California (Northern) Surgeons

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Bowfonz

New Member
SF Bay Area (South Bay)

Seth Strichartz, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Board Certified, General Surgery
Camino Medical Group
301 Old San Francisco Road
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
408-730-4320

He's been a really good doctor through my open surgery. He has done many pilonidal surgeries and really seems to know what he's doing. He gave me double-strength Vicodin to begin with and had no problem writing me a prescription for 10mg Percocets when the Vicodin wasn't enough. His assistant, Teresa, has always returned my phone calls promptly and gotten all my questions answered for me.

I give him the Pilonidal Cyst Sufferers seal of approval.:D

-Tom
 
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afroloop

New Member
San Francisco Surgeon

I have a doctor in San Francisco who I would recommend for this surgery. He was a kind man with a lot of experience and told me he has never had a cyst come back in all of the operations he has done.

Eugene Groeger, M.D. F.A.C.S
2645 Ocean Ave. Suite 307
San Francisco, CA 94132

415-239-2300

The actual operation was at St. Mary’s hospital near the Haight Ashbury area of SF and it was a good hospital. He came to check on me the morning after surgery and wrote me a prescription for Perocet and released me and then I went back to check with him once a week or two weeks depending on how it looked. He did write me a prescription for antibiotic in the middle of my healing as he said it looked a little infected and that seemed to do the trick.

Under his care I was also able to take a good while to recover (he signed all of the paperwork for me to stay off of work for about six weeks) and that turned out to be a good thing because I sit a lot at work and if I had gone back too early it would have hurt a lot.

Lastly, his assistants were very nice and I did not have to wait for long periods of time when I went into his office to see him. He usually saw me within about 10 minutes which was very nice.
 
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mrgrimm

New Member
I also had surgery at St. Mary's, and the care was excellent. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately, my cyst/abcess has returned and I might need more surgery. Even more unfortunately, now I'm in Kaiser (I had a PPO in 2001). Perhaps I should wait until I can get back into a PPO and then talk to Dr. Groeger.

Thanks for the info.

quote:Originally posted by afroloop

I have a doctor in San Francisco who I would recommend for this surgery. He was a kind man with a lot of experience and told me he has never had a cyst come back in all of the operations he has done.

Eugene Groeger, M.D. F.A.C.S
2645 Ocean Ave. Suite 307
San Francisco, CA 94132

415-239-2300

The actual operation was at St. Mary’s hospital near the Haight Ashbury area of SF and it was a good hospital. He came to check on me the morning after surgery and wrote me a prescription for Perocet and released me and then I went back to check with him once a week or two weeks depending on how it looked. He did write me a prescription for antibiotic in the middle of my healing as he said it looked a little infected and that seemed to do the trick.

Under his care I was also able to take a good while to recover (he signed all of the paperwork for me to stay off of work for about six weeks) and that turned out to be a good thing because I sit a lot at work and if I had gone back too early it would have hurt a lot.

Lastly, his assistants were very nice and I did not have to wait for long periods of time when I went into his office to see him. He usually saw me within about 10 minutes which was very nice.
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daysmom

New Member
Any recommendations in Roseville, CA or Sacramento, Ca

I saw Dr. Braley at Sutter yesterday -- I really like him, but I think to be safe, I want a second opinion.

Wondering if anyone has had experiences in Sacramento/Roseville, CA ?

Thanks!

:eek:
 
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greyblack

New Member
San Francisco, CA (cleft lift)

Sorry I have delayed posting this up here!

I had my pilonidal for several years before I found this site in my attempt to deal with the problem once and for all.

Through this site, I discovered the "cleft lift" proceedure as pioneered by Dr. John Bascom of Oregon. I decided to call Dr. Bascom, and he referred me to San Francisco based surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Sternberg who had been educated by Dr. Bascom as to how to perform the procedure.

I had the procedure and haven't had any problems since! I've never had major surgery before, so I was a little unnerved by the whole process, which included a spinal anesthetic. I ended up having a dranage tube connected to the area for about a week after the proceedure. Though inconvenient, it certainly beat having to do packing changes. The aftercare was pretty minimal, and in a few weeks I was back to normal.

I still have a little discomfort in the area where the absess was if I put direct pressure on it, but that's nothing compared to having a perpetually infected chronic absess!

