What Happened to Dr. Brassard's Reputation?

23
u/Aromatic_Guest_6589
Mon Apr 19 00:07:25 2021 UTC
(27 comments)

Hi all,

the title isn't meant to be as provocative as it sounds. I'm just asking because from what I've seen on posts from like 10 years ago, Brassard seems to have been widely considered to be "one of the best". Did something happen with his results, are they noticeably worse than what they were 10 years ago? From what I've seen, his results look very standard for single stage PI, and are definitely nowhere near the worst out there, but aren't necessarily Suporn-level either. So what drove the rise and downfall of his reputation?

I don't personally think Brassard is a bad surgeon, but I'm curious as to why his reputation seems to have taken such a turn. Again from what I've seen of his results, they don't really seem to justify either view of him being one of the top 3, or one of the worst. His results seem more on par with someone like Bowers, who doesn't seem to elicit such strong (positive or negative) reactions.

If anyone is able to provide some light as to why his reputation was so good in the past, it would be great. I'm also interested to know if anything really happened with his results, or if it was just changing expectations from SRS. Any and all insights would be great!

all 27 comments


28
u/latrlzrs
Mon Apr 19 00:23:54 2021 UTC
(6 children)

I can only speak from the ftm side, but some major complaints I've heard is that when complications arise it's incredibly difficult to get a response from them and that the night nurses at the medical centre are negligent. That to me is enough to bring down a surgeons reputation regardless of results

8
OP
Mon Apr 19 00:46:50 2021 UTC
(5 children)

I've heard this, which is surprising seeing as they have an entire surgical centre and recovery home. In my experience, they haven't been too difficult to reach (I haven't had surgery there though, so it might be different for nurses) but I recently decided to switch to a clinic in Thailand and they actually have much better communication.

11
Mon Apr 19 01:00:34 2021 UTC
(4 children)

I am just over 2mo post op SRS with Brassard, (Feb 23) honestly I have no complaints yet. I am already able orgasm which is amazing. Things looking very natural already, scaring looks normal for surgery wise.

I had a very vanilla experience with this hospital. And they actually helped me alot with my COVID testing issue's. fortunately only have good things to say about this hospital :)

7
OP
Mon Apr 19 01:07:03 2021 UTC
(3 children)

This is more in line with what I'd heard. I haven't really heard any "horror stories" about them not communicating, just maybe not answering right away. Thanks for sharing, I hope the rest of your recovery goes well!

3
Sun May 16 01:10:56 2021 UTC
(1 child)

Would you like to hear my horror story? I had srs last Tuesday...

2
OP
Sun May 16 01:36:50 2021 UTC
(0 children)

Omg I'm so sorry, yes please share if you're comfortable.

2
Mon Apr 19 01:22:33 2021 UTC
(0 children)

The reason why you don’t see all the negatives reviews is because they are being pulled from websites. Montreal is a huge business. A processing plant. They will do anything to silence bad reviews.

17
u/52jag
Mon Apr 19 08:45:14 2021 UTC
(1 child)

Having been around a long time, this just seems to happen to older docs. Brassard replaced his mentor Menard as being the hot thing in srs. Before that Dr. Biber was the man, but by the late 1990s he was out of style. Schrang was sort of in between Biber and Menard. Meltzer was very popular after 2000, considered out of vogue today. Suporn came on the scene early 2000s and now some folks say that Dr. Bank has surpassed him. Same thing with FFS. In the late 1990s literally only Dr. O and Dr. Z. Dr. O retired and Dr. Z is out of style.

It may be true as these docs age their skills slip a bit, or maybe they overschedule patients. Also, I think older docs are using the same techniques they have used for years with mostly good results. Also, since health insurance now covers us and we are suddenly a pretty profitable community Trans docs/practices have exploded in numbers. So this is kind of a unique moment in transcare. But I think we are also seeing a greater # of botch jobs-but of course there is no data.

As to Brassard, his current results look pretty similar to what he was doing 15 years ago. He has some less than stellar results under his belt too, as they all do. I think the thing to look for are those consistantly producing botched results that are beyond reasonable repair, maiming or killing people regularly, and who provide poor follow-up care when things go wrong. Just my opinions....

6
OP
Tue Apr 20 03:10:55 2021 UTC
(0 children)

Yeah definitely. It could also be that older surgeons don't update their techniques to match current ones.

8
u/[deleted]
Mon Apr 19 07:25:36 2021 UTC
(1 child)

Problem is that a lot of people have no other option than to go to brassard

3
OP
Tue Apr 20 03:12:32 2021 UTC
(0 children)

Yeah, it's weird though because you see people from 10 years ago listing brassard as one of their top choices (even as close as 3 years ago). Now you rarely see people paying out of pocket to go to Brassard instead of someone like Meltzer or Suporn.

15
u/HealthyCompote9573
Mon Apr 19 01:20:32 2021 UTC
(14 children)

He does SRS in 1:30 minutes. Treat patient like garbage after and charge huge amount to provincial governments for révisons that didn’t really took place. Reports from Toronto shows that they get a lot of issues coming from Montreal for clitoris pain, dead clitoris, etc.

He has developed a technique based on reducing surgery time in order to process more and cash in. Not to give the best results and best chances of success.

Best choice a trans girl can make is not to go there.

9
OP
Mon Apr 19 01:31:15 2021 UTC
(4 children)

This is a little scary. I'm sure every surgeon does this to an extent, but this is part of what steered me toward the Suporn clinic. They do SRS in a minimum of 5 hours, and I really get the impression that they take time to do the best for each patient. Thank you for vocalizing your experience.

