Find a Provider — ExplantHealth

Choosing who operates on you is the decision with the largest effect on your outcome, and the one where marketing is loudest. Here is how to assess someone yourself.

Our directory is not live yet. We are not going to populate it by scraping practice websites, because a list assembled that way tells you who has good SEO rather than who is a good surgeon.

When it launches, inclusion criteria will be published, listings will state plainly whether they are paid, and a listing will never constitute a recommendation or a guarantee. In the meantime, everything below is how to do this without us.

Verify credentials yourself

“Board certified” means little without knowing which board. In the United States, the relevant certification for this surgery is the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and you can verify a surgeon directly through the American Board of Medical Specialties. In Canada, check the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and the provincial college. In the UK, the GMC specialist register.

Check the licensing body in the surgeon’s jurisdiction for disciplinary history too. This is public information and takes a few minutes.

Volume and specialisation

Explant with capsulectomy is a different operation from augmentation, and experience is not transferable in the way marketing implies. Ask directly how many they performed in the last twelve months. A surgeon who does this weekly will answer immediately.

Be careful with “explant specialist”

It is not a protected term and it is not a recognised subspecialty. Anyone can put it on a website. It tells you about positioning, not qualification. The same goes for lists of “top explant surgeons” — on most sites those placements are purchased.

Questions worth asking

How many explant procedures did you perform in the last year?
Will you remove the entire capsule, and what will you do if it is adherent to my ribs or lung?
What would make you change your plan once you are operating?
Will the capsule be sent for pathology?
What is your complication rate, and how do you track it?
What does the quoted price include, and what happens if revision is needed?
Where will this be performed, and is that facility accredited?

On the capsule question specifically, our page on whether you need en bloc explains why the answer you want is about completeness and judgement rather than a promise of a technique.

Warning signs

Guaranteeing that your symptoms will resolve.
Promising a specific technique before examining you or reviewing imaging.
Selling supplements or detox protocols alongside surgery.
Pressure to book, or a discount that expires.
Unwillingness to discuss complications or give numbers.
No named accredited facility.

Get more than one opinion

Two or three consultations will tell you more than any amount of reading, including this page. Where surgeons agree, you have found the reasonable range. Where they differ, ask each why — the reasoning is more informative than the recommendation.