Re: WHERE IS DR. ANDERSON
Hi Cindy,
Below is his address. He has done well over a thousand myectomies. Has excellent taste in boots, too. :-)Richard Anderson, M.D.
1002 E. South Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Phone: 801-363-3355
Fax: 801-533-9613
Oculoplasticsurgery@worldnet.att.net Shirley in Arkansas --modified by Shirley-Arkansas-USA at Mon, Jan 14, 2002, 17:36:38
Re: WHERE IS DR. ANDERSON
How much does it cost for the myoctomy
Re: cost of myectomy
Cindy, the cost would vary depending on surgeons and what exactly you had done. My total charges were around $23,000 dollars. Insurance paid the biggest chunk of it but I still had to meet a deductible with my insurance company of $400.00 since Dr. Anderson was out-of-network for my insurance. Any cosmetic work done is strictly out of pocket and will not be paid by insurance and that has to be paid up front before the surgery. That can run from $2500 to $5000 or more depending on what needs to be done or what you want done. Included in that total charge amount is hospital charges and anesthesiology charges and pre-op evaluation. Some insurance companies pay the charges in whole with the exception of the cosmetic portion. Some charges may be written off, depending on circumstances and insurance.
You basically would just need to call and let them give you an estimate of the charges. It was more than I thought that it would be and you also have to consider that if you don't live close, you will also be paying for travel, meals and motel expenses while you are there and you will probably be there over a week.Hope this has helped some. My suggestion for anyone considering the surgery is to go to one of the yearly conferences and talk to others who have had the surgery and listen to the talk on the myectomy. There are video tapes also available from the BEBRF which explain and show the surgery.(they are not for the faint of heart)
One must also understand that the surgery is not a cure but a treatment option with varying degrees of success or results.
Many have had very good results and no longer even require botox but others only receive minimal improvement. I still cannot drive and I do still receive botox and take medication for my Blepharospasm and Apraxia even though the surgery did improve things. I'm 9 months post-op.
It is very important if you decide to have this done to go to someone who has done this surgery numerous times. Don't let anyone "practice" on you. There are only a handful of really experienced surgeons that do this operation. Shirley in Arkansas
Re: cost of myectomy
Thanks for your response. It is very helpful.Cindy --modified by becca at Wed, Jan 16, 2002, 23:18:16
Re: cost of myectomy
ShirleyI don't want to open up a can of worms but as you know I had my surgery with Dr Anderson too. The total cost including the hospital was 6000.00. We do not have insurance for the US so we had to pick up all the charges. I was just grateful we could afford it. We also had the cost of travel and expenses while in Salt Lake.
I was wondering why there could be such a big difference. I underwent upper lid extended myectomy and ptosis repair also had the upper lids permanently cauterized. I would hate to think that the 23000.00 would scare off some people Catherine
Re: cost of myectomy
Hi Catherine,
I'm not sure what the difference would be. I had an upper lid extended myectomy with ptosis repair and upper lid punctal cauterization like you did. Also levator abduction and what they call a soof lift (tissue or fat rearrangement-which was the cosmetic portion and out of pocket expense).
My hospital, O.R. and anesthesia bill alone was close to $3600. My insurance covered that in full.
He also had an assistant surgeon in on the surgery which was another $1100 for him.
I refigured things again to make sure that I had all the bills correct. I can't really tell by the statements and the Explanation of benefits if the cosmetic portion was charged to the Insurance Co. or not but even without that-the bill still comes to around $21,000 for everything. Insurance paid a portion, I paid a chunk and some was written off.This is why I don't really like to answer a question like "how much does it cost"?. There are too many variables. Time goes by, prices go up and I'm sure that certain charges are somewhat inflated when it is being billed to an insurance company. I have a feeling that Dr. A also takes things into consideration like coming from Canada and not having Insurance in our country. He's a good man and I'm sure that he works with people regarding their ability to pay. Overall, Catherine, you and I paid (out of pocket) essentially the same amount. I'm not unhappy with the charges but people do need to call and ask about them and insurance. Shirley in Arkansas who doesn't want to be quoted on any of this.
