How do you find doctors who specialize in fancier techniques?

Hello,

I will be having two surgeries this spring to remove fibroids. My submucosal fibroid is too large to have out in one procedure, apparently. Here's my question. I don't want to assume the worst, but they tell me that if the submucosal fibroid is too large, they may just have to take it out abdominally, or take out my whole uterus for the 2nd procedure. If that happens, I obviously will want a second opinion.

Where do I search to find doctors locally that are in my insurance plan, that might have more experience with laparoscopy or DaVinci or whatever? It seems like it could consume a lot of my time and produce many dead ends if I just start calling doctors in my plan randomly.

How did you all find your specialists? Just calling and asking the clinics? Some magical database that I don't know about?

Help!

I was refered to a women's care clinic by my gp. The doctors there are all up-to-date on the latest treatments in gynecology. I would recommend that as a place to start.

Some hospitals will list the specialty procedures they have available on their website, along with a search option to find doctors who are trained for these procedures. Another option is to do a da Vinci surgery search on yahoo and go to their website. There is a search option to find surgeons in your area.

As far as your insurance plan goes, most are affiliated with a specific hospital network, which consists of several different drs with different specialties that offer discounts to members in the insurance plan. To get your insurance to pay for a dr outside of the plan, you need to have a referal from one of your drs.

I also did searches for laparscopic supracervical hysterectomy. I ended up going to Atlanta from Charlotte to a wonderful surgeon. I actually first found him on obgyn.net He was one of the specialists who was always answering questions. I don't know of a good good way. I also searched here on hystersisters and private messaged people who lived near me. Another technique is to look at large teaching universities in your state (or a nearby state). Good luck. Apparently they're all around -- just hard to fine depending on where you live.
Good luck