East Coast Surgeon Recommendation for Young Adult

[dr mom]

Hi, I'm a 22 year old female who was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 5. My curve is about 55 degrees and I'm ready to have surgery. Does anyone have any recommendations of surgeons on the East Coast of the US who have had surgery in the past 3 years? I would love to hear from other young adults or parents of young adults about their recent surgery experiences.

I am considering fusion and tethering as well.

Thank you

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

Welcome to the forum. I'm not sure you'll find a lot of other young adults on here, but you never know.

VBT on adults is still very rare. The only surgeons I've heard even considering it are Baron Lonner (https://www.mountsinai.org/profiles/baron-s-lonner) and Darryl Antonacci (https://www.spineandscoliosis.com/me...SAAEgLMF_D_BwE).

--Linda

[JScoli91]

Is your curve thoracic or lumbar?

[dr mom]

thoracic, between my shoulder blades. my left ribs are all smushed together bc of it and it can be painful to breathe and stretch sometimes.

[titaniumed]

Where are you located? I ask because if you go out of state, out of network, insurance companies used to only pay 50%. Scoliosis surgeries are not cheap.

If you think your going to do surgery, now is the time to go with a plan where you can select your own doctors and surgeons. I would do this before you see anyone.

Cheap medical policies mean large co-pays. A few years ago, I had a cheap plan, and I had a neck MRI done and the co-pay was $1800 in 2013. Always check your co-pays!!!!

When I did my scoliosis surgeries in 2008, I purchased the best insurance I could find (in 1998). My Co-pay on $2 million dollars worth of surgeries was $1000. Thoracic posterior surgeries will be much cheaper if there are no serious issues.

Adult scoliosis surgery is not an emergency, so you do have time to get all your ducks in a row.

Here is the SRS Physician locater...
https://www.srs.org/find/disclaimer.php

Ed