Wendy's BAHA Pictures

[wendysig]

Hi Catherine,
I didn't mean  my BAHA site required a lot of attention from my doc, but rather from me and although I don't consider the care I give my BAHA site a big deal really - I just coat it with bacitracin adn use a q-tip to make sure the bacitracin gets under the rim of the abutment  before and after my shower every day.   I guess he and many other docs just feel that the AN surgery is enough to deal with since there is no way to predict its outcome for sure.  I guess if I was dealing with other complications too, it might be a little harder to care for everything.    Getting both things out of the way at the same time would have been great, but the BAHA surgery by itself was truly a piece of cake and I have no regrets. 

Wendy

[leapyrtwins]

I forgot to mention before that I've heard that BAHA surgery combined with AN surgery is a fairly good way to get insurance companies to cover the BAHA procedure.

Lots of patients have issues with their insurance companies agreeing to cover the BAHA surgery, but apparently (at least from what I've been told) it's often easier to "slide" the BAHA surgery through on the bill for AN surgery.

Kind of makes sense, since the implant only takes about 90 minutes and some of that time is prep - so combining it with AN surgery probably cuts down on the time and the costs involved.  The insurance companies probably have the impression they are just paying for one surgery, rather than two - which surely makes them happy 

I'd also imagine combining the surgeries helps to eliminates the question of whether or not the BAHA is "medically necessary" for the patient.  Since my BAHA surgery was 9 months post AN surgery, when I first approached my insurance company about coverage they asked me if it was medically necessary.  I referred them to my AN surgery records - DUH! 

As for the "care" of the BAHA site post op - I found it required very little.  Just gooping on bacitracin for a few weeks and you're good to go 

Jan