Why I chose Hanse-Klink

I was very influenced in my choice of surgeon by the recommendation of Dr Gordon as she is the lead for the Lipodema service at St George's.  I have found her very committed and I trust her very much.  She did say that there are UK clinics I could go to, but that Germany has more years of expertise and that Hanse are very specialised in Lipodema.  

Germany is very affordable compared to UK pricing.  I have paid 5,500 euro to have surgery on three regions of my legs, a consultation with the Professor for several hours, a night in the clinic, my compression garment, and have been given a sack of supplies and contact details for follow up calls/emails.  UK prices I am aware of were closer to £7,000 plus.  

When I looked into the Hanse-Klinik and other surgeons I decided that there were a couple of factors that were important to me in selecting where I would have surgery:

• Specialism. I felt someone who specialised in lipodema would have more chance of great results as they had done this so many times before.
• Significant experience.  I didn't want someone new to treating lipodema.
• Experience treating stage 1 and younger patients.  In Germany there is far more diagnosis and treatment so I felt a German doctor would have treated more people in a similar physical condition to me,  
• Clinical data.  I wanted to be able to read published papers, that had made it into a journal so had been subject to some level of external scrutiny.  This was important to me to show that the surgeon was reputable, and also that they did have good follow up data... and had done some follow up/reflective practices.  I liked that Hanse listed their publications on their website, and that there was a range of them by different people over time.  
• Reputation.  I wanted someone other people recommended.  
• Price was a factor in that I would have had to think seriously if I had been quoted costs like some people who are paying over £10,000 to £20,000 plus.  To be fair they are generally more advanced than me, so that was another reason to treat early.  

I felt very lucky that when I emailed Hanse-Klinik not only were they willing to treat me but I was treated by the leader Professor Schmeller.  He has over 14 years experience operating on lipodema patients and he and Dr Baumgartner etc have done multi-year follow ups on their patients.  

All their clinicans (at the time of writing Professor Schmeller, Dr Baumgartner and Dr Frau Frambach) are very personable and committed, so I would be happy to be treated by others in the team in future.