Wesley G Schooler, MD, FACS

I found dr. Schooler through a friend and I’m so glad she passed the good advice along, such a phenomenal surgeon! I needed a large mole on the side of my face removed and given it was on my face I wanted a plastic surgeon to do it to reduce scarring. My experience at his practice from start to finish was great, everyone was very professional and friendly making the planning and the actual procedure really easy. The receptionist, LeeAna, was very welcoming and helpful! The nurses and anesthesiologist, Laurel, were exceptional. Making me laugh and feel comfortable the whole time. I even received a text message the next morning after my procedure to see how I was doing and allowed me to ask any questions I had. I highly recommend dr, school and his practice.

I love Dr. Schooler and his team! From the moment you walk through their door, you are treated with professionalism and everyone who works there is so sweet! Including Dr. Schooler himself. Dr. Schooler always made me feel comfortable (even when I was scared). He gave me his honest opinions and treated me like an equal. I really appreciate that about him. I will continue to recommend my friends and family to Dr. Schooler. He ROCKS!

I did a lot of research and I’m so glad I found Dr. Schooler. From my first appointment I could tell that Dr Schooler cares about how you look and feel. His whole staff was very professional and supportive.
Thank you Dr Schooler for my mommy make over.

Dr. Schooler is the only plastic surgeon I will go to. I had melanoma and as result I had ¾ of one of my breasts removed. Afterward the surgery to reconstruct my breast was terrible. I was in pain and after seeing Dr. Schooler I immediately felt relieved. He is kind and listens and most importantly is an excellent plastic surgeon. His front office and staff are amazing too. We are so lucky to have Dr Schooler in SB! I have seen many in town and in my opinion Dr. Schooler is heads above the rest.

Dr. Schooler stitched a large zig-​zagged cut down the length of my nose which occurred when my playful dog jumped toward me quickly with his sharp 3 mos. old puppy teeth! Dr. Schooler worked efficiently and calmly, closing the gash, and helped relieve my nerves from the disappointment of the injury. Within 2 weeks, no one could tell anything happened. The follow up with his office and the stitch removal all happened in a timely manner. I had a very good experience with Dr. Schooler and am very thankful for his expertise.

Yes I TRULY was a patient. You did the surgery at USC medical center in September of 2010. There was no «expansion» because it was your idea to do the reconstruction right after the cancer removal. You butchered me. Even your nurse at my first post op visit was stunned when my bandages came off and said «oh he needs to redo this». You never did. You did call me months later after I had complained to my cancer surgeon and you said you had «heard through the grapevine» that I was unhappy yes I was unhappy I told you on the phone at that time I was unhappy you then told me how busy you were and how famous you were how people from all over the world called you even though you told me you would call me within 6 weeks and you never did and no one from your office ever did either. I am speak texting this from my phone so the sentencing may be awkward but bottom line is you did a terrible job, you never tried to repair what you did and you acted pompous on the phone with me.