Anyway, if you're in the area, I highly suggest you check Dr. Sternberg out:

(415) 668-0411
 
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newprtbeachgrl

Guest
Northern California Surgeon

I went to Dr. Nora (Noor) Azmi for my open surgery, and she was amazing. She was very professional, very nice, and the procedure was flawless. I am thrilled with the results.

http://www.marincolon.com/sabaprofile.htm

Nora Azimi
1300 South Eliseo Dr. #203
Greenbrae, CA 94904

415-461-3300
 
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RopeyBehind

New Member
San Francisco surgeon needed

I was planning to move to the Bay area in two weeks. Now I feel I have to deal with the my cyst. Can anyone recommend a good surgeon in SF, maybe one who does discounts for uninsured patients?

My other option is to stay in NY where I have family and there are surgeon recommendations.

Thanks,
Amy
 
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AnxiousMom

New Member
2 bay area surgeons on the list who do cleft lifts

I contacted two surgeons from the list and found out they do cleft lifts:
Peter Youn in San Francisco and Ray Garfinkle in Hayward (it says San Leandro on the list, but his office is now at 27225 Calaroga Avenue, Hayward 94545, phone 510-780-9148).

Both were nice on the phone. I live in Colorado, so not sure if I will see them or not (no surgeons in CO do cleft lift, that I can find).

Dr. Youn said he'd require an out-of-state patient to stay in the area several weeks after surgery - not doable. Dr. Garfinkle was fine with only about a 5 day stay. He's done about half a dozen. Youn said he only does cleft lifts.
 
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mom x4

New Member
San Francisco Bay Area Cleft Lift Surgeon

My son had a Cleft Lift Procedure by Dr. Jeffrey Sternberg in San Francisco. We highly recommend Dr. Sternberg as he is a Pilonidal Disease expert. He was first mentioned to us through Dr. Bascoms’ office. Dr Sternberg is well practiced in the Cleft Lift Procedure, having done hundreds since at least 2003, so he has had time to perfect his technique. This is an important factor for any surgery. My sons’ surgery and post-op recovery went smoothly with minimal pain or time lost from school. This was even more significant because his pilonidal abscess was huge at the time of surgery. We had a very positive experience!
Also, we paid out of pocket for the surgery (we have Kaiser) and found it to be more reasonable than we had first thought. It is a day surgery, which cuts the cost, and the surgery center gives more than a 50% discount if you pay at the time of service. It is worth checking out. I know plenty of people who have spent more on surgery for their pets! The quick recovery and essentially being cured of this disease make it worth every penny!
Dr Jeffrey Sternbergs’ address is:
2100 Webster Street, Suite 520
San Francisco, Ca 94115
415 923 3020
 
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dan72

New Member
Doctor in San Francisco Bay Area

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with Doctor Peter Youn? He is located in the South Bay in California which is close to me. He is on "the list" as one of the doctors who does cleft lifts.

Also, does anyone know of a doctor in the area who does pit picking? I am going to consult with Dr. Youn next week and I will ask him about it, but if someone already knows of a doctor who does this, that would be very helpful.

Thanks!
 
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mom x4

New Member
:)As an addendum to the above post;
Please visit pilonidalsurgery.com for more information regarding Dr. Sternberg and the cleft lift procedure. This site further explains pilonidal disease and surgery with clarity and frankness. It has been eight months since my son's surgery by Dr. Sternberg and all is well. We couldn't be happier!
 
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Klapaucius

New Member
re: SF

I'm a UC Berkeley student and I've already had a referral to Dr. Sternberg (I also recommend him) for a consultation. That in itself was quite expensive, despite my partial UC system coverage (~$150). I may well need to go back for the surgery, but I'm not sure I'll be able to cover it since it's technically an out-of-system procedure for the UC system. However, I don't trust the UC doctors I've spoken to (they really are great doctors, but they seem to perform the standard excision procedure for this and I've heard too many bad things about this). I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the UC health system, since I've been unable to get a straight answer yet.

I was also curious as to the recovery time for the Cleft Lift.

Thanks!
 
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pilonidal123

New Member
Recommended: Dr. Khoi Tran

Khoi Tran, M.D.

Mountain View Center
General Surgery Department
701 E. El Camino Real
Mountain View, California 94040
Phone: (650) 404-8400

http://www.pamf.org/providersearch/?sitecfg=41&vs=detail&action=providerdetail&masterid=19588

I highly recommend Dr. Tran. He was very knowledgeable and answered all my questions (I brought in the sheet of questions from this site). He did a closed wound procedure, and I was under general anesthetic. I had little to no pain, and the main thing I remember after I woke up from the surgery was feeling really happy (no doubt thanks to all the anesthetic and vicodin!).

