L Plastic Surgery – Charles K Lee MD

This review is based on my consultation and follow up by Dr. Lee. First of all, his consultation is free, but his thoroughness in explanation of procedures was exceptional in comparison to a doctor who I went to who does charge a fee.
He explained fat transfer very well, the process he uses to separate it out after collecting it, and gives realistic outcomes. I have researched it since on my own, and it does sounds like it can be risky with varying outcomes.
Its ironic to me that I actually went it to see what could be done about a small vein under my eye (since he is a vascular specialist) as well as a dark age mark on the side of my cheek. The ironic thing is that these plastic surgeons can attempt to stuff a face with fat, but cannot remove a blemish or lighten a vein. I respect that he said there was nothing that could be done for these two things. He’s a vascular specialist and he said the area is risky, so I will take his word.
Dr. Lee does promote a gizmo called Infini RF. It sounded like a dream to have something heat up the face and cause it to be firmer with more collagen. Luckily, I am not spewing with money, so I told him I would look into it. Though, this particular machine has no negative reviews, upon researching these collagen building machines, one in particular is having awful results on many called Ultherapy. Its a different machine, and I have heard nothing bad about Infini RF yet, but I would be cautious with these collagen building machines. From what I have read, it sounds like they are «building collagen» by heating up the lower dermal layers. Essentially, if the temperatures are too hot, it burns them and the scar tissue is what thickens it up.
So Infini RF sounds interesting, but I will be cautious about doing it.
I did like that I have received two follow up calls from Dr. Lee’s office, as well as a happy birthday email.
The photos of his different procedures looked great, realistic and natural. He takes a lot of time to show you photos of past patient results.

Waited 30 mins after appt time. Not cool. Staff is friendly but not a good start for a new person. Especially when I had to leave work on a pre holiday Friday and still have a ton of work. Doc, please respect others time too.

I went to Dr. Lee to get my ear piercings fixed. My dad pierced my ears originally and my dad did one lobe too closed to the edge. It was not even and this bothered me for many years. So I decided to go to Dr. Lee’s office and got my free consultation. The office and it’s staff are very warm and friendly. Dr. Lee was really easy to speak to and he listened to my concerns. During the surgery day, I was extremely nervous and the staff as well as Dr. Lee made me feel at ease. He is extremely professional and very meticulous. You can barely see the scar on my small earlobe from his surgery. He even offered to re-​pierce my ears for me!!! He really makes sure everything is handled correctly from the beginning to the end. I would recommend Dr. Lee for all your plastic surgery needs.

5 stars all around!
Full-​on leg surgery EASIER than a typical dental cleaning, and no spitting!
My visit was hardly plastic, as Dr. Lee performed a state-​of-​the-​art lazer procedure to either re-​create (or un-​create) or re-​direct the way veins are supposed to work in my leg.
Seldom have I felt so very *impressed* with *confidence* in any professional interaction.
I probably should have had a little work under my eyes at the same time, while in this 5 star office.
Great staff; calm offices.

So, a year ago, I was bit by a spider on my forehead. My forehead became swollen and I saw my dermatologist who proceeded to give me a cortisone injection that he promised was super diluted. A week or so later I started noticing major skin atrophy and fat loss in the areas he had injected. I went to see the dermatologist again and he suggested photofacial and light therapy to accelerate collagen formation. After three treatments and no change, he suggested using a filler. I ended up paying $ 800 for it. The void was filled so unevenly. I also got major bruising. I was freaking out, I had a wedding of a friend to go to in less than a month. I made an appointment with Dr. Lee. He suggested Juvaderm and after one session my forehead was 90% better. He had me come back in two weeks and filled the remaining areas and I was back to normal. No bruising nothing! He’s amazing!!!

