Surgeons - what's considered a robust practice?

[Rachel]

Hi,
As my last posting explained, my 5 week old has a diagnose of craniosynostosis - the metopic suture has closed. The pediatric cranial plastic surgeon says he does "30 to 50" cranio surgeries a year.

Does anyone know which hospital does the most cranio surgies a year? What is considered a lot? Do some surgeons do 100 plus a year? Or should I assume that since Chicago is a big city that this is about as robust a practice as I'd find. Thanks.
- Rachel

[Jennifer]

I can't say which hospital does the most, but I can tell you what mine did.....She does at least 1 full cvr/foa type surgery a week. Some occasions 2-3 a week. We have one other hospital in the area that does these surgeries, when I asked them how many- they said they did about 35 a year....but when I asked more detail- how many do you do on coronal babies (Emily had her coronal suture fused)...they said less than 1/4 of those 35 were coronal....(Though I never asked the surgeon we chose how many were coronals--- I guess I was just way more comfortable with her??).

[Katie]

30 to 40 a year is quite a few, and I would take comfort in in knowing that they were defenitely experienced, but like Jennifer said, some who specialize only in craniosynostosis do several a week. Dillon's Dr's usually do several week.

[Rachel]

Thanks.

1. When you say there are doctors that "only" do cranio - are you talking about the PS or the NS?
2. I am trying to learn to read doctor's bios better, and read between the lines. So the PS I met with has the bio below. Does this mean that his speciality is NOT cranio, that's is plastic surgery in general? How would you interpret this bio? Obviously there's a lot going on in his special interests that are not cranio
3. Does anyone has a list of doctors who specialize just in cranio?
THANK YOU.

Speciality = plastic surgery
Special interests =

<DD>Cleft lip and palate; other head, jaw and facial deformities, specialized training in the diagnosis and treatment of skeletal abnormalities of the skull and facial bones; endoscopic approach to patients with craniosynostosis, congenital hand deformities, skin and soft tissue defects, expertise in congenital large and giant nevi pediatric tissue expansion, facial reanimation (nerve repair of facial paralysis), jaw lengthening, laser surgery, vascular malformations, burn reconstruction, treatment of hemangiomas and STARscan expertise</DD>

[Katie]

By reading that, I would feel like he specializes in reconstructive surgeries in all aspects of the skull, including craniosynostosis. I get the impression that he probably sees a lot of cranio cases. Many Dr's who reconstruct craniosynostosis also specialize in other craniofacial anomolies. Now, if his bio said that he specializes in breast augmentation, tummy tucks, and cranio, then I might think twice about seeing him :giggle

Here's a link to some of the craniofacial centers around the US that deal primarily with craniofacial reconstruction. This isn't all of them, but just a few:
http://www.faces-cranio.org/MedCent.htm (http://www.faces-cranio.org/MedCent.htm)

[Jennifer]

It sounds like he specializes in the skull- lot's that care for cranio babies also do cleft lip repair etc.......I asked mine what else he did (after the fact)- joking with him that he did so well, maybe he could do a little to help me :giggle.....He says he does cranio babies with Wehby (the NS) and then one day a week he does hand reconstruction at the Vetrens Hospital? I must have had a weird look, because he then explained that he did some volunteer work there years ago and enjoyed working with them, so decided to go back....to my point- though mine doesn't completely focus on childrens heads- a large chunk of what he does is cranio and I was comfortable with that......