"Dr. Quilici has a reputation as one of the best surgeons in the area. He was independantly recommended to me by a few different doctors who don't even know each other. My dad is an anesthesiologist (though not in this area) and he talked to the anesthesiologist at Cedars Sinai who does more of their WLS cases to get the inside scoop on who was the best surgeon. The other doc told him that while all the bariatric surgeons were good, that she really preferred Quilici because he was not only as good as the others, but he was also fast and had gifted hands. He doesn't scrub with residents, so that means your surgery will take less time than if he was teaching residents while he was working. This means less time under anesthesia, which is a good thing. rnrnI switched to his practice after I had done ALL my pre-op testing, etc, in another bariatric practice. Therefore, I cannot say what the entire process was like from start to finish. I switched to Quilici and had my surgery 9 days later. He wanted to get me in quickly, but I did have to give the gal in his office who does the insurance approvals a little \"nudge\" to make this happen.rnrnI liked his assistant doctors (Tovar and McVey) as well as Julie (nutritionist). He sponsors a support group lead by a psychologist. The surgery and post-op diet info is very good, I actually switched from another practice at Cedars-Sinai and I felt Dr. Q's info was more complete and his pre-op class was better too! (Though to be fair, these other surgeons are also very good from what the anesthesiologist above had told my dad.)rnrnFor post-op visits I see whichever doc is available--usually it's been Dr. McVey, once it was Dr. Q. They, as well as Dr. Tovar are all very skilled so it really doesn't matter to me which one I see.rnrnThere is one small thing that I would change--Dr. Q closes the incisions with staples--I wish I would have known that because if I did, I would have asked for stitches or liquid stitches instead. Yep, that's purely for vanity reasons. My incisions are quite small but I'd have preferred no staple marks. "