TOP NOTHCH PLASTIC SURGEON
One of SF’s very best set of hands, (and hearts)
I met Dr Lee at the Saint Mary’s PROS wound care clinic. I am an amputee who had bad scar tissue fused to bone and they needed to graft a large part of my thigh to the stump to preserve and improve my limb and thereby function. I am a worker comp patient and honestly any doc willing to take that «discounted» rate is truly in it for their patients. He and Dr Scott Hansen spent more then 8 hours working together to perform the surgery.
I had numerous consults and tests for neuroma. It’s a condition where the nerve tries to grow back and find it’s other end. The nerve bundles onto itself as it grows into a tremendously painful ball easily triggered by movement. I was in agony and yet no one really believed me. When Dr Lee came across that nerve he spent much extra time finding that tumor and removing it. Not only was that beyond the job (i.e. it wasn’t in the pre-​opp surgical report,) but I’m doubtful he got paid to do that. It was NOT just a few minutes of work… on top of 8 hours solid of micro surgery.
He and Dr Hansen have achieved many great things together. Team work between both patients and doctors is how the most difficult problems are solved in medicine.
For one man that meant gaining function of his hands, by sacrificing a toe. As hard as that is to imagine, think of how that patient was in CONTROL of his care.

I just had my third treatment with the spectra laser and I couldn’t be happier! My skin looks amazing and it didn’t even cost me an arm and a leg. I recommend dr lee to anyone looking for help with their skin. I told him all my concerns, and he was able to recommend the best treatment for what I needed. I’m very satisfied.

One year ago on February 16^th, I had foot surgery with Dr. Lee. I am THRILLED to report that my foot is 100% better than it was before the surgery. I have no pain and I have complete mobility. Dr. Lee is amazing!

I have Been Rn for thirty years. my poor brain injured husband broke his hand was sent to this Md who did surgery on his hand putting a pin in. At the time of surgery I explained that my husbands brain Injury leaves him with decreased cognitive abilities and poor impulse control, so he needed to put some sort of cast that he can not remove. The Md refused to hear me, so after the surgery the pain was bad, my husband tore off all of the bandages and there was blood every where, and the pin sticking out of his hand. All my poor husband knew was that pin hurt and he wanted it out. Dr Lee office finely said bring Him to to emergency room, this was after two hours of me laying on him to stop him from pulling on the pin, I was told to take him to the emergency room, I refused to wait four hour In the ER so I brought him to their office four hours after surg and Dr lee was extremely rude and of NO help! He told me my husband had no pain and he couldn’t put any kind of non removal dressing on, he said there was something wrong with the pin but he certainly wasn’t going to go back in and fix it? he was rude and mean to me and my brain injured husband, he told him to just stop what he was doing! it’s been a horrible experience and my husband two weeks later is still in pain and this MD when I called to please give him a refill on his pain medication, ordered him two pills! Ive been up all night x 2 nights because this man won’t treat this poor brain injured mans pain, he still has pin sticking out of his hand and no protection on it, so he’s always hitting it and it hurts. This Man who suppose to have compassion for his patients has zero, and here I sit with my poor helpless husband in pain and no way to help him, this seems crazy to me, I have worked with so many MD in my husbands care since his accident nine years ago and NEVER have I met any that have been so uncaring. His main nurse is as uncaring as he is, the day after his surgery and after they saw the horrible trouble we were having didn’t even ask how it was going when I called to make an appointment and no one in two weeks called to see if he was ok. The one staff Carol is an angel but beside her nothing about our experience was good.
We are now done with this Md and his office, as we leave and my husbands second cast is gone, all I can say is my husband now has burns and scars from things that didn’t have to be I was asked to remove this Unilocal,I could not do that because this is a way to ensure all professionals live up to their abilities, we are all human, equal in all ways and we need to all be treated with respect, I understand people, have bad days but this in no way gives anyone the the right to talk down or rude to others, they tired to send someone to ease our woes, but I still felt let down, I will keep them all in our prayers…

I had my surgery with Dr Lee 2 weeks ago and was a wonderful experience. Saint Mary’s Hospital is calm run well and everyone is courteous and timely. Dr lee came and re addressed my issues and told me he would do his best for me. I believed him and I was right in doing so. He miraculously fixed my nipple positions with flap re arrangement and lifted them up to identical symmetry. I get my sutures out on Friday but I can see quite clearly the results now. Losing blood supply to my nipple area was a huge concern that no doctor wanted to deal with except Dr Lee and he saved them both. Dr Lee is confident without being egotistical. He is young, fresh, with it and in touch with the latest techniques. A lot of people feel more comfortable with older and over experienced doctors but I find that the younger doctors really know their stuff and are more comfortable that older doctors with new and innovative techniques. Thank you Dr Lee!