I spent the next week not doing much more than lying on the couch. Still no major pain, and I stopped taking vicodin the day after the surgery--just a couple ibuprofen was plenty after that. Then I went back to work.

It's been about 1.5 months since the surgery, and I feel fine. The scar doesn't even look too scary anymore, and things are almost back to normal (but without the pilonidal cyst!). After reading all the horror stories, I was pleasantly surprised that the worst I had to deal with was a week of boredom. :)

Thanks, Dr. Tran!
 
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ilovelulu

New Member
Hi All,
If you have Kaiser insurance I recommend:

Dr. John Fernandez-Melone M.D. F.A.C.S
General Surgery
Fremont Kaiser Medical Center
39400 Paseo Padre Parkway
Fremont, CA 94538

Dr. Melone has been doing the pilonidal cystectomy with open wound healing for over 20 years. He is very thorough and has a great bedside manner. His wound care nurses are awesome and very good at what they do. They are up to date with different wound dressings and keep up with your ever changing wound.
 
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C. Samuels

New Member
I had a pilonidal cyst removed by Dr. Jeffrey Sternberg:
2100 Webster Street, Suite 520
San Francisco, CA 94115
415 923 3020


Dr. Sternberg already has a high reputation on this site (he appears in message boards, FAQ pages, etc.), but I would still like to add my voice to the mix. Dr. Sternberg had a thoroughly professional manner, did a great job of informing me of the options, and was measured in his expectations for the cleft lift procedure. When I decided to go through with the surgery, his team was highly competent in making sure I was prepared, which in turn made it very easy to maximize my chances of a great recovery. Following the operation, that's exactly how things went: after two weeks, I could jog; after a month, I was biking again. I would recommend that anyone who suffers from pilonidal cysts/abcesses consider going to Dr. Sternberg (especially if you live near Northern California).
 
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Pilomama

New Member
Country flag
My daughter had her surgery done at the new Pediatric Sutter Hospital in Sacramento. Her surgeon was amazing, but a pediatric surgeon. Her name is
Dr Joy Graff. She knows her stuff VERY well. The post op wound care team is amazing as well.

For the first five weeks or so she had her wound care 3x a week at Sutter Roseville. They were great! The only problem was that they don't see a lot of children. That's all done downtown. They were sweet as could be but 14 year old kids have different needs. We ended up making the drive to Sacramento for wound changes once a week for the last 4 months.

All that to say, Sutter Roseville is a great place for adult wound care. The hospital itself is clean and modern. You'll be in good hands there.

daysmom said:
Any recommendations in Roseville, CA or Sacramento, Ca

I saw Dr. Braley at Sutter yesterday -- I really like him, but I think to be safe, I want a second opinion.

Wondering if anyone has had experiences in Sacramento/Roseville, CA ?

Thanks!

:eek:
Click to expand...
 
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Susan Stanford

Very Helpful
Country flag
My son suffered with pilonidal disease for 6 1/2 years. It began in high school and continued throughout college. He had 4 excision surgeries - 1 closed and 3 open. All failed despite the assistance of wound care professionals. We were finally willing to travel anywhere for an expert who understood the disease and that is how we found Dr. Jeffrey Sternberg. I encourage you to look at his website www.pilonidalsurgery.com. He truly is an expert on pilonidal disease - it's not a cyst. He has successfully treated over 1500 patients which now includes my son. His procedure is called the cleft lift and there is tremendous detail on his website and a link to the chapter he wrote in a surgery textbook for medical students. My son's surgery was more extensive because of repair that Dr. Sternberg had to do from the failed surgeries but my son was still able to return to work in a week. I was my son's primary caregiver and I know the suffering that pilonidal disease brings. I hope to get the word out to as many people as possible about Dr. Sternberg. He is the best physician in every regard we have ever had but truly a miracle worker with pilonidal disease. I know that there are other surgeons who perform the cleft lift but Dr. Sternberg is the one that I can personally and highly recommend and who I believe to be the best. Also, Dr. Sternberg was trained by Dr. John Bascom almost 20 years ago, the surgeon who invented the cleft lift. He has been perfecting the procedure ever since.

Here is his contact info:
Dr. Jeffrey Sternberg
MD, FACS, FASCRS
The Sternberg Clinic
77 Van Ness Avenue
Suite 302
San Francisco, CA. 94102
415-821-8000
 
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