If you are in need of general surgery, I wholeheartedly recommend Dr. Clarence Lin - a caring,…read morehumble, professional, skilled, responsible, conscientious practitioner. I went into his office when my PCP told me I needed a general surgeon to resolve a hernia. As it turned out, I had two of them - the one my PCP discovered, and the one he had been ignoring for 3 years - he had kept saying "it's probably just muscular." Well, it was muscular, but it wasn't the type of muscular defect that would heal on its own with rest. I thought the condition that had been plaguing me for so long might be related to the new condition, so I mentioned it to Dr. Lin. He asked me to get up on the table, and in about 15 seconds, he found the spot of the pain and accurately related to me what type of hernia it was (that the CT scan I had a week later would confirm.) We made an appointment for robotic surgery, and Dr. Lin patched up the hernia with an outpatient surgery visit. Two weeks later, I am more or less fully recovered, and at no time did I require any pain medication stronger than Advil and Tylenol.
There are many things about Dr. Lin that make him stand out among other general surgeons. First is the fact that despite modern medical practices feeling increasingly like factories, trying to get as many patients in and out as possible, Dr. Lin takes the time to understand your condition, how it impacts your life, to consider what you hope to get out of the treatment, and to provide the best possible patient care outcome based on those things, while not rushing any aspect of the process - the diagnosis, the surgery, and all the after-care. Second is both his skill as a surgeon and his desire to ensure the patient understands the diagnosis and how it will be resolved. He spent a lot of time going through my CT scan with me so that I understood my condition fully, as well as how the surgery would address the condition. You don't get that from a lot of physicians or surgeons nowadays. Finally, the information age has changed a lot about how patients interact with their practitioners. Our online health management systems give us results of tests, blood-work, scans, and ultrasounds before the doctors even realize that they are available. As such, people may panic when they review results without context. Dr. Lin gets it - he understands that a patient needs that context for peace of mind, and that things happen in the process leading up to surgery that make patients uneasy, anxious, or scared. Dr. Lin will sacrifice a little of his own time to put a patient at ease. He even gave me his personal cell phone number (without verifying that I'm not a kook who would call him incessantly) in case I had any concerns. I am fortunately judicious in my use of the number, but he was very sincere when he said he didn't mind talking to me after hours if I had concerns, and given that the hernia surgery was the first surgery I've ever had, I did need to get talked off the ledge once. Dr. Lin's calm reassurance got me to the appointment, and his skill as a surgeon got me through it. While I can't say I'm truly "looking forward" to having surgery for my other hernia, I'm more relaxed and confident about it knowing Dr. Lin will be performing the surgery and supporting me both before and after it.
One last note, he's a really cool and smart guy - we can talk statistics, web development and search engine optimization, Rubik's cubes, and other cool geek stuff. I don't know any doctors that take so active an interest in their patients and can relate to me as a person as can Dr. Lin. If you need the services of a general surgeon, you would be remiss not to call Dr. Lin's office and make an appointment. I wish you luck in getting resolved whatever surgical needs that brought you to this review, but if you choose Dr. Lin as your surgeon, you won't need luck.