The attitude is so bad! The doctor is not responsible! When I did the Botox, there was not work well! I went back to complain, he did nothing!

I have been seeing Dr. Lee since 2008 and I love love love him! I had Fraxel treatments which he personally performed unlike some other places where aesthetician works on you. His price for Fraxel was the best in SF and he is certified. He not only performs «beauty» related plastic surgery but he also can re-​attach your finger. I am due for a visit and I cannot wait!

Went in for an appointment to discuss hand surgery. I asked Dr. Lee about alternatives to the surgery. His response, paraphrased, «there are alternatives, but I’m a surgeon. The alternatives have nothing to do with me». When I asked about how much the surgery would cost — his response, paraphrased again «I’m a surgeon, I have no idea what it costs». It took 3 phone calls back and forth with his staff to finally get the codes so that I could then call my insurance myself to see what they would pay, and then they had me call the hospital myself to see what the hospital charges. His staff could have easily done that work for me.
All that being said, I think my slight disappointment was mostly because Dr. Lee’s a surgeon, acting like surgeons do. I’ve never had surgery before so I just expected more handholding etc. From what people have been telling me about surgeons, this is an unrealistic expectation. So, if that’s true, you’ll likely find him to be a fine doctor. My hand got better so i never ended up getting the surgery, so I can’t comment on much else.

Dr. Lee is a very talented surgeon with a gentle touch, excellent eye for aesthetics and a setter of realistic goals. He will be honest about what procedures are right for you and won’t set you up for something if the time or procedure is not right for you. I am extremely pleased with the quality of his work and adore him as a person after getting to know him over the past year.
I would not hesitate to recommend him to my family or friends.

Dr. Lee is fantastic! I suffered a severe injury to my left middle finger (I’m a musician so this was an EXTREMELY frightening injury for me that caused a lot of anxiety), went to the emergency room at St. Mary’s and it was Dr. Lee who performed the surgery. He was very thorough in his explanations of what he was doing the entire time (the anesthetic was local, but I was quite sedated) so he was also very patient in his explanations. The way his team worked together in the O.R. was absolutely inspiring. The follow up care I received from Dr. Lee at the Wound Care Center at St. Mary’s was also amazing (in fact a HUGE KUDOS to EVERYONE at the Wound Care Center at St. Mary’s!!!)… Dr. Lee understands entirely that as a musician this injury has caused me such anxiety and has been extremely accommodating to me… After such great care his exact words to me were «I’m confident you will get full usage of the finger back in time». I’m currently in physical therapy which is very intense and can be quite painful (I’m very determined), but Dr. Lee’s staff has been great about making sure that I am able to manage my pain during this process. I’m not sure if it is ok to use their names in a review (You’d think I’d know that) so I will use their first name initials only — V. & L. from Dr. Lee’s office have been absolutely wonderful. I cannot say enough good things about these two. They have gone out of their way to make sure I am taken care of as a patient and as a sensitive person recovering from a serious injury.
Dr. Lee, his staff, the entire staff at the Wound Care Center and my physical therapist have all made this awful event not only bearable, but they have all given me a very positive outlook for a full recovery. I’m already using the finger in small increments doing full scales on the piano (using the injured finger) as a part of my physical therapy and, although I know it will take a while — one day, sooner rather than later, I will be sitting with my guitar making the music I miss making so much.
Although cliché, if I could I’d give Dr. Lee and his staff 10 stars for the ability to take a horrible injury and not only treat the wound, but the person as well. From this injury I will take away more of a positive attitude and a better education of professional, personalized care.
Thank you Dr. Lee!
scott b.