Also, how are you doing? I saw you were having issues, was Brassard able to sort it out? Is it okay? I hope it turns out <3

7
Mon Apr 19 01:56:26 2021 UTC
*
(1 child)

Thanks :) I had a phone call with him last week and told me it to come back to Montreal. Lol.

I was like all my issues we’re told to you and your team prior to the second revision. The problem is that he rush them. And when people have pain after he can’t do shit because he f them up really bad the first time.

I told him I will never go back to Montreal. Even if someone would paid me I would let this guy touch me ever again.

Like I said 1:36 my SRS. This shows how much he really cares about us.

His lawyer told me it’s because he does so many lol. Funny right suporn Has done a lot and his surgeries are 5 hours like you.

Good for you to go somewhere. Chances are you ll have better sensation and better results. And a surgeon that was careful about his work.

4
OP
Tue Apr 20 03:16:37 2021 UTC
(0 children)

1:36 is definitely way too short for an SRS. I'm so sorry you went through that, and I hope they're able to fix whatever's going on. Good luck!!

Mon Apr 19 13:38:27 2021 UTC
*
(1 child)

[deleted]

1
OP
Tue Apr 20 03:15:19 2021 UTC
(0 children)

I think it also depends on technique. PI generally is the quickest, PPT and colonovaginoplasty being the longest, and non inversion being in the middle. I also think it depends on the attention to detail.

7
Mon Apr 19 02:36:11 2021 UTC
(6 children)

I was like all my issues we’re told to you and your team prior to the second revision. The problem is that he rush them. And when people have pain after he can’t do shit because he f them up really bad the first time.

That's actually a very interesting fact for measuring what is actually going on. Don't get me wrong an incredible expert can cut the time to do something by 25% to 50% by operating very efficiently. But to transform something which should take 5-6 hours down to less than 2 does seam to imply a very haphazard approach to blood vessels and nerves.

I hate how volatile surgeries like this can be where the same person can do a great job and a horrible job simply because they misread someone elses body, were having a bad day, or were rushing. Measuring a surgeons consistency is a painful and difficult thing to judge when asking for your body to be reformed. Sigh if life were just easier.

5
Mon Apr 19 02:42:54 2021 UTC
(5 children)

It is. And like it’s putting my health at risk, my sexual health at risk.

And that’s why I cannot stated enough that people should go somewhere else. There is so much that can go wrong. As I have stated before it’s one thing if the surgeon takes 3-4 hours. When you go down to ridiculous time like this. It’s a huge concern. It shows that the safety, sexual health, long terms chances of stability and success are not considered here. The only thing considered is how much can I do in a day.

I made a joke to his lawyer and I was like damn ask him to stop making them then. I mean if more he does the faster he gets. Please ask him to stop because in 2 years he will give himself the permission to do them in 40 minutes.

2
Mon Apr 19 02:57:09 2021 UTC
(4 children)

Please consider reaching out to the team at Vancouver if you live in bc. Unfortunately I don’t think they’re accepting out of province patients but I know they will once they’re running at full capacity. Dr Genoway and Dr Kavanaugh took such good care of me for my PI vaginoplasty and when I had complications they dropped everything to save my results. I’ve heard they’ve been doing great work so far revising Montreal patients, maybe they can hopefully do the same for you <3 I’m so sorry to hear about your experience, I wish no one had to deal with that. Oh also they took 10 hours for mine to basically perfect every aspect so I totally agree that his OR times are scary.

4
Mon Apr 19 03:07:42 2021 UTC
(1 child)

Ahh I’m so happy for you!!!!!

Well I’m definitely looking I to other avenues. Good to hear about your good experience:)

2
Mon Apr 19 03:19:59 2021 UTC
(0 children)

Thank you so much! I hope you finding what you’re looking for :) <3

1
Thu Apr 4 03:44:47 2024 UTC
(0 children)

I'm currently trying to decide between Genoway's clinic in Vancouver vs going to Montreal for Brassard & Company. I've done an application for both, and Montreal's wait time is under a year, vs two-three with Vancouver. Would love to chat about your experience here if you'd be apt, if Vancouver is indeed move methodic than Montreal, It may be worth it to wait a couple years.

K

2
Fri May 28 00:31:30 2021 UTC
(1 child)

Reports from Toronto shows that they get a lot of issues coming from Montreal for clitoris pain, dead clitoris, etc.

That sounds concerning, do you have a source for that?

4
Fri May 28 01:08:18 2021 UTC
(0 children)

It’s from a friend who went to Toronto women’s health Center and they told her they see a lot of client from Montreal with clitoris pain,issues and they told her it’s because of the technique used there. Which as I stated before is not surprising when you consider that a full SRS ( 1 stage ) is being done in 1hour 30 minutes.

1
u/throwaway446574
Mon Apr 19 14:02:15 2021 UTC
(2 children)

I may be mistaken but doesn’t he also make his patients sign a paper saying they won’t post their surgical results online? I feel like that might contribute to the decline in popularity.

11
Mon Apr 19 16:08:07 2021 UTC
(1 child)

That's actually a misconception. The paper asks to not take pictures of the process, facility and employees. That was an overblown storm in a teacup tbh.

I'm not saying the other reports are wrong but that one was debunked numerous times.

1
OP
Tue Apr 20 03:21:06 2021 UTC
(0 children)

Yeah, there are a number of his results online (from many years ago even) that I doubt would still be up if the clinic took legal action against them. They aren't exactly hidden either, one girl has a whole twitter account documenting her result from him.