If you need a reconstruction on a radiated breast stay away from this dr. He can do some things, but a breast reconstruction specialist he is not. He put me through many failed surgeries, while at USC University hospital-​who fired him. I finally had to find someone capable and experienced at this surgery.
I see he has a lot of good reviews on Unilocal but most of them are for minor fixes or hands which I think he specializes in. But he is definitely not a Breast reconstructionist for radiated breasts.
After all the failed surgeries, he blamed them on me, saying my skin did not heal right.
If you need a diep flap surgery on a radiated breast DO YOUR HOMEWORK. There are not many good surgeons competent with this difficult operation.
I see Schooler has responded to me and another patient’s diep flap surgical disaster that he was responsible for. He will not take responsibility for his failures.
As USC is a teaching hospital, he allowed his little trainees to work on me with him on all of my failed reconstructions. During one particular surgery, they yanked out a piece off flesh off of my upper rib cage, leaving a permanent indentation. Either Dr, Schooler did that, or he allowed one of his trainees to do it. In any case– shame on him for allowing it to happen.
Fortunately, I found competent Diep flap specialist surgeons in Thousand oaks. I was not going to let Schooler touch me on a Diep flap after butchering me in my tran flap surgeries, using up all my available back skin and causing me so many hospitalized infections.
It is a grueling operation as one of the other reviewers stated. I was under for 14 hours. However, after the skin transplant, they put my breast on a monitor to make sure it was getting blood through the skin so the transplant would survive! What a novel idea! How come Dr, Schooler never did that for any of my trans flap failures that died, went necrotic and ended up infected.
For example, after one tran flap surgery, the drain slipped out at the end of the week. I called Dr, Schooler and told him I was developing a huge hump on my back of fluid that could not drain due to the plastic drain falling out. He blamed the drains they had used at Huntington Hospital! Can you believe it? Then, he would not see me until he had «clinic» on Monday. By then my hump of fluid in my back was so large and painful I could cry and did. When I saw him, He manually expressed all the fluid with his hands!!! SO PAINFUL! The he replaced the same drain tube. By then I was running a fever and had to go admit myself into University Hospital for infection again!
The icing on the cake was when the new doctors did the Diep flap, they found that Dr, Schooler had not completely closed up the area in my back where the tran flap was and had left a huge gap that was also accumulating fluid. So, another fixit job had to be done under the knife to correct the incompetence of Dr, Schooler.
Dr. Schooler, should be ashamed of himself for all the pain and misery and almost death he caused me. Especially when I was in University hospital for 9 days before Thanksgiving in 2011 trying to stave off a staph infection. And all this after suffering a double mastectomy, heavy chemo and radiation earlier that year.
If I had the $$ to sue, believe me, I would have taken him all the way.
If he doesn’t want to take responsibility, then why doesn’t he blame his residents that he let cut on me? Or did he pull that chunk of chest/​rib flesh out of me on his own???
Maybe he is doing better now because he has taken some plastic surgery training classes and improved his skills, but he sure fxxxxd me up as his lab rat!
But no matter what, I wouldn’t trust Schooler with anything beyond hand surgery (which he did a lot of at County General in LA on gang shooting victims) or routine procedures such as boob jobs. And I do not think he could do 100 diep flap surgeries in the time stated in his rebuttal. Each diep flap-​given a radiated breast which is very difficult to deal with– takes about 14 hours. That would mean that he was doing about 2 per week– 28 hours worth of diep flaps. What about all the other surgeries? He used to brag to me about how many surgeries he did in a day– like 5 – 10. Do you want a dr. operating on you who is doing so many surgeries a day? Not me, he is too exhausted. He told me that he got paid at University Hospital based on how many surgeries he did. So there it is. (I even had to have 2 mastectomy surgeries-​each on 2 breasts– because he could not get the expanders in right).
Dr. Schooler misrepresented himself to me from the day I met him. I was in a weakened condition, didn’t know what to do. The best thing I ever did was quit him and find competent surgeons. Now I have nice breasts back-​nipples and all!
PS I have all the surgical reports for everything this Dr, ever did to me. All my statements are true and correct. I would swear under oath to that fact.

I had an emergency C-​section in January and Dr. Schooler took the time out of his busy schedule to do the closure. I have a beautiful scar that you can barely see. He is a wonderful surgeon and I would recommend him to my family and friends.

Plastic Surgeons are a dime a dozen. So when a profession is so common, and there are many good options, I make decisions based on gut instinct and energy. I have consulted with several doctors regarding a scar left over from surgery and Dr Schooler, who I saw based on a suggestion from a friend, had the best bedside manner and energy. Mind you, I drove from LA to SB to see him. When I met him, I trusted him. I did not feel he was jaded or cynical. Some of the other doctors I saw had been doing this so long, I felt like I was just another dollar to them, another patient to process in and out of the office.

Dr. Schooler is simply amazing! Not only is he a skilled surgeon but he is passionate about helping people. He recently performed delicate hand surgery on our 6 year old daughter and her fingers are now straight. His attention to detail and compassion we’re much appreciated during the whole process. To relinquish your child to health professionals is heart wrenching but Dr. Schooler delivered at every level. What a gifted man. I can’t recommend him enough. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS DOCTOR!
I had a double mastectomy and a tram flap. I was sent to Dr. Schooler by the head of breast oncology at USC Norris Cancer Center. From the first moment I met him I knew I was in the right place. He answered all of my questions, gave me options, made recommendations, and made me feel at ease. As to the prior comment regarding «he can only do easy procedures», I had a 17 hour surgery! It was a microscopic surgery; the fat from my stomach was taken and made into breasts. The surgery necessitated moving blood vessels, etc. Everyone who has seen my «new» breasts (other plastic surgeons, other physicians, and the specialty bra store where they see hundreds of women with mastectomy’s comments upon the work of my excellent surgeon. I was in the hospital for a week after the surgery, during Christmas. He came to see me every day; my entire family trusted and adored him. To this day they say «say hi to Dr. Schooler for me.» I ended up having my breasts repigimented by someone else; at the time, USC did not have a machine to do repigmentation. This new plastic surgeon could not compare to Dr. Schooler. I was very disappointed. Dr. Schooler is a painter as well as a physician. So if you want perfect work done by an incredibly caring, skilled, kind surgeon he’s your guy. I will never forget him. He has impacted my entire life.
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I interviewed several plastic surgeons after I decided to have bilateral mastectomies. After meeting with him and positive reviews I heard from others, I decided to use this doctor for my reconstructive procedures. After radiation, he thoroughly explained the need for latissimus flap procedure because the skin damage caused by radiation. This doctor did an excellent job on performing this procedure on my radiated breast. I’m very pleased with the outcome. I was also impressed by his after-​surgery care and follow up efforts. I thank this doctor for his great work and professionalism, and make me feel normal again. I would highly recommend this doctor to anyone who needs a caring surgeon for their breast reconstruction needs.