Dr. Lee is a genius. He did everything i ask for and my expectations were delivered! He’s very professional. I do recommend him to anyone. Plan to get more work done by him in the future

Dr. Lee is so nice and understanding. After taking a bad fall down some stairs (while I was a drunken mess, don’t ask.) I had a really badly swollen black and blue thumb. While I thought I had a broken finger, I got some x-​rays done the next morning (during my hangover, which I do NOT recommend). Which showed no sign of any broken or fractured bones. I was then referred to Dr. Lee, who took great care of me. The receptionists are really nice and beautiful, (this is a plastic surgery office after all). Dr. Lee was very on time, which I wasn’t expecting after hearing from someone that they’ve waited a good 30 minutes for him to see them. He was very helpful and not judgmental at all. After he examined my thumb, carefully wrapped it up, and promised everything was going to be OK he said to make an appointment for a month from then and to not move it for that whole month. A month of no thumb?! But that’s what separates us from the monkeys! Listening to Dr. Lee’s advice when I saw him at my next appointment he told me everything was good to go! He said that it might hurt every once in awhile, and it does, but not to worry and if I had any questions or concerns not to hesitate to call.
Hopefully, I’ll never have to see Dr. Lee again, but if I do, I wouldn’t mind going back…

Dr. Lee does fantastic things – how many people can replace a severed thumb with a toe? (
) –but based on my appointment for unresolved joint pain in the hand, I’m not sure how to rate him.
The appointment started off slowly, with me staring at the exam room clock and wishing I’d brought along some work papers to wile away the lonely 55 minutes. When Dr. Lee came in finally, there was no acknowledgment of his running late, though admittedly, I’d called to say I’d be 10 minutes late myself.
As others said, Dr. Lee seemed like an attentive doctor with great bedside manner. It was a little iffy how he left the door open as he examined his patients, and I heard him talking to the guy before me.
In the end, he wasn’t able to explain my issue but told me to get tested for lupus. «No, but something to consider,» he said, after I asked him if he seriously thought I had lupus and should spend the money on labs.
That felt like a doctor throwing you antibiotics for a cold. In any case, I preferred to spend the $ on shoes instead.

My first experience with Dr. Lee was when I called the phone number for his office on a weeknight at 8pm. Figuring I would leave a message for his office staff that might be returned the next day, imagine my surprise when Dr. Lee answered the phone himself and answered a few of my initial questions. When I called the next day to make an appointment his office staff told me that he regularly has the office phone forwarded to his personal cell at night so that if patients need him he’s there. WTF, who is this guy?
Unlike many of Dr. Lee’s other patients I came to him for reconstructive neural surgery on my hand and elbow. After being blown off by several other surgeons because of inconsistent test results, Dr. Lee spent the time listening to my whole story, and performed a series of painless physical diagnosis tests and was able to tell me right then and there he was confident I could have a 100% recovery with surgical intervention. I was sold. After returning to work I emailed the address on his website only to get a personal email from Dr. Lee himself answering my questions and sugesting a time for my surgery. So I literally scheduled my surgery over email, yay!
The day of my surgery I showed up at St. Mary’s and thank goodness Dr. Lee was on time, everything went well. He has a great bedside manner, even touches your shoulder or hand and tells you it’s all going to be ok. Little things like that make a big difference when someone is about to undress you and cut you open.
The cons:
I called a few times before my surgery to ask whether I needed blood tests and was told no each time, but then 2 days before my surgery I was called by the hospital to inform me that due to my «age», how insulting ;), and I had to rush in the day before surgery for a blood and urine test.
After my surgery I was kindly given a nerve block by the anesthesiologist but it meant I had NO control at all over my right arm from neck down. In addition to this just being soooo weird, I was totally unable to carry my dead arm around. When I asked for a sling to get home, I was told that the Dr. would need to authorize it, and that he hadn’t. It took my partner and I at least 15 minutes of fighting with the nurse, me demonstrating to her that I could not get out of the bed and carry my arm, and offering to pay $ 50! out of pocket for her to agree to just give us a sling.
Overall my experience of care and after care was great. The con’s I feel were really the fault of St. Mary’s, although they are generally great too.
The outcome: well there are parts of my hand and elbow that are feeling much better and there are parts that haven’t completely healed yet, I’m still hoping that Dr. Lee is right and I will get 100% function and feeling back soon. I’m only 6 weeks post-​op.