Anyone else want to throw out any recent charges for the surgery? Approximate, will do. I know that many people have the charges paid in full with exception of the cosmetic portion(if they have that done) and may not know what the full charges were.
Re: cost of myectomy
I guess I can throw this in for a different perspective. My upper eyelid limited myectomy was done in Nov. 2000 by Dr. James Patrinely. Though he does not do as many as Dr. A does, he is on the Advisory Board of the BEBRF and is experienced in performing it. He did not do cosmetic surgery, but I don't feel disfigured (There is some evidence of the muscles being removed, but minor.) My bill was about $7000 for the surgery and $2000 for the hospital. The insurance picked up all of the surgery cost (their "negotiated" payment, which of course was not all of the bill - but the Dr. writes the rest off) and all but $100 of the hospital. I had 2 nights of hotel bills and we drove to Pensacola, so there was no airfare involved. Virginia in AL
Re: cost of myectomy
Hi Virginia,
I'm a little surprised that your hospital bill was not more? Did you stay overnight in the hospital. I think that I remember you saying that you did. I did not. I was only there for about 4 hours. I ran up quite a bill in four hours! Was the O.R. fee and anesthesia bill included in that $2000? I was only in recovery about 30 minutes before they sent Roy and I on our way to the motel.
I'm not trying to give Dr. A a bad rap here on his charges but it is interesting to see the differences in charges.
Anyone else want to fess up and give an approximation of their charges for a myectomy and when and who did it?Shirley in Arkansas
Re: cost of myectomy
I stayed one night in "extended recovery." The charge for that was $450. There were also charges for meds they put in the IV drip while I was there. All that was included in the hospital bill, which was $3000, not $2000 (guess I didn't check my typing). I did leave out the anesthesia, which was $900, of which I paid $90. I'll be more careful next time.Virginia in AL
Re: cost of myectomy
Shirley,
Thanks for the explanation about getting on the BB. It certainly is easier than what I was doing!!
I won't have final numbers on my December myectomy for a few months -- but I did opt for having one eye done on Tuesday and the other on Thursday so I'm expecting a comparably higher hospital bill.
Post surgery by six weeks, I'm doing well. My forehead, eyebrows and, to some extent, eyelids still feel stiff and I think I'm unconsciously making some funny faces trying to get them unstuck. This will pass . . . I see no reason to not think positively.
My next visit with Dr. Anderson is in March. That will be six months without botox, right now I feel like that will be fine. Nikki
Re: Nikki's post op update
It sounds like you are doing fine. My forehead and eyebrows still feel a little different and somewhat tight. That goes away if I put lotion or some kind of moisturizer on it, though. Keep everything well lubricated. You can even use vitamin E oil on your lids-just open up a vitamin E capsule by sticking it with a pin and then you can squeeze out the contents and use that to apply to your lids. I have also used the ointment that I use in my eyes at night to smear all around the eye area. 100% Petroleum jelly (vasalene) can also be used around the eye area to keep it lubricated. We'll have to give Joann Humphrey helpful advice when she gets back. I believe that she will be coming home on Tuesday.
I'm glad that you feel like you won't need the botox for a while yet. You have every right to feel positive about things. Many people don't need botox for quite a while after their surgery and some don't need it at all. I think that it all depends on what muscles were really effected before the surgery.
I happened to have a lot of muscle involved in the squeezing coming from my forehead as well as my upper and lower lids. The forehead and lower lids are still determined to cause me problems.Glad that you were able to post a little easier. I'm still figuring things out, myself. I'm a lot more computer literate than when I started posting on this bb. Since you found it easier to post, I'm hoping that we will hear from you more often. Shirley in Arkansas BEB/Apraxia
|