I am in the process of having a second lengthening surgery and am trying to decide which Dr. to go to--Alter or
Solomon.
Background:
I had a lengthening surgery done a few years back. Unfortunately the doctor at the time didn't do a great job. He gave me zero post-care instructions, and I don't think he totally removed the ligament either. Nor did he include any sort of spacer. As a result, shortly after the surgery I felt the ligament reattach. While I tried to stretch as much as possible, the reattachment was so strong that it was pointless and I gave up. Prior to the surgery, I had hung weights and done various forms of PE for over a decade, with minimal results, incredible pain, and any results I had disappeared shortly. After the surgery, I was making great progress and had gained close to an
Inch in length. Once the ligament reattached, a large amount of scar tissue slowly developed over time in my pubic area. There is now a large ball of fat/tissue/possible
PMMA in that area which made me retract so much that I've lost an
Inch off my original pre-surgery length. I'm looking to have removed so that I can begin an ADS regimen followed by stretching much later down the road.
Choice of Doctors
After loads of research, it felt to me like the two best options were Dr. Alter and Dr.
Solomon. Having been in the PE arena for close to 15 years now, I've always known about Dr. Alter and considered him the best there is. It wasn't until more recently over the last few years and being on this forum that I discovered Dr.
Solomon. At this point I've had consultations with both. What's making the decision difficult is that surprisingly, both doctors had very different opinions about the surgery, as well as what seemed to be different techniques on how to address it.
Alter
Dr. Alter was skeptical about doing the surgery in the first place. He thinks that removing the scar tissue will only result in more scar tissue and that there's nothing that can be done to prevent this, but he begrudgingly agreed to do the surgery nonetheless. In terms of technique, Dr. Alter would just remove the scar tissue and essentially it would be a second ligament release procedure, but hopefully this time with better results. In dealing with Dr. Alter's staff, they have been so incredibly helpful and kind, it's been very refreshing. Speaking with Dr. Alter on the phone is a different matter--as he can be a little abrasive--but I've found that's nothing I can't handle.
Solomon
Meanwhile, Dr.
Solomon said that he doesn't foresee any issues with the surgery whatsoever and thinks that if I follow the post-care instructions, everything should be absolutely fine. In addition, Dr.
Solomon seemed to propose a different technique than Alter. Whereas Alter would remove the scar tissue and treat it like a suspensory ligament release,
Solomon seemed to want to treat it more like a burried penis surgery, which would include
Sutures to reattach the penis to the ligament at a later point (this wasn't entirely clear to me at the time). Dealing with
Solomon's office has been the opposite of Alter's. I found his staff to be incredibly rude. The front desk woman actually hung up the phone on me at one point for absolutely zero reason--I was shocked. That said, Dr.
Solomon himself was incredibly pleasant to deal with and I found him to be reasonable and informative each step of the way.
Takeaways
I've been on forums besides this one for well over a decade regarding PE, so personally I've always regarded Dr. Alter as the best in the nation. He's literally written the book and/or invented most methods for procedures today. That said, part of me gets the feeling that Dr. Alter has transitioned his practice to focus more on FTM trans procedures and labiaplasties in recent years, as well as some penile reconstructive surgeries. Ligament release seems to be less of what he does today.
Solomon seems to do these types of procedures much more often and therefore may have more experience. In other words, I personally think based both on my gut feeling in speaking with both of them along with my years of research that Alter might be the more skilled surgeon but
Solomon may be the more experienced one when it comes to this particular procedure.
Solomon also seemed to have better after care instructions than Alter.
Lastly, while money is not an issue,
Solomon's quoted price was much higher than Alter's. Frankly though, I could care less. At this point I just want to have the best physician for the job and to get back to normal.
That's my long explanation of everything. It seems like there's more reviews on here for
Solomon than there are Alter, but if any one has any actual experience with this procedure or a ligament release procedure with either doctor, it would be great to get some further insight or opinions.
