance company to check if these CPT codes are covered by your plan.

54405 (inflatable)
54400 (semirigid)
(CPT - Current Procedural Terminology)

If they are, any high-volume in-network surgeon should get you covered. Insurance billing is done using CPT codes, regardless of which in-network surgeon you choose.

Sorry, can you elaborate on this? Do I literally just call up my insurance company and ask "hey may I ask if CPTs 54400 and 54405 are covered under my plan?"

[Bandit]

Why get “good enough”. Put it off. Save some money and do it right. If you go ahead and get it done “good enough” and your not satisfied you will not forgive yourself. Do research. Go high volume. Its your dick. Don’t settle for less than !!!
Bandit

[lasthope2.0]

I would also contact the insurance company to check if these CPT codes are covered by your plan.

54405 (inflatable)
54400 (semirigid)
(CPT - Current Procedural Terminology)

If they are, any high-volume in-network surgeon should get you covered. Insurance billing is done using CPT codes, regardless of which in-network surgeon you choose.

Sorry, can you elaborate on this? Do I literally just call up my insurance company and ask "hey may I ask if CPTs 54400 and 54405 are covered under my plan?"

Asdefxx, yes.
I have annual enrollment this week for 2026. I contacted the three plans offered at work, asked about these CPT codes, and enrolled in the one that said, ‘You’re covered with a $2,000 copay,’ without the complicated medical-necessity caveats. (Goodbye, to my old Aetna plan.). Of course, things can get highly subjective to an employer's specific commercial plan.

[JohnHC]

I would say if a well known high volume Dr suggested or referred him to you, it's a safe bet that he should be ok to use otherwise your Dr would not have recommended him.

[Gt1956]

Personally I'm cautious of friend referrals. You never know if he is a "friend" from golfing or church.

That aside. Be carefull. Even though my insurance covered my surgery. There was a $1500 copay to the hospital. Plus the anesthesiologist didn't do insurance billing. I had to pay the fee then fight it out with the insurance company. That was an almost $3000 I had to deal with. Just saying its covered doesn't mean its ALL covered.

The fact that you have not mentioned the drs name is an even bigger red flag to me.

Drs pay for malpractice insurance based on the number of related surgeries in a category. In the implant category there are other procedures included. Him saying he does 40 implants a year could be him quoting how many related surgeries he is paying insurance on. For example, if it was 1 implant & 39 baby circumcisions would he look as competent to you. Or 2 implants & 38 bladder repairs on old women?

Be very careful about numbers that are thrown around casually. It is your only dick. Ask detailed questions. English can be spoken in a twisted manner.

I guess my point is that YOU have to be your own advocate. Words don't always mean what you think they do.

Best of luck to you.

[Valdekio]

What is his name?

His name is Dr Leon Telis.

His name appears on the Boston Scientific search site but not on the Coloplast search site. Looks like he's been doing it for about nine years. Which device were you looking at getting implanted?

[LetoMan]

I recall there is a study (Dr. Eid was one of the authors) that noted that there is a benefit in risk of infection or necessity of a revision when using a “high volume” implanter. But, it defined high volume as more than 31 per year.

There is a lot of fetishization of the docs who only do implants on this site. But the literature seems to suggest that the value comes at a much lower level of experience than *only* doing implants and revisions. If you have an experienced surgeon that does one implant or more a month, for several years, at that point I would consider things like infection rates much more important than just how many implants they have done.